Carmen García Mamani (born 16 July 1963) is a Bolivian academic, politician, and trade unionist who served as

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Potosí Department, Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the list of highest cities in the world, highest cities in the wo ...

from 2010 to 2015. A member of the

Movement for Socialism Movement for Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (; MAS or MAS-IPSP), is a socialist political party in Bolivia. Its followers are known as ''Masistas''. In the 2005 Bolivian general election, December 2005 el ...

, she previously served on the Tomave Municipal Council from 2000 to 2005. An ethnic

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

, García worked for over a decade as a schoolteacher in rural Potosí. She later studied

educational management Educational management refers to the administration of the education system in which a group combines human and material resources to supervise, plan, strategise, and implement structures to execute an education system. Education is the equippin ...

at multiple universities, finally settling on a career in

teacher training Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitude (psychology), attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they requir ...

and

indigenous language An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by its indigenous peoples. Indigenous languages are not necessarily national languages but they can be; for example, Aymara is both an indigen ...

research. In tandem, García actively operated within the trade syndicates of her home region, through which she began a career in politics as a member of the Movement for Socialism. Elected to the Tomave Municipal Council in 1999, García later won a seat in the Senate in 2009, representing Potosí. Over the course of her tenure, García grew disgruntled with the often hierarchical structure of her

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

and ultimately joined a group of "free thinking" ruling party dissidents that depleted the government's parliamentary supermajority. She was not nominated for reelection.

Early life and career

Carmen García was born on 16 July 1963 in Yonsa, a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the Campos Province of western

. She spent most of her early life in nearby Quijarro Province, residing in Tocora, a community situated in one of the many that make up the Uyuni valley. An ethnic

, García was raised

monolingual Monoglottism ( Greek μόνος ''monos'', "alone, solitary", + γλῶττα , "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language, as opposed to multilingualism. ...

, speaking only her native tongue until reaching primary school, where she was made to learn

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. She completed her primary studies at the 1 de Mayo School in Tocora before moving back to the Campos Province to finish her secondary education. García graduated as a primary school teacher from the Franz Tamayo Normal School in Llica. She taught at educational institutions in and around southwest Potosí for over fifteen years. In tandem, she also pursued instruction in

; taking advantage of the enhanced training opportunities conferred to teachers by the

education reform Education reform is the goal of changing public education. The meaning and educational methods have changed through debates over what content or experiences result in an educated individual or an educated society. Historically, the motivations for ...

of 1994, García attended courses in multiple cities, graduating with a bachelor's in

intercultural bilingual education Intercultural bilingual education ''(Educación bilingüe intercultural)'' is a language-planning model employed throughout Latin America in public education, and it arose as a political movement asserting space for indigenous languages and cult ...

from

Tomás Frías University Tomás may refer to: * Tomás (given name) * Tomás (surname) Tomás is a Spanish, Portuguese, or Irish surname, equivalent of '' Thomas''. It may refer to: * Antonio Tomás (born 1985), professional Spanish footballer * Belarmino Tomás (18 ...

and a master's in the same field from the

Higher University of San Simón The Higher University of San Simón (''Universidad Mayor de San Simón'', UMSS) is a university in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It was founded by Mariscal Andrés de Santa Cruz on November 5, 1832; and is one of the first universities founded in Bolivia ...

, in addition to receiving a second bachelor's in educational management from Juan Misael Saracho University. After graduating, García settled in

Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...

, where she dedicated herself to a career in

at the Paracaya Normal School in addition to doing research work in the fields of

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

and

second language A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which ...

s. During this time, between 2007 and 2008, she completed a

postgraduate diploma fILE:Prédio Pós Graduação IMECC Unicamp.jpg, The State University of Campinas, as well as many Brazilian universities, offer Postgraduate courses in Brazil A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PGD) is a postgraduat ...

in indigenous rights at Cochabamba's Simón I. Patiño University.

Chamber of Senators

Election

Alongside her work in education, García actively participated in her region's trade syndicates and social movement organizations, holding membership in the Uyuni affiliate of the Unified Regional Federation of Rural Workers of Southwest Potosí. The organization's early association with the nascent

(MAS-IPSP) facilitated García's entry into politics, starting out in 1999, when she was elected to a seat on Tomave's municipal council. In 2009, García's syndicate nominated her for a seat in the

Plurinational Legislative Assembly The Plurinational Legislative Assembly () is the national legislature of Bolivia, placed in La Paz, the country's seat of government. The assembly is bicameral, consisting of a lower house (the Chamber of Deputies or ) and an upper house (the ...

, and the MAS, in turn, incorporated her onto its

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

of Potosí

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

candidates. The decision to designate her to a high Senate position was driven by the implementation of a fifty percent female

gender quota A gender quota is a Quotaism, quota used by countries and parties to increase women's representation or substantive equality based on gender in legislatures. Women are largely Women in government, underrepresented in parliaments and account for a ...

, which first took effect this election cycle. As a result of this requirement, García joined the largest delegation of peasant women ever elected to parliament up to that point. Uniquely, she was the only newly elected senator not to succeed a man in the position; her predecessor, Carmen Rosa Velásquez, had been the sole female senator elected in 2005.

Tenure

With the expressed mission of making Bolivia a benchmark country on the topic, García's senatorial term focused on her field of expertise: education. She chaired the Senate's Education Committee in her first year, overseeing the initial stages of reviewing and passing 2010's landmark Avelino Siñani Educational Law, which implemented a new system of education, with special emphasis on indigenous and traditional knowledge. That bill, notably, was approved by parliament without any modifications from the original draft delivered by the

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

, reflectingfrom García's perspectivethe MAS's rigid internal hierarchy, which often discouraged legislators from challenging the party line. Over the course of her tenure, the inability of legislators "to participate at all" in decision-making led García to grow disaffected with her party. By 2013, she had joined the ranks of the so-called "freethinkers", a small faction of MAS dissidents that assumed a critical stance toward the government without fully aligning with the conservative opposition. Though a majority of the group's members came from the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

, they also counted the support of a few senators, including García, but also her regional colleague, Eduardo Maldonado, as well as Pando's senator, Manuel Limachi. García's break with the ruling party was not without consequences; in 2013, she was expelled from her committee seat, ostensibly due to coordination issues, and by the end of her term, she was not nominated for reelection.

Commission assignments

* Chamber of Senators Directorate (Third Secretary: –) * State Security, Armed Forces, and Bolivian Police Commission ** State Security and Fight Against Drug Trafficking Committee (Secretary: 2013–) * Plural Economy, Production, Industry, and Industrialization Commission ** Energy, Hydrocarbons, Mining, and Metallurgy Committee (Secretary: –) * Social Policy, Education, and Health Commission ** Education, Health, Science, Technology, and Sports Committee (Secretary: –, –)

Electoral history

Publications

* *

References

Notes

Footnotes

Works cited

Online and list sources * * * * * * * Digital and print publications * * * * * * * * * Books and encyclopedias * *