{{Short description|President of Bolivia from 2001 to 2002}} {{Use American English|date=February 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{family name hatnote|Quiroga|Ramírez|lang=Hispanic American}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_suffix = OCA OSP | name = Jorge Quiroga | image = President Jorge Quiroga 1.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2001 | alt = Jorge Quiroga in a studio portrait, invested with the symbols of command. Behind is a bust of Simón Bolívar. <!-- Political Offices --> | order = 62nd | office = President of Bolivia | term_start = 1 July 2001{{efn|Acting: 1 July – 7 August 2001}} | term_end = 6 August 2002 | vice_president = ''None'' | predecessor = Hugo Banzer | successor = Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada | order2 = 36th | office2 = Vice President of Bolivia | president2 = Hugo Banzer | term_start2 = 6 August 1997 | term_end2 = 7 August 2001 | predecessor2 = Víctor Hugo Cárdenas | successor2 = Carlos Mesa (2002) | office3 = Minister of Finance | president3 = Jaime Paz Zamora | term_start3 = 17 March 1992 | term_end3 = 12 November 1992 | predecessor3 = David Blanco Zabala | successor3 = Juan Pablo Zegarra | office4 = Bolivia's International Delegate to denounce Human Rights violations | president4 = Jeanine Áñez | term_start4 = 2 December 2019 | term_end4 = 8 January 2020 | predecessor4 = ''Position established'' | successor4 = ''Position abolished'' <!-- Personal Details -->| birth_name = Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramírez | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|05|05|df=y}} | birth_place = Cochabamba, Bolivia | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = Texas A&M University<br />St. Edward's University | spouse = {{marriage|Virginia Gillum|1989|2008|end=div}}<br>{{marriage|Milena Dobronic|2025}} | children = 4 | party = Libre (since 2025){{efn|Libre was created as an electoral alliance in 2024, and as a full-fledged party in 2025.}} | other_party = ADN (1993–2005)<br>PODEMOS (2005–2009)<br>PDC (2014–2019) | signature = Signature of Jorge Quiroga Ramírez.svg }} '''Jorge Fernando Tuto Quiroga Ramírez''' (born 5 May 1960) is a Bolivian politician and industrial engineer who served as the 62nd president of Bolivia from 2001 to 2002. A former member of Nationalist Democratic Action, he previously served as the 36th vice president of Bolivia from 1997 to 2001 under Hugo Banzer and as minister of finance under Jaime Paz Zamora in 1992. During the interim government of Jeanine Áñez, he was briefly appointed from 2019 to 2020 as the country's international spokesperson to denounce alleged human rights violations by the previous government.

Quiroga was a candidate in the 2005 and 2014 presidential elections, in which President Evo Morales was elected for a first and third term respectively. In both elections, Quiroga ran on the Christian Democratic Party ticket. In the 2020 presidential election, Quiroga ran as a candidate for the Libre21 coalition, but withdrew his candidacy on 11 October 2020 (seven days prior to the election) in an unsuccessful attempt to unify the Bolivian opposition and prevent the socialist MAS-IPSP candidate Luis Arce from emerging victorious.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lostiempos.com/actualidad/pais/20201011/semana-elecciones-tuto-quiroga-declina-su-candidatura-presidencia|title=A una semana de las elecciones, Tuto Quiroga declina su candidatura a la presidencia|date=Oct 11, 2020|website=Los Tiempos|accessdate=Feb 22, 2021}}</ref>

He contended for the presidency again in the 2025 presidential election. After placing second with around 27% of the votes cast, he was defeated in the runoff against Senator Rodrigo Paz.<ref name="AP-17Aug">{{cite news |last1=DeBre |first1=Isabel |date=18 August 2025 |title=Bolivia’s presidential vote headed for first-ever runoff between centrist, right-wing candidates |url=https://apnews.com/article/bolivia-elections-right-wing-274e22ad9f493f60669a01615d3fef65 |access-date=18 August 2025 |agency=AP News}}</ref>

==Background and early life== Quiroga was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia on 5 May 1960 at 6 am.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tuto Quiroga y su pasión por la política; busca el palacio en soledad |url=https://eju.tv/2014/09/tuto-quiroga-y-su-pasin-por-la-poltica-busca-el-palacio-en-soledad/ |access-date=18 October 2025 |publisher=Eju.tv |date=1 September 2014 |language=es |url-status= }}</ref> He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1981 with a degree in industrial engineering, becoming the first head of state from that university.<ref name="New Yorker">{{cite magazine|title=Leasing The Rain|author=William Finnegan|date=2002-04-08|magazine=The New Yorker|url= http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/04/08/leasing-the-rain}} Retrieved on Feb. 15, 2007</ref> He went on to work for IBM in Austin, Texas<ref name="New Yorker"/> while earning a master's degree in business administration from St. Edward's University. He then moved back to Bolivia with his American wife Virginia Gillum.<ref name="New Yorker"/> He has 4 children: Vanessa Elena, Cristina Andrea, Adriana Patricia and Jorge Cristian.

Quiroga and Gillum divorced in 2008. On 19 April 2025, he married Milena Dobronic, who is of Croatian origin.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tuto se casa por segunda vez con una mujer de ascendencia croata; su ex esposa lo creía “gringo” |url=https://noticiasvioleta.com/tuto-se-casa-por-segunda-vez-con-una-mujer-de-ascendencia-croata-su-ex-esposa-lo-creia-gringo/ |access-date=18 October 2025 |publisher=Agencia de Noticias Violeta |date=21 April 2025 |language=es |url-status= }}</ref>

==Vice President of Bolivia (1997–2001)== Quiroga was Minister of Finance in 1992.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/47546.pdf|title=Globalisation and the reform of the Bolivian state, 1985-2005|website=CORE}}</ref> He was elected as Vice President of Bolivia in 1997 running on the Nationalist Democratic Action ticket with former dictator Hugo Banzer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vicepresidencia.gob.bo/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416031001/http://www.vicepresidencia.gob.bo/Vicepresidencia/GaleriaVicepresidencial/19562010/tabid/82/Default.aspx|url-status=dead|title=Vicepresidencia|archivedate=Apr 16, 2009|website=www.vicepresidencia.gob.bo|accessdate=Feb 22, 2021}}</ref> At 37, he was the youngest vice president in Bolivia's history.

==President of Bolivia (2001–2002)== {{See also|Cabinet of Jorge Quiroga}} He became president when Banzer resigned because of aggravated health problems (he died a year following his resignation). Quiroga assumed office as acting president on 1 July 2001 and was sworn in on 7 August, to complete Banzer's five-year mandate. Quiroga first praised Banzer in his inauguration speech, stating: "With our applause, let's honour the man (...) who left deep footprints in our history.", while acknowledging Bolivia's economic situation at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-08-08 |title=New president takes over in Bolivia |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1479459.stm |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=BBC |language=en}}</ref> He became the first president since 1896 to be inaugurated in Sucre.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Enever |first1=Andrew |date=2001-08-08 |title=Bolivian leader declares war on poverty |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1480020.stm |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=BBC |language=en}}</ref>

Soon after becoming president he told a reporter from the ''New Yorker'' "We [Bolivia] will be the vital heart of South America," believing that gas exports would lift the economy, that a long-anticipated transcontinental highway connecting Brazil to Chile would be built passing through the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, and that fibre-optic cables would soon be laid.<ref name="New Yorker"/> He blamed Bolivia's lack of economic progress on hypocrisy on free trade in the United States and Europe, saying "Bolivia is the most open economy in South America. Meanwhile, American and European farm subsidies, along with tariffs on textiles and agricultural products, make it impossible for Bolivia to sell its exports in the Global North. They tell us to be competitive while tying our arms behind our backs."<ref name="New Yorker"/> When asked about the Bolivian Water Wars of 2000, he said, “A lot of things certainly could have been different along the way, from a lot of different actors. The net effect is that we have a city today with no resolution to the water problem. In the end it will be necessary to bring in private investment to develop the water."<ref name="New Yorker"/>

== Post-presidency (2002–present) == thumb|right|Quiroga in a press conference in late 2019.

Quiroga 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 organization. His main opponent was the leftist Evo Morales of the Movement Towards Socialism. Morales won the election and Quiroga finished a distant second place, receiving 28.6% of the vote.

He has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In 2002, he was honored in a tribute exhibit at his alma mater, Texas A&M University.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aggienetwork.com/tribute/index/8-25/|title=Tribute Exhibit|website=www.aggienetwork.com|accessdate=Feb 22, 2021}}</ref> He is, as of November 2016, active in the private sector and many international organizations, among them: as vice-president of Club de Madrid with almost 100 former heads of state and government; on the board of Results for Development-R4D in Washington D.C.; as a member of the Inter-American Dialogue and the International Advisory Council of the China Economic Club; and in different capacities on the Global Adaptation Institute, the Foro Iberoamericano and many others.<ref name="oneyoungworld.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.oneyoungworld.com/counsellors/president-jorge-quiroga|title=President Jorge Quiroga &#124; One Young World|website=www.oneyoungworld.com|accessdate=Feb 22, 2021}}</ref> He has presided FUNDEMOS since 2002, a Bolivian public policy foundation. His areas of expertise are: management of international aid and cooperation for developing countries; macroeconomic policy; constitutional, legal and institutional reforms; private and official external debt restructuring and relief; programs to reduce drug trafficking and cocaine production; and broadly in South American public policy, trade, economics, finance and banking, integration, politics and development issues.<ref name="oneyoungworld.com"/>

In 2010 he was charged with libel and slander. He accused the management of the public banking group Banco Unión S.A. of corruption, money laundering, and mismanagement. In the first instance, he was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. According to the constitution, this means he can no longer run for public office. However, Quiroga filed an appeal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gongora |first=Boris |date=2025-01-31 |title=Caso Catler: Quiroga es procesado por calumnias y difamación al Banco Unión |url=https://larazon.bo/nacional/2025/01/31/caso-catler-quiroga-es-procesado-por-calumnias-y-difamacion-al-banco-union/ |access-date=2025-08-19 |website=La Razón |language=es}}</ref>

He was appointed as vice president of the Club de Madrid in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eldia.com.bo/index.php?c=&cat=389&pla=3&id_articulo=79022|title=Tuto Quiroga elegido 'vice' del club de madrid|website=El Día|date=30 November 2001 |access-date=2020-01-20}}</ref>

On 2 December 2019, the interim government of Jeanine Áñez appointed Quiroga as an international delegate on a special mission to denounce alleged human rights violations by the ousted Morales administration.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Añez designa a Tuto como delegado internacional por los DDHH|url=https://www.opinion.com.bo/articulo/pais/anez-designa-tuto-como-delegado-internacional-ddhh/20191202150643739348.html|access-date=2022-02-20|website=Opinión Bolivia|date=2 December 2019 |language=es}}</ref> He held the post for just over a month, before resigning on 8 January 2020 in order to announce his presidential candidacy for the snap elections to be held later that year.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tuto renuncia al cargo de delegado presidencial ante instancias internacionales|url=https://correodelsur.com/politica/20200108_tuto-renuncia-al-cargo-de-delegado-presidencial-ante-instancias-internacionales.html|access-date=2022-02-20|website=Correo del Sur|language=es}}</ref> Throughout the election cycle, he remained around sixth place reaching between 1 and 2% in opinion polling and never surpassing 7%. On 11 October, one week before the scheduled election, Quiroga announced he was dropping out of the presidential race. He indicated in his withdrawal announcement that he wished to prevent an outright victory of Luis Arce of the Movement for Socialism party in the first electoral round by consolidating the right around Carlos Mesa.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Quiroga, Ex-President of Bolivia, Drops Out of Race |work=Communal News|url=https://communalnews.com/quiroga-ex-president-of-bolivia-drops-out-of-race/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124095629/https://communalnews.com/quiroga-ex-president-of-bolivia-drops-out-of-race/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=24 November 2020|access-date=2020-10-19|language=en-US}}</ref>

He previously served as a senior advisor at New Direction, a think tank affiliated with the European Conservatives and Reformists Party in the European Parliament, until 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://newdirection.online/about |access-date=2023-07-11 |website=New Direction}}</ref> He supported Javier Milei in the 2023 Argentine general election.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lambertucci |first=Constanza |date=2023-11-12 |title=El Nobel Vargas Llosa y los expresidentes Rajoy, Duque y Piñera piden el voto para el ultraderechista Milei en Argentina |url=https://elpais.com/argentina/2023-11-12/los-expresidentes-rajoy-pinera-duque-y-calderon-piden-el-voto-para-el-ultraderechista-milei-en-argentina.html |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=El País |language=es}}</ref>

For the 2025 elections, he announced his presidential candidacy with the electoral alliance ''Libertad y Democracia'' ("Freedom and Democracy"), abbreviated as Libre: a coalition formed by the ''Frente Revolucionario de Izquierda'' (Revolutionary Left Front) and the ''Movimiento Demócrata Social'' (Social Democratic Movement), with Juan Pablo Velasco as his running mate for vice president.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-08-07 |title=Bolivia right-wing presidential hopeful vows 'radical change' |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250807-bolivia-right-wing-presidential-hopeful-vows-radical-change |access-date=2025-08-10 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref> After receiving around 26% of the votes in the first round on 17 August 2025,<ref name="AP-17Aug"/> he lost a run-off against Senator Rodrigo Paz on 19 October, winning 45.5% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/bolivia-runoff-election-jorge-quiroga-rodrigo-paz-ef7643d07d8968452cdce784e75a7810 |title=Rodrigo Paz wins presidential runoff, becoming Bolivia’s first conservative leader in decades |website=AP News|access-date=2025-10-20 |date=2025-10-20 }}</ref>

== Electoral history == {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center" |- ! rowspan=2 | Year ! rowspan=2 | Office ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Electoral alliance ! colspan=3 | Votes ! rowspan=2 | Result |- ! Total ! % ! {{Abbr|P|Position}}. |- | rowspan=2 style="background-color:#EAECF0" | 1997 | rowspan=2 | Vice president | rowspan=2 style="background-color:{{party color|Nationalist Democratic Action}}" | | rowspan=2 | Nationalist Democratic Action | style="background-color:{{party color|New Republican Force}}" | | rowspan=2 | ADN−NFR−PDC | rowspan=2 | 484,705 | rowspan=2 | 22.26 | rowspan=2 | 1st | rowspan=2 {{Yes2|Won}} |- | style="background-color:{{party color|Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia)}}" | |- | style="background-color:#EAECF0" | 2005 | rowspan=5 | President | style="background-color:{{party color|Independent politician}}" | | Independent | style="background-color:{{party color|Social Democratic Power}}" | | Social Democratic Power | 821,745 | 28.59 | 2nd | {{No2|Lost}} |- | style="background-color:#EAECF0" | 2014 | style="background-color:{{party color|Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia)}}" | | Christian Democratic Party | colspan=2 {{CNone}} | 467,311 |9.04 | 3rd | {{No2|Lost}} |- | style="background-color:#EAECF0" | 2020 | style="background-color:{{party color|Independent politician}}" | | Independent | style="background-color:#089A35" | | Libre 21 | colspan=3 {{CNone|Dropped out}} | {{No2|Lost}} |- | rowspan=2 style="background-color:#EAECF0" | 2025 | rowspan=2 style="background-color:{{party color|Independent politician}}" | | rowspan=2 | Independent | rowspan=2 style="background-color:{{party color|Libre (Bolivia)}}" | | rowspan=2 | Libre | 1,430,176 | 26.70 | 2nd | {{Partial|Runoff}} |- | 2,881,972 | 45.11 | 2nd | {{No2|Lost}} |- | style="background-color:#EAECF0" colspan=10 | '''Source:''' Plurinational Electoral Organ {{!}} [https://atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo Electoral Atlas] |}

== Notes == {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.cidob.org/lider-politico/jorge-quiroga-ramirez Biography by CIDOB] (in Spanish) *[https://www.thedialogue.org/experts/jorge-quiroga/ Member profile] at The Dialogue *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4532866.stm Profile] at the BBC *[https://archive.today/20130105004024/http://www.thebatt.com/media/paper657/news/2002/04/10/FrontPage/Bolivian.President.Honored-517621.shtml thebatt] *[http://www.coha.org/2005/12/08/bolivia%e2%80%99s-precarious-upcoming-election/ Bolivia's Precarious Upcoming Election-Council on Hemispheric Affairs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720071217/http://www.coha.org/2005/12/08/bolivia%e2%80%99s-precarious-upcoming-election/ |date=20 July 2008 }}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|before=David Blanco Zabala}} {{s-ttl|title=Minister of Finance|years=1992}} {{s-aft|after=Juan Pablo Zegarra}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|before=Víctor Hugo Cárdenas}} {{s-ttl|title=Vice President of Bolivia|years=1997–2001}} {{s-vac|next=Carlos Mesa}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|before=Hugo Banzer}} {{s-ttl|title=President of Bolivia|years=2001–2002}} {{s-aft|after=Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|rows=2|before=Óscar Zamora Medinaceli}} {{s-ttl|rows=2|title=ADN-PDC-NFR nominee<br>for Vice President of Bolivia|years=1997}} {{s-aft|after=Tito Hoz de Vila<br>{{Small|Nationalist Democratic Action}}}} {{s-break}} {{s-aft|after=Ivo Kuljis<br>{{Small|New Republican Force}}}} {{s-break}} {{s-non|reason=New political alliance}} {{s-ttl|title=Social Democratic Power nominee<br>for President of Bolivia|years=2005}} {{s-non|reason=Alliance dissolved}} {{s-break}} {{s-bef|before=Himself<br>{{Small|Alliance}}}} {{s-ttl|title=Christian Democratic Party nominee<br>for President of Bolivia|years=2014}} {{s-aft|after=Jaime Paz Zamora<br>{{Small|Withdrew}}}} {{s-break}} {{s-non|reason=New political alliance}} {{s-ttl|title=Libre 21 nominee<br>for President of Bolivia<br>{{Small|Withdrew}}|years=2020}} {{s-non|reason=Most recent}} {{s-dip}} {{s-break}} {{s-non|reason=Position established}} {{s-ttl|title=International delegate to denounce<br>human rights violations|years=2019–2020}} {{s-non|reason=Position dissolved}} {{s-end}} {{Presidents of Bolivia}} {{Vice Presidents of Bolivia}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiroga, Jorge}} Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century Bolivian politicians Category:21st-century Bolivian politicians Category:Áñez administration personnel Category:Banzer administration cabinet members Category:Bolivian anti-communists Category:Bolivian engineers Category:Candidates in the 2005 Bolivian presidential election Category:Candidates in the 2014 Bolivian presidential election Category:Candidates in the 2020 Bolivian presidential election Category:Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia) politicians Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Sun of Peru Category:Finance ministers of Bolivia Category:Members of the Inter-American Dialogue Category:Nationalist Democratic Action politicians Category:Paz Zamora administration cabinet members Category:People from Cochabamba Category:Presidents of Bolivia Category:Social Democratic Power politicians Category:St. Edward's University alumni Category:Texas A&M University alumni Category:Vice presidents of Bolivia Category:Candidates in the 2025 Bolivian presidential election