Carlos Alberto Sonnenschein

Among Beni's elites, participation in politics came as a natural evolution of their regional economic influence.[8] After the democratic transition, many wealthy families aligned themselves with either Nationalist Democratic Action or the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR)—the parties most receptive to their demands and needs[9]—in effect creating a two-party system in which each front asserted its influence by proxy of competing clans; political conflicts translated to intrafamily ones,[10] party membership drew more from familial tradition than ideological conviction,[11] and the department's electoral bipolarity, in turn, prevented the emergence of significant counterweights to either side's socioeconomic hegemony.[10]

By the turn of the century, Riberalta had established itself as an electoral bastion of the MNR,[1] with the region's elites having monopolized northern Beni's most important executive and legislative positions.[9] As chair of the local civic community, Sonnenschein enjoyed important political and lobbying connections[12] and by 2001, he had been named deputy leader of the MNR's Riberalta affiliate.[1] When in 2002 Sonnenschein's brother-in-law, Sandro Soriano, vacated his seat in the Chamber of Deputies to run for Senate, Sonnenschein was given the opportunity to contest the 64th district, in which he easily prevailed.[3]

Reelected in 2005, Sonnenschein's political career survived the dramatic decline of the MNR—hit hard by the stigma of its role in the 2003 gas conflict, the party saw its worst electoral showing in its organizational history. In part, Sonnenschein's success owed to the continued degree of support afforded to the MNR in one of its traditional regions of support: the Amazon, in particularly Beni, where it won its only senator and two single-member constituency victories—including Sonnenschein. Even then, Sonnenschein's personal popularity cannot be discounted as a factor, especially since, on the presidential ballot, Michiaki Nagatani took second place in the same district.[1][13]

As with many parliamentarians who hail from the northeastern departments, Sonnenschein's legislative tenure showed more interest in fortifying his local presence, popularity, and influence back home than in dealing with the various congressional conflicts and crises taking place in La Paz at any given time. Though the resulting regional recognition certainly benefitted him electorally,[1] it came at the cost of actual political participation. By 2009, Sonnenschein had come to be noted for the high quantity of absences—often unexcused—he had accumulated throughout his two terms and seven years in office.[14] Year on year, he consistently topped the list of the most absentee legislators, accruing Bs 40,950 in sanctions between January and August 2007 alone.[15][16] In all, according to Movement for Socialism deputy Martín Mollo, Sonnenschein missed ninety-eight percent of all sessions held during the 2006–2010 congressional term, leaving his legislative record largely a mystery and making him a true unknown among journalists and staffers in parliament.[17]

• Finance Commission (Vice President: 2008–2010)[18]
• Economic Development Commission (Vice President: 2007–2008)[19]
• Human Development Commission
  • Housing Committee (2003–2004)[20]
• Labor and Employment Law Commission (Vice President: 2006–2007)[21]
• Defense and Armed Forces Commission (2004–2006)[22][23]
• Sustainable Development Commission (Vice President: 2002–2003)[24]

Weakened and in continuous political decline, the MNR entered the 2009 elections on its last legs; its presidential candidate, Germán Antelo, stayed in the race for just over a month, only to abruptly step down to support National Convergence (PPB-CN), the multi-front mega-coalition backing Manfred Reyes Villa. As a result, for the first time in decades, the MNR did not participate in a national election.[25] Amid the conspicuous absence of key party figures and political families from the electoral arena,[26] Sonnenschein was among the few MNR legislators to successfully secure a candidacy on one of the still-competing parliamentary lists—nominated by CN to contest a seat in the Senate,[27] a position he won.[17]

In contrast to the rest of CN's parliamentary caucus—eternally engulfed in constant infighting over the scant positions of power afforded to the minority bloc—Sonnenschein preferred to play a more laid-back role throughout his senatorial tenure, as he had done in the two previous legislatures. In a scenario where his nine opposition colleagues frequently clashed with one another over which commission they ought to chair, Sonnenschein opted to spend the few sessions he actually attended working from one of the upper chamber's many committees—positions "nobody fights for." When, by process of elimination, he was finally due to assume a seat on the Senate's powerful directorate in 2014, Sonnenschein ceded his right to colleague Jeanine Áñez. When mentioning Sonnenschein in its recounting of CN's fraught parliamentary history, outlet La Razón put plainly: "Sonnenschein, who?"[28]

• Planning, Economic Policy, and Finance Commission
  • Financial, Monetary, Tax, and Insurance Policy Committee (Secretary: 2010–2014)[29][30][31][32]
• Plural Economy, Production, Industry, and Industrialization Commission
  • Plural Economy, Productive Development, Public Works, and Infrastructure Committee (Secretary: 2014–2015)[33]