José Mendieta

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mendieta and the second or maternal family name is Villarroel .

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José Mendieta
Official portrait, 2014
Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Cochabamba circumscription 28
In office 19 January 2010 –18 January 2015
Personal details
Born	José Félix Mendieta Villarroel (1958-11-15) 15 November 1958 (age 65) Sacaba, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Political party	Movement for Socialism
Alma mater	Enrique Finot Normal School
Occupation	Activist politician trade unionist

José Félix Mendieta Villarroel (born 15 November 1958) is a Bolivian politician and trade unionist who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from Cochabamba, representing circumscription 28 from 2010 to 2015.

Though educated in pedagogy, Mendieta spent most of his career in commercial driving, climbing the ranks of the sector's trade unions to eventually become general secretary of the Sacaba Mixed Motor Transport Union. Though traditionally conservative, under the leadership of figures like Mendieta, many of the country's drivers' unions were reoriented towards the left.

Starting in the early 2000s, the driving sector's alliance with the Movement for Socialism opened spaces for many of its representatives to attain elective office. Such was the case with Mendieta, who, from 2005 to 2009, served on Sacaba's municipal council before later being elected to represent the area's drivers' unions in the Chamber of Deputies.

Early life and political career

Early life and education

José Mendieta was born on 15 November 1958 in Sacaba, Cochabamba, to Profacio Mendieta and Florencia Villarroel. ^[1] Mendieta was raised in a household of modest means; ^[2] his father worked as a commercial driver while his mother was a local merchant. He completed his primary studies at the Germán Busch School, later attending the José Nicolas Maldonado School before seeking higher education in pedagogy, graduating from the Enrique Finot Normal School. ^[3] He briefly taught mathematics at an institution in Warnes but retired after just two years due to the financial constraints and low income received from practicing the profession. ^[2]

Career and trade unionism

Unable to continue teaching, Mendieta returned to Sacaba, where he dedicated himself to commercial driving. In the ensuing years, he became affiliated with the city's drivers' unions, spending nearly a decade in leadership roles in the Sacaba Mixed Motor Transport Union, including holding office as the organization's general secretary for six years. ^[3]

Under Mendieta's leadership, the organized drivers continued to push for their historical demands, such as the lowering of excessive tolls or the expansion of fuel access. However, they were also oriented in favor of broader social issues, with Mendieta supporting mobilizations against the privatization of water and in favor of resource nationalism. ^[1] His tenure represented a broader trend of realignment on the part of the country's transportation sector—long unique for its more conservative orientation in comparison to other unions—towards left-wing political positions. ^[4]

The shift in disposition among the drivers' unions coincided with the rising primacy of the nascent Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP), with both groups steadily coalescing into a broader alliance. ^[5] Already in 2004, Mendieta was invited by the MAS to run for a seat on the Sacaba Municipal Council, a position he won. ^[6] His tenure as a municipal councillor focused on guaranteeing the water supply in Sacaba, ^[3] a region that continued to suffer debilitating shortages in the wake of the Cochabamba water conflict. ^[7]

Chamber of Deputies

Election

Further information: 2009 Bolivian general election

The alliance between the MAS and the drivers' unions solidified from 2005 on and translated into the nomination of at least one union representative per department. ^[8] Mendieta's prominence as a local transport leader led Sacaba's drivers' union to select him as their representative in parliament. ^[9] Customarily, candidates chosen by the drivers' unions were registered on the MAS's electoral list, but Mendieta's municipal experience led the party to run him in a single-member constituency. He won by an absolute majority in Cochabamba's circumscription 28, one of the MAS's primary bases of support. ^[10]

Tenure

As was the case on the municipal council, Mendieta spent much of his tenure in the Chamber of Deputies working to improve access to water in Cochabamba's underdeveloped regions, for which he spent most of his term heading the chamber's Natural and Hydric Resources and Water Committee. ^[1] Mendieta's term as chair also saw significant developments in Bolivia's dispute with Chile regarding sovereignty over the Silala River. In late 2012, the committee, followed shortly thereafter by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, passed a bill declaring the river's waters a strategic natural resource. "We are ratifying with this law our full right over these water resources," Mendieta stated, "we do not have to ask permission from anyone, not from Chile ... or any other country on the use of the Silala." ^[11]

Nearing the conclusion of his mandate, Mendieta was not nominated for reelection, ^[10] a common practice among the Movement for Socialism, which preferred to open up spaces for different representatives of allied sectors to enter parliament. ^[12] Though Mendieta's political career ended there, Cochabamba's drivers' unions maintained their parliamentary presence through the elections of legislators such as Lucio Gómez. ^[13]

Commission assignments

• Amazon Region, Land, Territory, Water, Natural Resources, and Environment Commission
  • Natural and Hydric Resources and Water Committee (Secretary: 2010–2011, 2012–2014; 2014–2015) ^{[14] [15]}
• Territorial Organization of the State and Autonomies Commission
  • Native Indigenous Autonomies Committee (2011–2012) ^[16]

Electoral history

Electoral history of José Mendieta

Year	Office	Party		Votes			Result	Ref.
				Total	%	P.
2004	Councillor		Movement for Socialism	12,063	34.75%	1st	Won	[17] [lower-greek 2]
2009	Deputy		Movement for Socialism	60,150	72.23%	1st	Won	[18]
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

References

Notes

1. Redistribution; circumscription 23.
2. Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.

Footnotes

1. Vargas & Villavicencio 2014, p. 102.
2. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 368.
3. Gonzales Salas 2013, p. 92.
4. Romero Ballivián 2018, pp. 17, 256.
5. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 17.
6. Romero Ballivián 2018, pp. 368–369.
7. Forero, Juan (14 December 2005). "Bolivia Regrets IMF Experiment". The New York Times . Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
8. Romero Ballivián 2018, pp. 199, 211.
9. Vargas & Villavicencio 2014, p. 102; Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 369.
10. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 369.
11. Quenallata, René (24 November 2012). "Aguas del Silala son recurso natural estratégico según ley" [Silala Waters Are a Strategic Natural Resource, Law Affirms]. Opinión (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 2 January 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
12. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 320.
13. Romero Ballivián 2018, pp. 256, 369.
14. Vargas & Villavicencio 2014, pp. 311, 316, 320.
15. "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.
16. "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.
17. "Elecciones Municipales 2004 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ . Retrieved 5 June 2022.
18. "Elecciones Generales 2009 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ . Retrieved 20 September 2022.

Bibliography

• Gonzales Salas, Inés, ed. (2013). Biografías: Historias de vida en la Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional (PDF) (in Spanish). Editorial Gente Común; ERBOL; Fundación Friedrich Ebert; IDEA Internacional. pp. 92–93. ISBN   978-99954-93-05-9. OCLC   876429743.
• Romero Ballivián, Salvador (2018). Quiroga Velasco, Camilo (ed.). Diccionario biográfico de parlamentarios 1979–2019 (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). La Paz: Fundación de Apoyo al Parlamento y la Participación Ciudadana; Fundación Konrad Adenauer. pp. 368–369. ISBN   978-99974-0-021-5. OCLC   1050945993 – via ResearchGate.
• Vargas Luna, María Elena; Villavicencio Arancibia, Jois Sarelly, eds. (2014). Primera Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional de Bolivia, Cámara de Diputados: Diccionario biográfico, diputadas y diputados titulares y suplentes 2010–2015 (in Spanish). La Paz: Cámara de Diputados del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia. p. 102. OCLC   961105285 – via Calaméo.

External links

• Parliamentary profile Office of the Vice President (in Spanish).

Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia
Preceded by Alejandro Peña	Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Cochabamba circumscription 28 2010–2015	Succeeded by Julio Jiménez