Álvaro García Linera

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Álvaro García Linera

Álvaro Marcelo García Linera (born October 19, 1962 in Cochabamba , Bolivia ) is a Bolivian politician and sociologist . He was elected Vice President in 2005 alongside Evo Morales . Both are members of the Movimiento al Socialismo .

On November 10, 2019, García Linera and Morales resigned from office following the controversial presidential election in Bolivia in 2019 .

Education and political advancement

He was born in Cochabamba and attended the Colegio San Agustín . He then studied for two years at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City mathematics to undergraduate.

After returning to Bolivia, he tried to put some of his socialist beliefs into practice and joined the Ayllus Rojos, a group of experimental, Marxist-inspired indigenous communities in northwestern Bolivia. When that attempt failed, García Linera took a more radical approach. At the side of Felipe Quispe , he was involved in the guerrilla Ejército Guerrillero Túpac Katari (EGTK).

García Linera was arrested in 1992 together with other members of the EGTK, including Felipe Quispe. He spent five years in prison without trial or judgment. He used the time to read, study sociology and write books. After he was released from prison, he began to work as a lecturer in sociology, political science and communication studies at various universities in Bolivia. He is co-founder of the Comuna group , whose writings have accompanied the development of the social movements in Bolivia.

Vice President

Since 2006 García Linera has held the office of Bolivian Vice-President in the Morales government. He served in this office the longest by far, a title that can no longer be taken from him under the 2009 constitution. With his background as an intellectual, he formed the complementary counterpart to the charismatic president. As an ideological strategist, chairman of the legislature and president of Morales' trips abroad, he had a great deal of power and was responsible for many structural developments in Bolivia during his tenure. He has been actively involved in the design of various social programs, the literacy campaign and the nationalization of strategic economic sectors. This also includes his commitment to efficient state-owned companies based on the principle that these are only founded if they generate long-term profits for the state, as otherwise the system would fail. Strengthening the Bolivian identity while at the same time suppressing "imperial" (above all USA, Spain) and "transnational" (Western industrial groups) influences is an important concern for him, which he theoretically supports with his own writings. When he visits the Bolivian provinces, the well-educated politician with a wide range of interests regularly calls on young people to read more and likes to point out that European students always have a book ready to hand, for example to open it on the bus. He also passionately seeks argumentative confrontation with oppositional forces, which in return has made him the main target of often unfair attacks against government representatives from their ranks. Above all, he denounces earlier privatizations by the so-called neoliberals.

García Linera resigned from his post on November 10, 2019 after more than 13 years in office together with President Evo Morales . The resignation was preceded by ongoing protests against the result of the presidential election in Bolivia in 2019 .

Books, speeches and articles by Álvaro García Linera

García Linera regularly publishes publications on the roots, challenges and future of Bolivia. He also strives to make the particular form of socialism in Bolivia ( socialismo comunitario ) known internationally and thus to help these ideas to break through in other countries. To this end, he gives speeches to students on trips abroad or appears at symposia and other events.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dan Collyns: Bolivian president Evo Morales resigns after election result dispute . In: The Guardian . November 11, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed November 15, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Wencke Dittmann: García Linera, Álvaro. In: Quetzal. January 2009, archived from the original on August 22, 2009 ; Retrieved May 23, 2009 .
  3. ↑ Publications García Lineras ( Memento of September 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)

Web links

Commons : Álvaro García Linera  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME García Linera, Álvaro
ALTERNATIVE NAMES García Linera, Álvaro Marcelo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bolivian politician and sociologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Cochabamba , Bolivia