Otilia Choque

Otilia Choque Véliz (born 13 December 1964) is a Bolivian community organizer and politician who served as a party-list member of the Chamber of Deputies from Oruro from 2015 to 2020.

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

Otilia Choque
Headshot of Otilia Choque
Official portrait, 2017
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
from Oruro
In office
18 January 2015 – 3 November 2020
SubstituteJaime Gonzales
Preceded byMagdalena Chuca
Succeeded byEnrique Urquidi
ConstituencyParty list
Personal details
Born
Otilia Choque Véliz

(1964-12-13) 13 December 1964
Oruro, Bolivia
Political partyMovement for Socialism
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Financial auditor
  • lawyer
  • politician
SignatureCursive signature in ink

Born in Oruro, Choque spent her early career working in accounting and administration at various public and private entities. During this time, she was also active in grassroots organizing, presiding over her local neighborhood council before climbing the ranks to become vice president of the Departmental Federation of Neighborhood Councils.

The sector's alliance with the ruling Movement for Socialism resulted in her 2014 election to the Chamber of Deputies, where she held a variety of finance-related committee assignments. Following the conclusion of her tenure, Choque worked briefly as the regional manager of the Oruro Customs Office before being assigned to head the Ministry of Development Planning's Financial Unit.

Early life and career

Otilia Choque was born on 13 December 1964 in Oruro. She studied general accounting at the Technical University of Oruro before going on to attend the Bolivian Technological University, where she graduated with a degree in customs law from the institute's Faculty of Law. A financial auditor by profession, Choque worked in cash and accounting at the Oruro Bus Interchange and spent eleven years as an administrator for the company Empresa Universo.[1] During this time, she also worked independently as a food retailer.[2]

An avid social activist, Choque was active in grassroots organizing across Oruro and held executive roles at a variety of community organizations around the city. She served twelve years as president of the SENTEC Neighborhood Council and was later elected to preside over the District 3 Community Association, a body that brought together over 120 neighborhood councils.[1][3] By 2014, Choque had risen to become vice president of the Departmental Federation of Neighborhood Councils of Oruro, a conglomerate of the entire region's neighborhood associations.[2][4]

Chamber of Deputies

Election
Further information: 2005 Bolivian general election and 2014 Bolivian general election

Choque's first venture into politics occurred in 2005 when she was nominated to contest Oruro's circumscription 32 on behalf of the Social Union of Workers of Bolivia.[2] The party, headed by Néstor García on the presidential ballot, experienced a lackluster showing at the polls, exiting dead last on election day.[5][6] That poor electoral performance translated to general losses across the board, with Choque receiving less than a percent of the vote in her race.[2]

Absent from the ballot in the 2009 contest, Choque returned to the electoral arena in 2014, this time as the chosen candidate of the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP).[4] Since 2005, the party had established a solid alliance with the country's neighborhood councils, through which it fostered close links with the urban lower class. For the councils, this relationship opened the door for numerous sectoral leaders to accede to parliamentary positions, as was the case with Choque, who was elected to the Chamber of Deputies off of the MAS's electoral list.[7]

Tenure

Choque spent the majority of her parliamentary term on the Chamber of Deputies' Planning Commission, holding positions on its committees for all but one year of her tenure. Initially a member of the Budget Committee,[8] she was later elected secretary of the Planning and Public Investment Committee for two terms.[9][10] After a brief switch to the Human Rights Commission, during which time she oversaw the passing of a bill that raised the minimum age of child labor from 10 to 14,[11] Choque returned to the Planning Commission, which she chaired in her final two years.[8]

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Choque's commission pushed through a bill reducing the price of basic services by fifty percent and deferring the payment of interest and bank loans for the duration of and six months after the public health crisis.[12] The legislation, passed on 1 April 2020, placed Choque in conflict with the transitional government of Jeanine Áñez, which she accused of violating the law by ordering financial authorities to resume the collection of payments within two months.[13] "So that there are no malicious interpretations," Choque's commission ultimately amended the law to explicitly state that the deferral would conclude on the last day of 2020.[14]

Nearing the end of her tenure, Choque was not nominated for reelection, a fact representative of both the MAS's general practice of renewing its legislative caucus each cycle as well as the preference of the neighborhood councils to rotate out their parliamentary representatives with different sectoral leaders.[15] Although some MAS partisans in Oruro's circumscription 29 put her forward as their pre-candidate for the Oruro mayoralty, she did not receive the nomination, which ultimately went to Adhemar Wilcarani.[16][17]

Commission assignments
  • Planning, Economic Policy, and Finance Commission (President: 2019–2020)[8]
    • Budget, Tax Policy, and Comptroller's Office Committee (2015–2016)[18]
    • Planning and Public Investment Committee (Secretary: 2016–2018)[9][10]
  • Human Rights Commission (President: 2018–2019)[19]

Later political career

Following the conclusion of her parliamentary term, Choque worked briefly for two months as a public official in the Ministry of Development Planning. In early 2021, the national customs service appointed her to head its office in Oruro as the branch's regional manager.[1] She held the position for approximately five-and-a-half months, at which point she was reassigned to the Ministry of Development Planning as head of its Financial Unit.[20][21]

Electoral history
Electoral history of Otilia Choque
Year Office Party Votes Result Ref.
Total  % P.
2005 Deputy Social Union of Workers of Bolivia 272 0.98% 8th Lost [22]
2014 Movement for Socialism 166,360 66.42% 1st Won [23][lower-greek 1]
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

References

Notes
  1. Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.

Footnotes
  1. "Designan a la exparlamentaria Otilia Choque como la nueva gerente regional de la Aduana en Oruro" [Former parliamentarian Otilia Choque is appointed as the new regional manager of the Oruro Customs Office]. La Patria (in Spanish). Oruro. 22 January 2021. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  2. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 162.
  3. "Siete candidatos pugnan por la subalcaldía del Distrito-3 de Oruro" [Seven candidates battle for the sub-mayoralty of District 3 in Oruro]. La Patria (in Spanish). Oruro. 24 February 2012. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  4. "Mineros, gremiales y músicos son candidatos del MAS en Oruro" [Miners, unionists, and musicians make up the MAS's candidates in Oruro] (in Spanish). La Paz. ERBOL. 10 July 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  5. Banks et al. 2009, p. 143.
  6. "MIP, FREPAB, USTB y NFR fueron los grandes perdedores de los comicios" [MIP, FREPAB, USTB, and NFR were the big losers of the election] (in Spanish). La Paz. Agencia de Noticias Fides. 18 December 2005. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  7. Romero Ballivián 2018, pp. 162–163.
  8. "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2019–2020". diptuados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 24 January 2019. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  9. Chamber of Deputies [@Diputados_Bol] (27 January 2016). "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2016–2017" (Tweet) (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022 – via Twitter.
  10. Chamber of Deputies [@Diputados_Bol] (31 January 2017). "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2017–2018" (Tweet) (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022 – via Twitter.
  11. Chávez, Paola (6 December 2018). "Aprueban proyecto de ley para subir a 14 años la edad de trabajo para niños y adolescentes" [Parliament approves a bill to raise the working age for children and adolescents to 14 years]. La Razón (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  12. "Diputados aprueba ley para suspender pago de capital e intereses en créditos y baja en 50% costo de servicios básicos" [Deputies approve a law to suspend payment of interest on loans and reduce the cost of basic services by 50%]. La Razón (in Spanish). La Paz. 20 March 2020. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  13. Flores, Yuri (15 May 2020). "Diputada dice que el ejecutivo debe modificar decreto y no reglamentar ley de diferimiento de pagos crediticios" [Deputy says that the executive must modify its decree and not regulate the law of deferral of credit payments]. La Razón (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  14. Gómez, Miguel (16 July 2020). "El gobierno y el MAS en la Asamblea se lanzan dardos con la aprobación de normas" [The government and the MAS in the Assembly throw darts with the approval of norms]. La Razón (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  15. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 163.
  16. "Ampliado C-29: Eligen a Hjalmar Portillo como precandidato del MAS a la Alcaldía de Oruro" [Rally in C-29: Hjalmar Portillo is elected as MAS pre-candidate for the Oruro Mayor's Office]. La Patria (in Spanish). Oruro. 2 December 2020. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  17. "Adhemar Wilcarani, sobrino de Evo, gana las elecciones en Oruro" [Adhemar Wilcarani, Evo's nephew, wins the Oruro elections]. Correo del Sur (in Spanish). Oruro. 11 March 2021. Archived from the original on 11 March 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  18. "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2015–2016". diputados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 29 January 2015. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  19. "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2018–2019". diputados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 1 February 2018. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  20. "Destituyen a la gerente regional de la Aduana Oruro" [Regional manager of the Oruro Customs Office is dismissed]. La Patria (in Spanish). Oruro. 9 July 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  21. "Ministerio de Plainficación del Desarrollo: Nómina del Personal" (PDF). planificacion.gob.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Ministry of Development Planning. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  22. "Elecciones Generales 2005 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  23. "Elecciones Generales 2014 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2022.

Bibliography
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