37 Facts About Rebeca Delgado

Rebeca Elvira Delgado Burgoa was born on 1 June 1966 and is a Bolivian academic, lawyer, magistrate, and politician who served as president of the Chamber of Deputies from 2012 to 2013.

Rebeca Delgado's near-decade-long political and legislative tenure was preceded by a fifteen-year career as a public servant, during which time she worked as a public defender and examining magistrate, was a magistrate on the Departmental Electoral Court of Cochabamba, and served as the Ombudsman's Office's delegate for the fight against corruption in Cochabamba.

Rebeca Delgado ventured into public activity through the field of human rights, supporting the Departmental Human Rights Assembly during her days as a law student.

Rebeca Delgado worked as coordinator for public defense in Cochabamba and as an examining magistrate before being selected to serve on the department's Departmental Electoral Court, part of the first group of women to hold seats on the bench.

Rebeca Delgado became politically involved during the first government of Evo Morales when she was invited to run for a seat in the Constituent Assembly, tasked with drafting the country's current Constitution.

Rebeca Delgado continued in public administration following the assembly's closure, serving as presidential delegate in Cochabamba, vice minister of government coordination, and head of the Departmental Coordinator of Autonomies.

In 2009, Rebeca Delgado was elected to represent Cochabamba in the Chamber of Deputies, and was elected to the presidency of the lower chamber in 2012.

Rebeca Delgado's tenure saw a deterioration in relations between herself and the administration due to her willingness to challenge executive interference in legislative matters, briefly upending the subservient role the legislature had begun to take starting from Morales's second term.

Rebeca Delgado was not reelected to the presidency and spent the remainder of her term as persona non grata within her own party, assuming leadership over a nascent group of "freethinkers" that defected from the ruling party in the latter years of the 1st Plurinational Legislative Assembly.

Rebeca Delgado took her grievance to the United Nations, which in 2018 ruled that the government had violated her civil and political rights.

Rebeca Delgado was born on 1 June 1966 in La Paz to Alfredo Delgado and Rebeca Burgoa.

Rebeca Delgado's mother was raised in Charazani, the cultural center of the Kallawaya, an itinerant group native to the Saavedra Province.

Rebeca Delgado's father was the son of a local landlord from the rural town of Pumujri in the adjoining Camacho Province.

Orphaned as a child, Alfredo Rebeca Delgado spent much of his youth in the care of the area's Kallawaya community, to whom he later bequeathed his inherited land titles in gratitude.

Rebeca Delgado concluded her primary studies in La Paz before moving with her family to Cochabamba, where she attended the city's Catholic Handmaids institute.

Rebeca Delgado studied law at the Higher University of San Simon, graduating with a master's in criminal science and a diploma in higher education with a specialization in human rights.

Rebeca Delgado received the formal invitation in 2006, accepted, and was elected on the MAS's party list in that year's constituent elections.

The postulation of retired former magistrates to contest elective office was a not uncommon tactic among political parties of the day, taking advantage of the good public image individuals like Rebeca Delgado had accrued as impartial arbiters of the law.

Regardless of its shortfalls, Rebeca Delgado regarded her term in the Constituent Assembly as her "strongest political moment and proof of political commitment".

Half a year after the closure of the Constituent Assembly, Rebeca Delgado was appointed to serve as the government's presidential delegate in Cochabamba, charged with coordinating government actions with the region's social sectors.

Just a month after being sworn in as a presidential delegate, Rebeca Delgado was reassigned to head the Vice Ministry of Government Coordination.

Rebeca Delgado topped the MAS's party list in Cochabamba and was elected to represent the department in the Chamber of Deputies, becoming one of roughly a tenth of former constituents who continued national political careers following the conclusion of their terms in the Constituent Assembly.

Rebeca Delgado's presidency focused on combating the illicit drug trade in the region and restructuring the Andean Integration System in support of the more than ten million migrants from Andean Community member states residing in the United States and European Union.

Rebeca Delgado defeated the two-term incumbent by a margin of twenty-five votes, owing to Arce's lack of support among multiple departmental caucuses.

Rebeca Delgado's presidency prioritized the passage of laws benefiting the most marginalized sectors of society.

Rebeca Delgado's tenure saw the Chamber of Deputies approve legislation aimed at guaranteeing equal conditions for disabled persons and combating human trafficking, and though she opposed the legal recognition of same-sex marriage, viewing it as contravening the Constitution, she did not rule out the possibility of regulating civil unions and division of property.

The ensuing public spat continued through the month, with Rebeca Delgado calling on Romero to exercise more responsibility when drafting laws.

Romero, in turn, lambasted Rebeca Delgado for having "[never] developed a serious proposal in her life", asserting that he would not argue with a person he considered politically and academically beneath him.

Rebeca Delgado's much-publicized face-off with the minister of government soured relations between herself and the executive branch, and though some groups within the MAS and the opposition expressed support for her continuation as president, the political damage done proved insurmountable.

Early into the new year, Morales expressed discontent with the "many problems" Rebeca Delgado's presidency had brought, pointing out that compared to Arce's prior terms, Rebeca Delgado's tenure was "[the] first time there was disconnect between the executive branch and the legislative branch".

Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera was more explicit, commenting that if individuals like Rebeca Delgado wanted to be "freethinkers", they could leave the party.

Rebeca Delgado became a leading advocate of the "freethinkers", a faction of MAS defectors that criticized the ruling party's methods and practices without breaking with the government's left-wing ideological position nor aligning with the conservative opposition.

In late 2013, Rebeca Delgado's group signed an agreement with the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu to promote legislation supporting Bolivia's indigenous population.

Ultimately, internal disputes over the coalition's presidential ballot forced Rebeca Delgado to seek different political partners.

Rebeca Delgado declined to seek another term in the Legislative Assembly, preferring to work towards consolidating a candidacy in Cochabamba at the municipal or departmental level.

Rebeca Delgado eventually reached an agreement with the opposition National Unity Front alongside the Revolutionary Left Front and Solidarity Civic Unity to form the United for Cochabamba alliance.

Beyond that, Rebeca Delgado retired from partisan political life, returning to her origins as an academic.