Luis Fernando Camacho facts for kids

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. He is the leader of Creemos, the right-wing bench of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and was the chair of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee in 2019. He 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.

Following Morales' resignation on 10 November 2019 and the scheduling of new elections, Camacho entered Bolivian politics as a presidential candidate for the Christian right-wing party Creemos along with Potosi Civic Comitee 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.

Early life and education

Camacho comes from a family involved in business. He is the son of José Luis Camacho Parada, who previously presided over the Civic Committee of Santa Cruz from 1981 to 1983 and the Santa Cruz Federation of Private Businesses from 1992 to 1993 Local journalist Carlos Valverde Bravo claimed Luis Fernando Camacho's great-great-grandfather was Eliodoro Camacho.

Camacho studied law at the Private University of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. He graduated with a law degree in 2003. In 2005, he completed a master's degree in Financial and Tax Law at the University of Barcelona in Spain.

Camacho married Gabriela Antelo Miranda in September 2019.

Activism

In 2002, Camacho joined the centrist Revolutionary Nationalist Movement of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. He served as the vice-president of far-right activism organization Santa Cruz Youth Union from 2002 to 2004.

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. In 2017, he assumed the role of first vicepresidente of the Civic Committee, which he occupied until 2019.

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.

2019 protests

During the November 2019 protests that erupted in Bolivia in response to electoral fraud alleged by the Organization of American States, Camacho took leadership of principal opposition in the Santa Cruz region to protest against Evo Morales. 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.

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." A pastor who was present was recorded saying that "the Bible has re-entered the palace. Pachamama will never return".

Camacho allegedly pressed the police to riot causing the collapse of Morales' government.

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.

Camacho also owns Corporación Jurídica, a sole-proprietorship local law firm whose tax address appears in ICIJ Panama Papers leak lists.

See also

• In Spanish: Luis Fernando Camacho