Luis Fernando Camacho
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Luis Fernando Camacho | |
|---|---|
.png) Camacho in 2021 | |
| 2nd Governor of Santa Cruz | |
| Assumed office 3 May 2021 Suspended: January 26, 2024 – August 29, 2025 | |
| Vice Governor | Mario Aguilera Cirbián |
| Preceded by | Rubén Costas |
| |
| In office 2 February 2019 – 29 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Fernando Cuéllar |
| Succeeded by | Rómulo Calvo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Luis Fernando Camacho Vaca 15 February 1979 Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia |
| Party | Creemos (since 2020) |
| Other political affiliations | Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (2002–2004) |
| Relatives | Eliodoro Camacho |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupation |
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| Signature | _Luis_Fernando_Camacho.svg) |
Luis Fernando Camacho Vaca (born 15 February 1979) is a Bolivian activist, businessman, lawyer, and politician serving as the 2nd governor of Santa Cruz since 2021.[1][2] He is the leader of Creemos, opposition bench in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and was the chair of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee in 2019.
Camacho emerged as a major critic of President Evo Morales and influential public figure during the highly controversial 2019 Bolivian general election, demanding Morales resign on 5 November 2019.[3] Following Morales' resignation on 10 November 2019 and the scheduling of new elections, Camacho entered Bolivian politics as a presidential candidate for the right-wing party Creemos along with Potosi Civic Committee leader Marco Pumari as his running mate. Camacho would go on to receive 14% of the vote, but losing to Luis Arce or Carlos Mesa in every Bolivian department except his birthplace of Santa Cruz. In the 2021 regional elections, he was elected Governor of Santa Cruz, assuming office on 3 May 2021.
Camacho was widely recognized as a major opposition leader in Bolivia during the left-wing rule.[4][5][6][7][8]
Luis Fernando Camacho was born on 15 February 1979 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.[9] On his father's side, Camacho is of colla (Paceño) origin and descent. According to Eric Soria—who completed a genealogy of the family in the mid-2010s—Camacho is likely the great-great-grandson of Eliodoro Camacho, a famed veteran of the War of the Pacific who participated actively in Bolivian politics throughout the nineteenth century.[α] Further down the tree, Camacho's great-grandfather was José Félix Camacho, who served as prefect and senator for Santa Cruz in the early 1900s. The line then continues down through José Camacho Cuéllar before reaching José Luis Camacho Parada, Luis Fernando's father.[10][11]
Camacho studied law at the Private University of Santa Cruz (UPSA), graduating with a diploma in international commercial contracts and a master's degree in corporate law. He completed a second master's in finance and tax law at the University of Barcelona, Spain.[12] Returning to Bolivia, Camacho worked as a professor at the UPSA, teaching courses on corporate law from 2005 to 2017 and finance and tax law from 2006 to 2015. He also spent shorter yearlong stints as a professor of commercial law from 2006 to 2007 and economic law from 2007 to 2008, also at the UPSA.[13]
Business career
Camacho was legal adviser and shareholder of Bolivian insurance holding Nacional Seguros from 2009 to 2015. Both families of Camacho and fellow businessman and politician Branko Marinkovic have shares in Nacional Seguros holding and its subsidiaries.[1][14]
Camacho also owns Corporación Jurídica, a sole-proprietorship local law firm whose tax address appears in ICIJ's Panama Papers leak lists.[15][16]
Political career
He served as the vice-president of far-right activism organization Santa Cruz Youth Union from 2002 to 2004.[17]
Camacho was inactive between 2004 and 2013, when he became the second vice-president of Provincial Civic Committees of the Cruceñidad, a post he held until 2015.[18]
In February 2019, Camacho was elected President of the Civic Committee of Santa Cruz for the 2019-2021 with 234 votes, replacing former president Fernando Cuéllar Núnez.[19][20][21]
2019 protests
During the November 2019 protests that erupted in Bolivia in response to electoral fraud which was stated by the Organization of American States, Camacho took leadership of principal opposition in the Santa Cruz region to protest against Evo Morales.[22] He called on the security forces to join the opposition.[23] Camacho attempted to present himself as the leader of the anti-governmental opposition, although in reality this opposition included a broad array of social groups expressing grievances with Morales's ruling party and distrust in the electoral process.[24][25][26][27]
After President Evo Morales fled to Cochabamba, Camacho went to the old Government Palace and put down a Bible and a symbolic letter that renounced Morales. Camacho declared: "I don't go with weapons, I go with my faith and my hope; with a Bible in my right hand and his letter of resignation in my left hand."[28][29][30] A pastor who was present was recorded saying that "the Bible has re-entered the palace. Pachamama will never return".[31]
Añez presidency
Following the crisis, Camacho formed the Creemos political alliance and announced his candidacy in the 2020 election with Marco Pumari as his vice-presidential candidate.[32] He gained 14% of the popular vote losing in every department except his home Santa Cruz Department. The latter facilitated his Santa Cruz gubernatorial bid in the 2021 regional elections.
With the endorsement of incumbent governor Rubén Costas and in alliance with various opposition groups, Camacho and his running mate Mario Aguilera, officially won the governorship (and deputy governorship respectively) in first round with 860,023 votes (55.64% of the vote).[33]
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