David Choquehuanca facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Most Excellent David Choquehuanca MROU OSP
Official portrait, 2020
39th Vice President of Bolivia
In office 8 November 2020 – 8 November 2025
President	Luis Arce
Preceded by	Álvaro García Linera
Succeeded by	Edmand Lara
Secretary General of ALBA
In office 5 March 2017 – 15 November 2019
Preceded by	Bernardo Álvarez
Succeeded by	Sacha Llorenti
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 23 January 2006 – 23 January 2017
President	Evo Morales
Preceded by	Armando Loaiza
Succeeded by	Fernando Huanacuni
Personal details
Born	David Choquehuanca Céspedes (1961-05-07) 7 May 1961 (age 65) Cota Cota Baja, La Paz, Bolivia
Political party	Movement for Socialism
Spouse	Lidia Gutiérrez
Education	Simón Bolívar Higher Teacher Training School Niceto Pérez Cadre Training School
Occupation	Diplomat politician
Signature

David Choquehuanca Céspedes is an important leader and diplomat from Bolivia. He served as the 39th vice president of Bolivia from 2020 to 2025. Before that, he was the country's minister of foreign affairs. He served in that job from 2006 until 2017. He belongs to an indigenous group called the Aymara people. Because of this, he worked hard to protect indigenous traditions and culture. He is a member of the Movement for Socialism political party.

Throughout his life, Choquehuanca helped farmers and rural workers stand up for their rights. He worked closely with Evo Morales for many years. Later, he served alongside President Luis Arce to help lead the nation. He spent eleven full years as foreign minister, which set a national record. Choquehuanca also represented Bolivia on the world stage at international meetings and councils.

Early life and learning

Childhood in an Andean village

David Choquehuanca was born on 7 May 1961 in Cota Cota Baja. This small hamlet sits on the shore of Lake Titicaca. The lake is in the high Altiplano of the La Paz Department. His family belongs to the Aymara indigenous group. His ancestors were connected to noble leaders called caciques from Asankaru, Peru. These ancestors were part of ancient Andean civilizations. They traced their family back to Paullu, a famous sapa inca of the Inca Empire.

Choquehuanca grew up in a traditional Baptist family. He spoke only his native language Aymara until he was seven years old. After that, he learned to speak the Spanish language. His father, Nicolás Choquehuanca, was a respected community leader in nearby Huarina. He directed a local agricultural cooperative to help farmers work together. As a boy, David learned many useful skills about homesteading. His father taught him how to weave warm cloth and how to practice sowing seeds. He also practiced fishing in the cold lake waters and raised rabbits through cuniculture.

School and university studies

Choquehuanca attended a local school for his primary education. In 1971, he moved to the town of Huarina for his secondary classes. He went to the General José Miguel Lanza School and graduated in 1980. During high school, a teacher introduced him to Marxist thought. These new ideas about social fairness inspired him deeply. He decided he wanted to become an active community revolutionary. In his third year, he helped create the school's very first students' union. He took part in a student protest for better school conditions. School leaders suspended him several times for organizing these events.

After finishing high school, Choquehuanca moved to the big city of La Paz. He went to the Simón Bolívar Higher Teacher Training School to study philosophy. While there, he joined an active students' group. He paused his classes after one year to work with a local trade union. In 1985, he won a special scholarship to travel abroad. He attended the Niceto Pérez Cadre Training School in Havana, Cuba. In Cuba, he studied advanced philosophy and political economics.

When he came back home, he took postgraduate classes at the Higher University of San Andrés. He studied history and anthropology to understand his country better. Later, in 2002, he earned a diploma in indigenous rights from Cordillera University. These studies helped him understand both national laws and native customs.

Leader in the peasant movement

Working with rural workers

During the 1980s, Choquehuanca joined the growing peasant labor movement across the countryside. He helped plan organized labor strikes to ask for fair pay. He attended many meetings with farming families and community elders. In 1984, he met another young community activist named Evo Morales. They met during a large youth conference for rural workers. Choquehuanca noticed right away that Morales was a natural leader who drew attention.

Choquehuanca helped write the famous Apaña Manifesto alongside Morales and other organizers. This paper suggested forming a new political group run by farmers. In the past, traditional politicians had ignored indigenous voices. This new effort eventually grew into the Movement for Socialism, known as MAS. Choquehuanca and Morales also joined leader Víctor Hugo Cárdenas for a massive march. This historic march was called the "500 Years of Resistance" campaign. Around seventy thousand indigenous peoples came together to show their strength.

Training future leaders

From 1998 to 2005, Choquehuanca served as the leader of the Nina Program. This special group was a NGO that offered training classes. It taught indigenous men and women how to become capable community leaders. Choquehuanca traveled across the country to give helpful advice to local groups. He also served as a trusted advisor to Morales.

As the MAS party grew stronger, people asked Choquehuanca to run for office. Party members wanted him to run for mayor of the city of El Alto. He thought about the offer carefully, but chose to turn it down. He said his heart was focused on helping grassroot groups directly. In 2005, friends asked him to run for the Senate. He declined that offer as well because he preferred working with farmers.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Becoming Bolivia's top diplomat

David Choquehuanca receiving an honor in Peru.

Evo Morales won the presidential race in the 2005 election. After taking power in 2006, Morales chose Choquehuanca to lead the foreign ministry. Choquehuanca was the very first indigenous person to hold this high diplomatic job. He remained in this role for eleven years, until 2017. That made him the longest-serving foreign minister in Bolivian history. Only economy minister Luis Arce served longer in the cabinet.

Choquehuanca became a central figure in the national government. Many people saw him as the third most important official in the party. The other two leaders were Morales and Vice President Álvaro García Linera. Choquehuanca represented a gentle Indianist approach to government policy. He believed public policy should focus on decolonizing the nation's mindset and daily life. He shared Andean cultural values with diplomats visiting from around the world. These ideas gave him strong support among native communities living across the high plains.

Foreign policy decisions

As foreign minister, Choquehuanca managed relations with many powerful foreign countries. In 2008, relations between Bolivia and the United States became quite tense. The Bolivian government decided to ask its ambassador to leave the country. At the same time, Choquehuanca built very close friendships with other Latin American nations. He worked hard to maintain polite ties even with governments that held opposing ideas.

Choquehuanca also helped launch a major legal effort against the neighboring country of Chile. Bolivia wanted to regain direct access to the sea. Choquehuanca helped bring the lawsuit against Chile to the world court at The Hague. Many years later, the International Court of Justice heard the case. Choquehuanca had already left his cabinet post by the time the court made its ruling.

Leaving the foreign ministry

Inside the presidential cabinet, different groups of advisors sometimes disagreed on big decisions. One group supported the views of Vice President García Linera. The other group supported the cultural ideas of Choquehuanca. In 2016, Bolivian citizens voted in the 2016 constitutional referendum. Voters chose to keep legal rules called a term limit on presidential terms. Because of this vote, some supporters began suggesting Choquehuanca as a future president. This idea created tension between Choquehuanca and Morales.

Around that same time, a severe water shortage affected the capital city of La Paz. Government officials faced public criticism for failing to solve the water problem quickly. In January 2017, Morales decided to change his team and replaced Choquehuanca. The president appointed Fernando Huanacuni as the brand-new foreign minister. Choquehuanca soon moved to Caracas to lead the regional group known as ALBA. Some observers thought this new post was a way to keep him away from home politics.

Vice President of Bolivia

Return to high politics

In late 2019, Bolivia went through the serious 2019 political crisis. Many citizens joined large public protests following the national vote. Morales stepped down from the presidency and left the country for safety. An interim government took control, and fresh national elections were planned for 2020. Because the interim government left ALBA, Choquehuanca returned to Bolivia.

Indigenous labor groups quickly gathered to choose new candidates for the upcoming election. A major rural federation named after Túpac Katari supported Choquehuanca for president. A broad group called the Pact of Unity also wanted Choquehuanca to run for president. They suggested that young leader Andrónico Rodríguez should be his running mate. However, Morales preferred Luis Arce to lead the ticket. Morales chose Choquehuanca to run for vice president instead.

Some labor groups were unhappy with this decision. The Bolivian Workers' Center wanted Choquehuanca at the top of the ticket. The Bartolina Sisa Confederation also voiced its frustration. However, Choquehuanca asked everyone to stay calm and work together as one team. He accepted the second position to keep the political movement unified and peaceful.

Serving in the executive office

The national election took place during the 2020 general election. The team of Arce and Choquehuanca won the race with over fifty-five percent of the vote. Choquehuanca took his official oath of office in November 2020. He became the second indigenous vice president in Bolivia's history. The very first one was Víctor Hugo Cárdenas back in the 1990s.

Choquehuanca worked hard to bring balance to the country during his five years in office. He promoted peace, unity, and traditional indigenous philosophy. He spoke often about living in harmony with nature and treating all people with kindness. He finished his term as vice president in November 2025. After completing his constitutional term, he was succeeded in office by Edmand Lara.

Electoral history

Honors and awards

David Choquehuanca earned several major awards during his diplomatic career. Friendly nations honored him for his work promoting peaceful relations.

• He received the Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay from Uruguay in 2006.
• He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru by Peru in 2010.

See also

In Spanish: David Choquehuanca para niños