Rubén Armando Costas Aguilera (born 6 October 1955) is a Bolivian politician and the prefect and then

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Santa Cruz Department Santa Cruz () is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia, occupying about one-third (33.74%) of the country's territory. With an area of , it is slightly smaller than Japan or the US state of Montana. It is located in the e ...

in Bolivia from 2006 to 2021, and also the leader of the

Democrat Social Movement The Social Democratic Movement ( es, Movimiento Demócrata Social; MDS), often shortened to just the Democrats ( es, Demócratas), is a centre-right political party in Bolivia founded in 2013 for the movement for greater autonomy for the eastern ...

(MDS).

Early life and career

Rubén Costas was born on 6 October 1955 in

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; "Holy Cross of the Mountain Range"), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River in the eastern Tropical Lowlands of Bolivia ...

to Rubén Costas Menacho and Guedy Aguilera de Costas. He is married to Sonia Vincentti Égüez. Originally an agricultural technician by profession, he later became leader of the Bolivian Cattlemen's Confederation, the Milk Producers Association, the Eastern Agricultural Chamber. From 2003 to 2004, he was the leader of the Santa Cruz Civic Committee.

Prefect and Governor of Santa Cruz (2006–present)

Costas successfully ran in the 2005 general elections for the office of Prefect of Santa Cruz on behalf of the Autonomy for Bolivia party. This election was the result of several negotiations and large, peaceful public demonstrations in Santa Cruz demanding that prefects, the highest office in each of the nine departments, be elected by popular vote. Prior to that, the provisions of the 1967 Constitution stated that prefects were to be appointed by the president. Due to popular demand and negotiations led by Costas, the Bolivian National Congress approved Law 3015 to formalize the prefect election process. This was a major victory for the autonomy movement, born out of the eastern region of Bolivia, that fought for decentralization of political power.

Prefect of Santa Cruz (2006–2010)

Following the 2005 elections, Costas became the first democratically elected Prefect of Santa Cruz, being inaugurated on 22 January 2006. In 2008, he participated, along with all other departmental governors, in that year's no confidence referendum, with 66% of voters electing to keep him in office. Costas remained in office until 5 January 2010 when, following the promulgation of 2009 Constitution, he resigned to run for governor (the same office, renamed under the new constitution) in that year's regional elections. Santa Cruz-04-04-2008

Governor of Santa Cruz (2010–2021)

Costas ran as a member of the Truth and Social Democracy (VERDES) party, of which he was the leader, winning 54% of the popular vote and returning to the leadership of Santa Cruz on 30 May 2010. Since he took office, Costas remained strongly critical of the government of President

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to c ...

because of Morales's opposition to decentralization. On 12 April 2011, Costas was shot in the left

temporal bone The temporal bones are situated at the sides and base of the skull, and lateral to the temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex. The temporal bones are overlaid by the sides of the head known as the temples, and house the structures of the ears. ...

in the Blacutt Square of Santa Cruz de la Sierra after attempted to prevent the assault of a woman by two assailants on motorcycles. The injury was non-lethal and he was discharged a few weeks after the incident. Ahead of the 2014 general elections, Costas merged his VERDES party with Renewing Freedom and Democracy (LIDER), and

Popular Consensus Popular Consensus ( es, Consenso Popular, CP) was a Bolivian political party founded in 2009. CP founder Óscar Ortiz Antelo was President of the Senate of Bolivia from 2008 to 2010. In the 2009 national election, the party formed an electoral a ...

(CP), forming the

(MDS). At the party's first National Congress on 15 December 2013, Costas was chosen as its presidential candidate. However, the party withdrew from the elections, opting instead to ally with Samuel Doria Medina's

National Unity Front The National Unity Front ( Spanish: ''Frente de Unidad Nacional'') is a political party in Bolivia. It was founded in late 2003 by Samuel Jorge Doria Medina Auza, who had broken with the Revolutionary Left Movement earlier that year. It has 3 ...

. Instead, Costas successfully ran for a second term in the 2015 regional elections. On 11 December 2014, Costas resigned in favor of Assemblywoman Ruth Lozada in order to qualify as a gubernatorial candidate. Upon winning, he was inaugurated again on 31 May 2015. After more than 14 years in power in Santa Cruz, Costas announced that he would not run for reelection nor run for the office of Mayor of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in the following year's regional elections. The MDS did not present its own gubernatorial candidate to succeed Costas, instead choosing to endorse

Creemos ''Creemos'' () is a right-wing political party consisting of the Solidarity Civic Unity (UCS) and Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy ...

leader

Luis Fernando Camacho 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, opposition bench in the Plurinational Legislative ...

, who ultimately won in the first round.

References

External links

Declarations the Rubén Costas, 4 de mayo de 2008

Autonomy for the rich ones, revolution for the poor men 1

Autonomy for the rich ones, revolution for the poor men 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Costas, Rubén 1955 births Living people 21st-century Bolivian politicians Autonomy for Bolivia politicians Bolivian environmentalists People from Santa Cruz de la Sierra