¿Who is Rodrigo Paz Pereira, the new president of Bolivia?

Rodrigo Paz Pereira was born in September 1967 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, during the exile of his father, former President Jaime Paz Zamora (1989-1993). He comes from a family historically linked to Bolivian politics, as his paternal grandfather was a first cousin of former President Víctor Paz Estenssoro. He is a professional economist with studies in international relations. In addition, he completed a master’s degree in political management at American University in the United States. During his time in that country, he met Maria Elena Urquidi, whom he affectionately calls “Bibi,” with whom he has been married for 25 years and has three daughters and one son. Paz began his political career as a deputy for Tarija in 2002, and was re-elected in 2005 for Cercado, a position he held until 2010. That same year he was elected councilman of Tarija and, subsequently, mayor of the city between 2015 and 2020. In 2020 he was elected senator for the opposition group Comunidad Ciudadana of former president Carlos Mesa.

You can read: Rodrigo Paz wins the second round of presidential elections in Bolivia

In his presidential bid, Rodrigo Paz surprised everyone by obtaining first place in the first round with 32.06% of the votes, far above the polls that gave him less than 10%. His running mate was Edman Lara, a former police officer turned influencer, whose popularity and denunciations of corruption on social media were a key factor in his campaign. His campaign focused on economic liberalization, tax cuts and opening up to the market, with slogans like: “Capitalism for all, not for a few” and “Better times are coming. Enough credits, money for everyone.” Furthermore, he has expressed his intention to resume diplomatic relations with Chile and promote significant economic reforms. In the second round of elections, Paz won with 54.5% of the votes against 45.5% for Jorge Quiroga, consolidating his victory. With this, it marks the end of two decades of dominance by the Movement for Socialism (MAS) and opens a new stage in Bolivia, facing the challenge of stabilizing the economy and leading the country with a market and public service approach.