Óscar Zamora Medinaceli

Óscar Zamora Medinaceli (a.k.a. 'Motete',^[1] 'Comandante Rolando', b. January 20, 1934, Tarija) is a is a Bolivian politician and lawyer.^[2] A communist student activist in his youth and leader of a failed Maoist insurgency in the 1970s, Zamora Medinaceli went on to become a senator, minister, mayor, ambassador and prefect.

Student activist

Zamora Medinaceli entered politics through activism in the student movement. In 1951 he became the executive secretary of the High School Students Federation of Tarija. Between 1954 and 1958 he served as the executive secretary of the Local University Federation of Tarija. He was also a founder and leader of the Communist Youth of Bolivia. In 1954 he became the founding chairman of the Tarija Civic Youth Committee. He became the executive secretary of the Bolivian University Confederation, a nation-wide university students movement. Between 1961 and 1964 he was stationed in Prague, working at the office of the International Union of Students.^[2]

Split in the Communist Party

During his tenure in Czechoslovakia, Zamora Medinaceli had developed close links with the Chinese communists. Upon his return to Bolivia, he formed an oppositional tendency inside the Communist Party of Bolivia along with Raúl Ruiz González and Luis Arratia.^[3] Zamora Medinaceli's group were expelled from the Communist Party in August 1964 in connection with the second party congress held. His followers founded the pro-Chinese Communist Party of Bolivia (Marxist-Leninist) (PCB(ML)) in 1965, in which Zamora Medinaceli was the main leader.^[3][4][5]

Che in Bolivia

Zamora Medinaceli had contacts with Che Guevara and Régis Debray during the 1960s.^[4][5][6] Zamora Medinaceli had been part of the CODEP delegation (which also included Guillermo Lora and Lidia Gueiler Tejada) to the Latin American Solidarity Organization in Havanna in January 1966, but which was expelled from Cuba. Nevertheless, contacts between Zamora Medinaceli and the Cubans continued.^[3] In the end PCB(ML) never offered any concrete support to Guevara's guerrilla effort.^[4][5][6] Zamora Medinaceli did however continue to defend Guevara's guerrilla struggle publicly.^[7] Zamora Medinaceli is harshly criticized by Fidel Castro in his preface to Guevara's Bolivian Diaries.^[4][5][6] The refusal of Zamora Medinaceli to support to Guevara's initiative in 1967 remained a bone of contention between Maoists and Guevarists in Latin America for several years to come.^[8] Zamora Medinaceli wrote a lengthy rebuttal to Castro in 1968, in which he stated that Guevara himself had not accused the PCB(ML) of betrayal, that PCB(ML) had discussed plans for an armed insurrection during a visit to Cuba in 1964, that the PCB(ML) had been unaware of Guevara's arrival in Bolivia and that Castro had aligned himself with the 'revisionists' during the 1964 Latin American conference of Communist Parties.^[9][10]

UCAPO insurgency

Under the code-name 'Comandante Rolando' he led the irregular rebel group Poor Peasants Union (UCAPO), which began militant actions in the Santa Cruz region in 1970.^[5][11][12] UCAPO was able to integrate some structures of the National Liberation Army and regroup some of its members.^[5] Zamora Medinaceli was however captured, along with three other UCAPO militants, by Rangers following the seizure by UCAPO of the Chané ranch in 1970. The arsenal of the captured group included two revolvers and some Mao Zedong pamphlets.^[13] Zamora Medinaceli's capture was a severe blow for the underground PCB(ML).^[5] Soon after being detained, he was summarily deported to Argentina. He did however return to the country soon afterwards.^[13][14] In response to the failures of the UCAPO rebellion, Zamora Medinaceli later declared himself to be a 'social democrat' and a supporter of parliamentarism.^[15]

Parliamentarian and Revolutionary Left Front leader

He later became the founding chairman of the Revolutionary Left Front (FRI). He was elected to the Senate of Bolivia several times; in 1979, 1982, 1989 and 1997 (during the latter period, his alternate was Raymundo Asseff Goméz). In 1986 he served as the president of the Senate. He served as mayor of Tarija 1987 to 1989, 1994 to 1996 and 1996 to 1997. He was the Bolivian Minister of Labour between 1989 and 1992.^[2]

In the 1993 presidential election Zamora Medinaceli was the vice-presidential candidate of Hugo Banzer. Zamora Medinaceli's candidature did raise some eyebrows, not the least since it was under Banzer's command that he had gotten deported from the country during the UCAPO rebellion.^[14]

Zamora Medinaceli was candidate for mayor of Tarija in the 1999 municipal elections, and finished in third place with 16.64% of the votes.^[16]

Later political career

Zamora Medinaceli was appointed Bolivian ambassador to China, but renounced his position in order to return to political life in Bolivia and stand as a candidate in the 2002 elections.^[12] During the early 2000s, he served as prefect of the Tarija Department for a period.^[2] He was elected to the Senate in 2002.^[17]

He was again candidate for mayor of Tarija in the 2004 municipal elections. Zamora Medinaceli finished second, with 13.8% of the votes.^[18]

In September 2005 he was elected head of the Tarija Parliamentarian Brigade.^[19]

He was elected to the Bolivian Constituent Assembly in 2006.^[20]

In September 2007 he suffered an emboli, and was forced to leave the Constituent Assembly.^[20][21][22]

Family

Zamora Medinaceli is the uncle of the Bolivian politician Jaime Paz Zamora.^[23] Zamora Medinaceli had played an important role in shaping the political views of his nephew, for example he arranged for Paz Zamora to stay in Albania for six months during his university period in Europe. When Paz Zamora became president, he appointed Zamora Medinaceli as Minister of Labour.^[24]

References

1. ^ Apodos en la política boliviana
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Directorio: 1997 - 2002. La Paz: Centro de Investigación del Congreso Nacional (CICON), 2002. p. 50
3. ^ ^{a b c} Dunkerley, James, and Rose Marie Vargas Jastram. Rebelión en las venas: la lucha política en Bolivia. La Paz, Bolivia: Plural, 2003. p. 176
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Filho, Paulo Cannabrava. En el ojo de la tormenta: América Latina en los años 60-70. Política. México, D.F.: Plaza y Valdés [u.a.], 2003. pp. 91, 94
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Luchas sociales y Asamblea Popular en Bolivia (1969-1971)
6. ^ ^{a b c} Radu, Michael. Violence and the Latin American revolutionaries. Brunswick u.a: Transaction Books, 1988. p. 18
7. ^ Dunkerley, James, and Rose Marie Vargas Jastram. Rebelión en las venas: la lucha política en Bolivia. La Paz, Bolivia: Plural, 2003. p. 182
8. ^ Löwy, Michael. El Marxismo en América Latina: antología, desde 1909 hasta nuestros días. Santiago: LOM Ediciones, 2007. p. 54
9. ^ Ratliff, William E.. Communist China and Latin America, 1949-1972, in Asian Survey, Vol. 12, No. 10 (Oct., 1972), pp. 846-863
10. ^ Fauriol, Georges A. Cuba: the international dimension. New Brunswick u.a: Transaction Publ, 1990. pp. 213-214, 229
11. ^ Hallan huesos en edificio estatal
12. ^ ^{a b} Oscar Zamora Medinacelli, Senador y ex prefecto de Tarija : «Quiero seguir como senador»
13. ^ ^{a b} Dunkerley, James, and Rose Marie Vargas Jastram. Rebelión en las venas: la lucha política en Bolivia. La Paz, Bolivia: Plural, 2003. pp. 236-237
14. ^ ^{a b} The Odd Couple, in The Economist; 6/5/93, Vol. 327 Issue 7814, pp. 45-46
15. ^ P
16. ^ Bolivia:Elecciones Municipales de 1999 (Resultados Parciales/Diciembre 8, 1999)
17. ^ Feria de la Miel, calidad y variedad
18. ^ Kommunalwahlen 2004 in Bolivien: Erste Ergebnisse
19. ^ "Motete" Zamora asume presidencia de Brigada Parlamentaria
20. ^ ^{a b} Óscar Zamora sufre una embolia y deja el foro
21. ^ ‘Motete’ Zamora internado con principio de embolia
22. ^ En Pocas Líneas
23. ^ Seis dinastías mandan en la política nacional
24. ^ Campero, Ana M.. Jaime Paz Zamora. El pragmático que venció al idealista

External links

• 1993 election campaign video

Persondata
Name	Zamora, Oscar
Alternative names
Short description	Bolivian politician
Date of birth	January 20, 1934
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death