David Choquehuanca
Who was David Choquehuanca?
Bolivian indigenous politician who serves as Vice President of Bolivia since 2020 and previously served as Foreign Minister under Evo Morales.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on David Choquehuanca (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
David Choquehuanca Céspedes, born on May 7, 1961, is a Bolivian diplomat, politician, and indigenous rights activist who has been the 39th Vice President of Bolivia since 2020. He was born in Cota Cota Baja and grew up in the Huarina region. As an Aymara, he got involved in indigenous peasant movements early in life. He finished high school in Huarina, where he first encountered Marxist ideas that would later shape his political views. He then studied philosophy in La Paz and Havana, giving him both local and international insights into social and political theory.
Choquehuanca's political career started through his work with indigenous peasant labor movements, where he met Evo Morales, a cocalero activist who would become president. Together, they founded the Movement for Socialism (MAS), which became Bolivia's main left-wing political party. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Choquehuanca was a strategic advisor to various indigenous organizations and leaders, including Morales. He was also the national coordinator for the Nina Program, a nonprofit focused on training activists in indigenous communities.
When Morales became president in 2006, he appointed Choquehuanca as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post he held for eleven years until 2017. This made him the longest-serving foreign minister in Bolivia’s history and the second-longest-serving government minister after Luis Arce. As foreign minister, he made major diplomatic changes, such as cutting off relations with the United States and expelling the American ambassador, while strengthening Bolivia’s ties with left-wing neighboring governments and keeping relations with more conservative Latin American nations.
Choquehuanca also led Bolivia's legal case against Chile at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, though he had left office by the time the court ruled against Bolivia in 2018. After leaving the foreign ministry in 2017, he was the Secretary General of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) from 2017 to 2019. His political stance, called a "moderate Indianist current," placed him as the "third figure" in the Morales administration after the president and vice president. His strong grassroots support among indigenous communities and diplomatic skills made him a natural pick for the vice presidency when MAS came back to power in 2020 under President Luis Arce.
Before Fame
Growing up in rural Bolivia during the 1970s and 1980s, Choquehuanca experienced a time of major political change and a rise in indigenous rights movements in Latin America. Being Aymara linked him to Bolivia's largest indigenous group, which had long faced marginalization and discrimination. He was introduced to Marxist ideas during his secondary education in Huarina at the height of the Cold War, a time when liberation theology and indigenous rights movements were gaining ground across Latin America.
Choquehuanca's rise to prominence came through grassroots organizing in Bolivia's indigenous peasant movements, especially during the 1990s when these groups began to wield more political influence. His work with the Nina Program and his role as an advisor to indigenous organizations placed him at the heart of Bolivia's growing indigenous political movement. This era was marked by opposition to neoliberal economic policies and increased efforts to eradicate coca, issues which helped bring leaders like Evo Morales into the national spotlight.
Key Achievements
- Served as Bolivia's longest-serving Foreign Minister (2006-2017)
- Led Bolivia's historic lawsuit against Chile at the International Court of Justice
- Served as Secretary General of ALBA (2017-2019)
- Co-founded the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party with Evo Morales
- Elected as 39th Vice President of Bolivia in 2020
Did You Know?
- 01.He served as Secretary General of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) from 2017 to 2019, making him one of the few Bolivians to hold high-level regional positions
- 02.His eleven-year tenure as Foreign Minister was the longest in Bolivian history and second-longest ministerial tenure after Luis Arce
- 03.He studied philosophy in both La Paz and Havana, giving him exposure to both domestic and Cuban revolutionary thought
- 04.He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru in 2010 and the Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay in 2006
- 05.He represented the 'moderate Indianist current' within the MAS government, distinguishing his approach from more radical indigenous political factions
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru | 2010 | — |
| Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay | 2006 | — |