Born into the prominent
Paz family of Tarija, Campero was raised in a highly politicized environment, closely connected to the happenings in the
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, the party of his uncle,
Víctor Paz Estenssoro. Sympathetic to
leftist currents, Campero split from his family's party in favor of the
Revolutionary Left Movement, serving in the Paz Zamora administration as general manager of the country's Central Bank and Stock Exchange.
Following a long political retirement, Campero returned to the electoral scene in 2009, seeking a seat in the
Chamber of Deputies on behalf of the
National Unity Front. Though unsuccessful in that endeavor, he remained active within the party's ranks, serving as its regional leader in Tarija. He saw more electoral success in the next cycle, winning a seat as a
substitute senator in 2014.
Early life and career
Early life and education
Fernando Campero was born on 20 March 1953 in
Tarija,[1] the youngest of four siblings born to Raúl Campero Trigo, a
Chaco War veteran, and Alina Paz Estenssoro,[2][3] daughter of Tarija Senator Domingo Paz Rojas.[4] Campero was raised in a deeply
political family, entrenched within the party structure of the
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR)—the
dominant political force at the time of his birth. His father was head of the party in
Tarija, while on his mother's side, Campero was the nephew of
Víctor Paz Estenssoro, the MNR's historic leader and founder, then serving his first of four eventual terms as
president of the republic.[5][6]
For many of the MNR's older members—termed movimientistas—the retirement of Paz Estenssoro at the end of his fourth term in 1989 after almost half a century at the helm of the party was a turning point.[5][8] In the ensuing leadership contest, many in the Campero family backed
Guillermo Bedregal,[6] who lost in his bid to
liberal mining magnate
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.[8] Though some—like Campero's brother,
Javier—accepted the new leadership and continued prosperous political careers within the MNR,[7] Fernando balked at the idea: "...it seem[ed] outrageous to me that the richest man in Bolivia could be head of the party that carried out the
National Revolution."[6]
Distanced from the MNR, Campero joined the
Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), led by
Jaime Paz Zamora—himself a distant maternal relative with added familial links to the Camperos.[6][9][10] Following Paz Zamora's election to the presidency, Campero was brought on to the administration as general manager of the
Bolivian Stock Exchange as well as manager of economic studies and general manager of the
Central Bank of Bolivia.[1][6] Fernando joined a number of other family members in working for the MIR government, including his brother, Gonzalo—president of
Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (1989–1992) and ambassador to France (1992–1993)—and cousin, Fernando Campero Prudencio—minister of exports (1992–1993).[1][9]
Following his tenure in the Paz Zamora administration, Campero stepped back from active political life. He made his return in 2009 at the call of businessman
Samuel Doria Medina, who invited him to join the
National Unity Front (UN),[6] a party born of a fraction of the now-extinct MIR.[11] Campero was nominated to contest Tarija's circumscription 45 (
Cercado),[12] his first candidacy since 1989, when the MIR ran him for a seat in the
Chamber of Deputies.[7]
Though relegated to a distant third place in 2009,[13] Campero remained active within UN, eventually rising to become the party's regional leader in Tarija.[14] In 2014, UN ratified its support for its leading cadres—even in cases where they had previously lost races—placing them in prominent positions on the party's
electoral lists.[15] Campero was nominated to accompany
Mirtha Arce as a candidate for
Senate;[16] the pair won the seat.[17]
Tenure
Campero's tenure in the Senate was characteristic of many
substitute legislators, focused primarily on regional matters, whereas their primary counterparts spent most of their time legislating from
the capital.[18] As head of UN in Tarija, Campero spent much of early 2015 working to construct a unified opposition bloc to contest
that year's general elections. The effort was only partially successful, with UN reaching agreements with
Adrián Oliva [
es], who won the governorship, while Tarija Mayor Oscar Montes ran his own campaign in the municipalities, conserving the capital mayoralty.[19] In any case, Oliva soon distanced himself from UN, and the party lost much of its influence on the governor's cabinet.[20]
Absent from the
2019 and
2020 elections as a product of UN's withdrawal from both contests, Campero concluded his term in parliament and retired to Tarija,[21] where he played a minor role in restructuring UN's regional alliances, this time backing Montes's gubernatorial aspirations over Oliva's reelection bid.[22][23] This time, the pact held firm far longer into the new governor's term.[24]
Commission assignments
Constitution, Human Rights, Legislation, and Electoral System Commission
Electoral System, Human Rights, and Social Equity Committee (2015–2017)[25]
Plural Justice, Prosecutor's Office, and Legal Defense of the State Commission
Prosecutor's Office and Legal Defense of the State Committee (2018–2019)[26]
Territorial Organization of the State and Autonomies Commission (2017–2018, 2019–2020)[27]
Campero Paz, Fernando; Baldivia Urdininea, José (1987).
Ciudades Intermedias (in Spanish). La Paz: Instituto Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Sociales.
OCLC318233691.
^de Torres, Miguel V. (16 July 2017).
"Los aliados de Oliva y el calendario" [Oliva's allies and the electoral calendar]. El País (in Spanish). Tarija.
Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2023.