Luis Gallego

Luis Gallego Condori (born 21 June 1968) is a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from Potosí, representing circumscription 39 from 2010 to 2015. Born in a peasant community in one of the least developed regions of rural Potosí, Gallego completed only portions of his primary education before dropping out to focus on agricultural work. As a young adult, he began scaling the ranks of traditional leadership, holding posts of both cultural and political significance within his Quechua community. In 2009, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies on behalf of the Movement for Socialism, a party he militantly supported, only to later grow disenfranchised with.

Not to be confused with Luís Galego or Luis Gallegos.
This article is about the Bolivian politician. For the Spanish businessman, see Luis Gallego (businessman).
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Gallego and the second or maternal family name is Condori.

Luis Gallego
Headshot of Luis Gallego
Official portrait, 2014
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
from Potosí circumscription 39
In office
19 January 2010 – 18 January 2015
SubstituteFilomena Mamani
Preceded byHilarión Bustos
Succeeded byRosa Álvarez
ConstituencyRafael Bustillo
Personal details
Born
Luis Gallego Condori

(1968-06-21) 21 June 1968
Huayllani, Potosí, Bolivia
Political partyMovement for Socialism (2005–2017)
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • politician
SignatureCursive signature in ink

Early life and career

Luis Gallego was born on 21 June 1968 to Severino Gallego and Dorotea Condori, a peasant family native to Huayllani in the rural foothills of northern Potosí.[1] Gallego spent his childhood in poverty, studying up to middle school before dropping out to dedicate himself to agricultural work.[2] As a young adult, Gallego was selected to serve as a jilanqu, an indigenous authority charged with serving several jisk'a ayllus, or small communities.[3][4] In the ensuing years, he reached the position of segunda mayor, the highest authority in his ayllu.[1][4] Gallego's political trajectory led him to hold office on his ayllu's school board and serve as its communal mayor before finally rising to become corregidor, the most important political position within the ayllus.[1][2][5]

Chamber of Deputies

Election
Further information: 2009 Bolivian general election

In 2009, Gallego was selected by the ayllus to run for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies. He registered his candidacy with the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP)—a party he had been an active member of since 2005—and was presented to run in Potosí's circumscription 39, encompassing his home Bustillo Province. He won the race handily, defeating his next closest competitor by a wide margin, although his percentage is diluted down to a 42.1 percent plurality when the high tally of blank and null votes are taken into account.[3]

Tenure

In parliament, Gallego drafted more than twenty bills relating to agriculture, irrigation, and mining in northern Potosí and worked to secure the delivery of agricultural machinery to the department's municipalities. He successfully procured a collective ownership title in favor of the Chullpa ayllu and was a leading proponent of the bill that declared the waters of the disputed Silala River a strategic natural resource of the state.[1] Upon the conclusion of his term, Gallego was not nominated for reelection.[3]

Commission assignments
  • Constitution, Legislation, and Electoral System Commission
    • Constitutional Review and Legislative Harmonization Committee (2014–2015)[6]
  • Plural Justice, Prosecutor's Office, and Legal Defense of the State Commission
    • Rural Native Indigenous Jurisdiction Committee (Secretary: 2010–2012, 2013–2014)[7][8][9]
  • Plural Economy, Production, and Industry Commission
    • Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Committee (2012–2013)[10]

Later career

Despite his militant support for the MAS—even once controversially threatening to whip those who did not vote in favor of the ruling party[11]—Gallego later grew disenfranchised with the party and ultimately resigned from its ranks in 2017, claiming that it had grown "elite" and no longer attended to the needs of the indigenous peoples of Potosí.[12] Gallego spent the ensuing years in political retirement, during which time he graduated as a lawyer from the Bolivian Technological University.[13] In 2022, he returned to the spotlight when he registered his application as a candidate for ombudsman. Despite an official prohibition on applicants who had held elective office in the previous eight years, Gallego was initially given the green light to move to the second phase.[14] However, he was later disqualified upon opposition appeal, dashing his hopes of holding the position.[15][16]

Electoral history
Electoral history of Luis Gallego
Year Office Party Votes Result Ref.
Total  % P.
2009 Deputy Movement for Socialism 15,998 62.81% 1st Won [17]
2022 Ombudsman Nonpartisan Disqualified Lost [16]
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

References

Footnotes
  1. Vargas & Villavicencio 2014, p. 76.
  2. Gonzales Salas 2013, p. 307.
  3. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 245.
  4. Guzman Boutier 2011, p. 211.
  5. Guzman Boutier 2011, p. 215.
  6. Vargas & Villavicencio 2014, p. 307.
  7. Vargas & Villavicencio 2014, pp. 312, 317.
  8. "Comisiones y Comités: Periodo Legislativo 2011–2012". diputados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  9. Vargas & Villavicencio 2014, pp. 307, 311.
  10. "Comisiones y Comités: Periodo Legislativo 2012–2013". diputados.bo (in Spanish). Chamber of Deputies. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  11. "Diputado Gallego ratifica aplicar el 'voto chicotazo' a nivel nacional". UNITEL (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Agencia de Noticias Fides. 6 October 2014. Archived from the original on 18 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  12. "El exdiputado Gallego dimite como militante del MAS". Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. 17 February 2017. Archived from the original on 18 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  13. "Hoja de Vida: Luis Gallego Condori" (PDF). web.senado.gob.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Senators. 2022. pp. 16, 20. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  14. Chuquimia, Marco Antonio (13 April 2022). "Tres casos emblemáticos de candidatos relacionados con el MAS". El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  15. Chuquimia, Marco Antonio (14 April 2022). "Opositores se lanzan contra candidatos a Defensor vinculados al Gobierno y piden inhabilitarlos". El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  16. Ibáñez, Marco A. (17 April 2022). "De los 66 habilitados a la Defensoría, 73% son varones". La Razón (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  17. "Elecciones Generales 2009 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Retrieved 5 June 2022.

Bibliography
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