Olivia Guachalla

Olivia Guachalla Yupanqui (born 6 April 1984) is a Bolivian lawyer and politician serving as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from Cochabamba, representing circumscription 22 since 2020. An ethnic Aymara, Guachalla entered political life as an activist in the student movement. After graduating from the Higher University of San Simón, she worked as a neighborhood council leader in the southern zone of Cochabamba.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Guachalla and the second or maternal family name is Yupanqui.

Olivia Guachalla
Headshot of Olivia Guachalla
Official portrait, 2020
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
from Cochabamba circumscription 22
Assumed office
3 November 2020
SubstituteDamián Laime
Preceded byLeoncio Jancko
ConstituencyCercado
Personal details
Born
Olivia Guachalla Yupanqui

(1984-04-06) 6 April 1984
Puerto Parajachi, La Paz, Bolivia
Political partyMovement for Socialism (until 2023)
Alma materHigher University of San Simón
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • politician
SignatureCursive signature in ink

Nominated by the Movement for Socialism to contest the area's constituency in the Chamber of Deputies, Guachalla won her race twice in two back-to-back elections. Once in office, however, Guachalla became estranged from the Cochabamba-based leadership of her party, with her alignment toward "renewist" factions ultimately resulting in her expulsion from it in 2023, alongside five other deputies.

Early life and career

Olivia Guachalla was born on 6 April 1984 in the small town of Puerto Parajachi, a rural locality at the base of Cerro Ocorani, straddling the shoreline of Lake Titicaca in the Camacho Province of La Paz.[1][2] She was the fourth of six children born to Francisco Guachalla and Justina Yupanqui, an ethnic Aymara family native to the highland region.[3]: 0:30  Around the late 1990s, Guachalla and her family resettled in Cochabamba, taking up residence in District 9 of the city's southern zone, where her father worked as a community leader.[4][5]

Guachalla became politically active at an early age, participating in the student movement while in high school, including serving as executive of the Federation of Secondary Students of Cochabamba.[3]: 1:43  During this time, she also joined the ranks of the nascent Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP),[5] engaging in some of the protests that rocked the country during the 2003 gas conflict.[3]: 1:11 

Guachalla attended the Higher University of San Simón, where she studied law and communication science,[6] graduating as a lawyer[7] specializing in community social work and communitarian justice.[3]: 0:53  Upon completing university, she dedicated herself to community organizing in the southern zone around District 9,[6] where she worked as a member of the area's neighborhood council and local school board.[3]: 1:54 

Chamber of Deputies

Election
Further information: 2019 Bolivian general election and 2020 Bolivian general election
See also: 2019 Bolivian protests and 2019 Bolivian political crisis

Guachalla's first foray into electoral politics was in 2010 when she was elected to represent the MAS as a substitute member of the Cochabamba Departmental Legislative Assembly. She served only one five-year term and was not put forward for reelection,[1][8] remaining off her party's electoral slate until 2019, when the MAS nominated her to contest Cochabamba's circumscription 22.[7] The constituency encompasses multiple districts in the capital municipality's southern zone, including her home ninth district as well as districts five, fifteen, and portions of four.[9] She won the race twice, taking home a significant popular vote plurality in 2019 and—following the annulment of that year's results—an absolute majority the following year.[10][11] In doing so, Guachalla became the first woman to represent Cochabamba city's southern zone in the Chamber of Deputies.[3]: 6:25 

Tenure

During the campaign, Guachalla put forward a number of policy proposals core to her constituency, including, fundamentally, the expansion of public services in the poorer southern zone.[9] Reforms to property rights was another topic Guachalla touched on, noting that the frequent lack of documentation proving land ownership often prevented residents from installing basic public services into their homes.[5] One method of facilitating these developments, Guachalla proposed, would be to grant the southern zone increased autonomy, which she suggested could be done by separating the entire area into its own municipality, to be named San Joaquín de Itocta.[4][12]

Guachalla's tenure coincided with a difficult period for her party, wracked by infighting between members loyal to MAS leader Evo Morales—Evistas—and so-called "renewers," those partial towards other leaders, such as incumbent president Luis Arce.[13] As this conflict spilled into the Legislative Assembly at the tail end of 2022, Guachalla found herself accused of being an "anti-evista" by her parliamentary colleagues,[14] most of whom—in Cochabamba—aligned with Morales. Guachalla rejected such allegations, arguing that supporting the incumbent president "does not make us traitors."[13] Ultimately, Guachalla's alleged vote[lower-greek 1] in favor of a 2022 census law—supported by Arce but opposed by Morales—resulted in her expulsion from the MAS by its Morales-controlled Cochabamba affiliate early the following year. She joined five other deputies in being removed "with ignominy and dishonor", all from the Cochabamba caucus, including her substitute, Damián Laime.[16] Guachalla denounced her expulsion as arbitrary and lacking legal merit and accused her detractors of being llunk'us[lower-greek 2] before Morales.[18] The incident was one of the first consequential hostile volleys levied by the MAS's Evista wing against those considered disloyal to party leadership.[19]

Commission assignments
  • Constitution, Legislation, and Electoral System Commission
    • Constitutional Development and Legislation Committee (Secretary: 2020–2021)[20]
  • Plural Justice, Prosecutor's Office, and Legal Defense of the State Commission
    • Ordinary Jurisdiction and Magistracy Council Committee (2021–2022)[21]
  • Government, Defense, and Armed Forces Commission
    • Government and Bolivian Police Committee (Secretary: 2022–present)[22]

Electoral history
Electoral history of Olivia Guachalla
Year Office Party Votes Result Ref.
Total  % P.
2010 Sub. Assemblywoman Movement for Socialism 360,785 60.67% 1st Won [23][lower-greek 3]
2019 Deputy Movement for Socialism 65,289 47.29% 1st Annulled [10]
2020 Movement for Socialism 90,933 59.50% 1st Won [24]
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Olivia Guachalla.

Notes
  1. Guachalla later claimed that she was not present for the vote and that her substitute had cast it in her place.[15]
  2. From Quechua, meaning servile.[17]
  3. Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.

Footnotes
  1. "Olivia Guachalla Yupanqui". coordinadoradelamujer.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  2. Guachalla, Olivia (8 January 2023). La Diputada Olivia Guachalla visita su lugar de nacimiento en Puerto Parajachi (Videotape) (in Spanish). Puerto Parajachi. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023 – via Facebook. Alt URL
  3. Olivia Guachalla Yupanqui, Diputada por la Circunscripción 22 de Cochabamba (Television production) (in Spanish). Koka TV. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2023 – via YouTube.
  4. Revollo, Melissa (5 October 2020). "Candidatos de la C-22 respaldan independencia del sur". Opinión (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  5. Arias, Sandra (27 September 2019). "Derecho propietario, tema clave en la C-22 según sus candidatos". Opinión (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  6. Mena, María (9 November 2020). Written at Cochabamba. "Aguerrida y cocalera, la bancada cochala del MAS se perfila como la más 'dura'". Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  7. Jiménez Pereyra, Alfredo (13 October 2019). "Para la zona sur, prometen más ayuda gubernamental". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  8. "Publicación de Resultados Nacionales: Elecciones Departamentales y Municipales 2010" (PDF). cne.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: National Electoral Court. 2010. p. 74. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  9. Revollo, Melissa (21 October 2020). "Circunscripciones uninominales: El MAS gana en ocho y CC solo en una". Opinión (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  10. "Publicación de Resultados Nacionales: Elecciones Generales 2019" (PDF). oep.org.bo (in Spanish). Plurinational Electoral Organ. 2019. pp. 11, 21. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  11. "Publicación de Resultados Nacionales: Elecciones Generales 2020" (PDF). oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. 2020. pp. 13, 36. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  12. Peredo, Nelson (13 August 2019). "El MAS propone convertir la zona sur en un municipio". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  13. Revollo, Melissa (28 December 2022). "Loza quiere cernir a 'traidores'; otros instan al diálogo entre líderes". Opinión (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  14. "Denuncian que cuatro diputados del MAS son acusados de 'anti-evistas'" (in Spanish). La Paz. Agencia de Noticias Fides. 14 December 2022. Archived from the original on 22 December 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  15. Figueroa, Pedro (30 January 2023). "Diputados expulsados del MAS denuncian ser desprestigiados". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  16. Ibáñez, Erika (14 January 2023). "El ampliado del MAS decide expulsar a seis diputados 'traidores' por aprobar la Ley del Censo". La Razón (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  17. Gómez Vela, Andrés (30 May 2014). "Ama Llunku" (in Spanish). La Paz. ERBOL. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  18. "Arcistas rechazan expulsión del MAS y llaman llunk'us y chupamedias a sus detractores" (in Spanish). La Paz. Agencia de Noticias Fides. 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  19. Pérez Munguía, Juan (18 January 2023). "Expertos: La purga es para escarmentar a arcistas y blindar la candidatura de Evo". Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  20. "Comisiones y Comités: Periodo Legislativo 2020–2021" (PDF). diputados.gob.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  21. "Comisiones y Comités: Periodo Legislativo 2021–2022" (PDF). diputados.gob.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  22. Roque Leyes, Rafael Eduardo (16 November 2022). "La Cámara de Diputados conformó su Comisión de Gobierno, Defensa y Fuerzas Armadas: Gestión Legislativa 2022–2023". diputados.gob.bo (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  23. "Elección de Asambleístas por Población 2010 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  24. "Elecciones Generales 2020 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
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