Santos Quispe

Santos Quispe Quispe (born 26 November 1982), commonly known as Wayna Mallku, is a Bolivian doctor and politician serving as governor of La Paz since 2021. A member of Forward United People, of which he is the leader, Quispe was a relative unknown in politics until he replaced his late father, the renowned peasant leader Felipe Quispe, as Jallalla La Paz's candidate for the governorship of the La Paz Department. Shortly after winning the election, Quispe terminated his party's pact with Jallalla, establishing a confrontational attitude with the Departmental Assembly for the duration of his term. In early 2022, he was sentenced to house arrest with the right to work after being discovered allegedly intoxicated at his office. Early life and career Santos Quispe was born on 26 November 1982 in Achacachi, La Paz, the youngest of seven siblings born to Felipe Quispe, "the Mallku", a renowned Aymara peasant leader. Quispe was raised in the Aymara community of Chilijaya in the Achacachi municipality, where he resided for the majority of his life. In 2004, he enrolled as a student of sociology at the Higher University of San Andrés and from 2015 was a member of the student body of the Public University of El Alto, where he studied educational sciences. Prior to becoming governor, Quispe was still enrolled in these institutions, carrying out his sixth and third semester, respectively. He studied abroad in Cuba at the Latin American School of Medicine, graduating with a bachelor's degree in medicine in 2012. Upon returning to Bolivia, he joined the Association of Doctors Graduated Abroad and, in 2016, was appointed as part of the administrative support staff of the Departmental Health Service of La Paz (SEDES). Governor of La Paz Election In 2014, together with his father, Quispe participated in the formation of Forward United People (APU), a political party which, by 2021, lacked legal status with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to participate in elections. As a result, for the departmental elections in La Paz, Quispe secured an alliance for APU with the civic group Jallalla La Paz of Leopoldo Chui. On 15 December 2020, the two fronts presented Quispe's father, Felipe Quispe, as Jallalla's candidate for the governorship of the La Paz Department.