Martín Quispe

An early adherent of the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP), Quispe first joined the party's Cosmini affiliate in 1998. The MAS nominated him as its Calamarca mayoral candidate the following year,[1] but he took home just thirty-two votes.^[§] In subsequent years, Quispe remained off the ballot but continued to progressively rise through the ranks of the MAS's internal structure. In 2002, he was made a member of the party's provincial transparency committee, and in 2007, he became its departmental secretary of international relations,[2] the third highest-ranking position within the MAS's La Paz affiliate.[1]

In 2009, ten years after his 1999 loss, Quispe was nominated for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies. He campaigned in southern La Paz's circumscription 21, encompassing his home Aroma Province, as well the neighboring Loayza and Villarroel provinces.[5] Quispe won by a landslide, attaining ninety percent of the popular vote,^[§] the highest margin for any candidate running in single-member constituencies that cycle.[1] In a race where the second-place candidate won less than five percent of the vote,^[§] Quispe's only contender was the plethora of spoilt ballots, which, when included, drop his margin to 68.2 percent. According to sociologist Salvador Romero, the high propensity of abstentions responded to a "certain indifference on the part of the electorate towards candidates who are expected to win, and about whom little is known."[6]

Quispe's parliamentary tenure was split between two committees; he spent the first three years of his term on the lower chamber's Environment Committee, later switching to the Social Welfare Committee in his closing two years.^[§] In these positions, Quispe's work focused on tackling mental health; he drafted a bill in the Chamber of Deputies on the subject and presented a similar proposal to the Latin American Parliament[1] in his capacity as a delegate to it.[7] Outside of legislation, Quispe's tenure was marked by scandal over allegations that he used his influence to procure the release from prison of Yesid Luín, the mayor of Calamarca.[8] Luín had been arrested in 2011 after being caught smuggling cocaine in his car.[9] His subsequent release and restoration to the position of mayor was controversial,[10] with a lengthy criminal process against himself, Quispe, and others going on into 2015 and beyond.[11]

• Social Policy Commission
  • Social Welfare and Protection Committee (2013–2015)[12]
• Amazon Region, Land, Territory, Water, Natural Resources, and Environment Commission
  • Environment, Climate Change, Protected Areas, and Forest Resources Committee (2010–2013)[13][14][15]