- Manfred Reyes Villa
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Manfred Reyes Villa Born April 19, 1955
Bolivia La Paz, BoliviaNationality Bolivian Occupation Military, Businessman, Politician Known for Bombom Website http://www.manfredprimerobolivia.org/ Manfred Reyes Villa (born April 20, 1954) is a Bolivian politician, who was mayor of Cochabamba four times and ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2002 and 2009 against Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and Evo Morales Ayma. He founded and led the Nueva Fuerza Republicana (New Republican Force) political party. He was also elected as the Governor of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and served from 2006 until his defeat in the 2008 revocation referendum. He is currently in exile in the United States.
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Military career
Manfred Reyes Villa is the son of General Armando Reyes Villa, Manfred Reyes Villa studied in the Israelite high school (Colegio Israelita) of his native city, and in 1973 entered the Military College of the Army. He achieved the rank of Subteniente in 1982. In that same year, he had his first official appointment in the Military Police Battalion of the city of La Paz. During his military career, he occupied important posts such as Docent in matters of military specialization, and was trained in the School of the Americas in Panama. Military Adjunct to the Embassies of Bolivia in Brazil and the United States, and Secretary General of the Association of Military Adjuncts of South America in Washington, DC.
Business career
Later however, he shed his uniform and tried his hand at selling real estate under the business name of MAREVI (an acronym made up of his name's initials). He then ran a night club, "Hollywood", in partnership with a successful Bolivian-Hawaiian nightclub empresario, Joe Camacho, who owned a lucrative nightclub in Hawaii, "The Pink Cadillac". After selling out his interest in the nightclub, Manfred found financial success shortly after he began selling real-estate in the USA.
Political career
In 1993 Reyes Villa was elected to his first of four terms as Mayor. Despite ever-present vague charges of corruption. Reyes Villa became a popular figure. After having lived in the United States he came back to Bolivia and was first elected to the Cochabamba city council, and later elected as Mayor of the same city.
In 2000 Reyes Villa played a role in the Bolivian Water Wars of 2000.
In 2002, Reyes Villa led the polls (with circa 41%) during the initial months of the presidential race, but lost votes and ended up in third place. Lozada was eventually elected, with the support of Reyes Villa, Jaime Paz Zamora and other minor political leaders forming an alliance in order to have enough votes in the congress for Sanchez de Lozada to become president, but was forced to resign the next year due to massive riots and demonstrations in major cities of Bolivia.
After the resignation of Carlos Mesa, Lozada's successor, Reyes-Villa looked poised to run for president in the December 4, 2005 elections. Leaving the post to center-right former President Jorge Quiroga, Reyes Villa ran for Governor of the Cochabamba Department, winning the election.
A large uprising, led by peasants and poor urban residents, occurred in Cochabamba early 2007 with thousands of supporters of President Evo Morales in Cochabamba demanding Villa's resignation. The clashes were triggered when the occupants of the city could no longer take the destruction that was going on outside their homes.
Villa allied with conservative opposition on issues surrounding the reform and rewriting of the Bolivian constitution and called for greater autonomy from the central government.[1]
For more details on this topic, see Cochabamba social unrest of 2007.He ran for presidential election on 6 December 2009, coming second with 26% of the vote.
References
- ^ Dan Keane (January 8, 2007). "Bolivians Set Fire To State Capitol". The Associated Pres. http://www.topix.net/content/ap/2207539414274943887634342923181646723154?threadid=NDVBNRH970RSNLLI. Accessed January 31, 2007
Categories:- 1954 births
- Living people
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