Jorge Fernando “Tuto” Quiroga Ramírez was President of Bolivia from August 7, 2001 to August 6, 2002. Jorge is a 1981 graduate of Texas A&M University, with a degree in industrial engineering, becoming the first head of state from that university. He went on to be a self-declared “corporate yuppie”... Read more
Jorge Fernando “Tuto” Quiroga Ramírez was President of Bolivia from August 7, 2001 to August 6, 2002.
Jorge is a 1981 graduate of Texas A&M University, with a degree in industrial engineering, becoming the first head of state from that university. He went on to be a self-declared “corporate yuppie” working for I.B.M. in Austin, Texas while earning a master’s degree in business administration from St. Edward’s University. He then moved back to Bolivia, like many other Bolivian Presidents he is of European descent of Spanish blood.
In 1997 he was elected as Vice President of Bolivia. At 41, he was the youngest vice president in Bolivia’s history. He became President when Hugo Banzer resigned because of aggravated health problems. Jorge assumed office as acting president on July 1, 2001 and was sworn-in on August 7, to complete Banzer’s five-year mandate.
Jorge ran for President in his own right in the 2005 election, as the candidate for a new right-of-center coalition known as Social and Democratic Power(PODEMOS), which included the bulk of Banzer’s former ADN organisation. His main opponent was the leftist Evo Morales of the Movement Towards Socialism. Morales won the election and Jorge finished a distant second place, receiving 28.6% of the vote.
Quiroga has received the World Leader of Tomorrow Award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He is a member of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 80 former Presidents and Prime Ministers of democratic countries, which works to promote democratic leadership and governance.