Eduardo Humberto Maldonado Iporre (born 16 November 1968) is a Bolivian economist, lawyer, and politician who served as senator for Potosí from 2010 to 2015. He previously served as ombudsman of Potosí from 1998 to 2009.
A graduate of Tomás Frías University, Maldonado developed his leadership skills in the student movement and aligned himself toward socialist values from a young age. He got his career start as Potosí's special representative to the Ombudsman's Office, holding the position for over a decade from the institution's inception in 1998. In 2009, he was elected to represent Potosí in the Senate on behalf of the ruling Movement for Socialism. Once in office, however, Maldonado quickly broke with his caucus over its often hierarchical leadership structure, becoming one of the first members of the 2010–2015 Legislative Assembly to defect from the ruling party.
Rather than seek reelection, Maldonado attempted to contest the Potosí mayoralty in 2015 but was barred from running due to a controversial interpretation of residency requirements by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. The decision prompted him to sue the government before the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which in 2018 ruled that his political rights had been violated by the state. In subsequent years, Maldonado ran to return to parliament in 2019 and was again a candidate for mayor in 2021, failing to achieve either position.
Early life and career
Early life and education
Eduardo Maldonado was born on 16 November 1968 in Potosí to Eduardo Maldonado Urioste, a journalist, and Lourdes Iporre Peña, a music teacher. On his mother's side, Maldonado is the grandson of Humberto Iporre Salinas, a prominent and prolific twentieth-century composer whose hymn "Potosino Soy" remains a popular fixture of the department's cultural heritage.
Maldonado completed his primary and secondary schooling in Potosí's Franciscan school, one of the city's principal academic institutions. He studied law and economics at Tomás Frías University and completed a master's degree in higher education and constitutional law. While a student, Maldonado played prominent roles in his sector's students' unions, commencing as president of his Franciscan school's student center. Maldonado later held membership in the Local University Federation while attending Tomás Frías, during which time he served as first secretary of the organization's interfaculty committee, in addition to chairing the student committees of both the law and economics tracks.
Ombudsman of Potosí
Maldonado began working at the Ombudsman's Office of Bolivia in 1998, the year it was established. Introduced as part of a package of new independent oversight bodies intended to guarantee the rule of law, the institutionheaded in its early years by Ana María Romerowas tasked with protecting human and individual rights in the country. Given Potosí's status as one of the three areas most prone to human rights violations, a special branch office was established in the city, with Maldonado appointed to head it. He held the position for over a decade, supervising the regional human rights records of six presidential administrations between 1998 and 2009.
Chamber of Senators
Election
In previous years, Maldonado had repeatedly rejected offers from establishment political parties to contest elective office or serve in government administration. A committed socialist since youth, he finally accepted a 2009 invitation by the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) to run for Senate representing Potosí. Despite their lack of party affiliation, the MAS sought in figures like Maldonado and his former superior Romero to utilize the high level of public prestige associated with the Ombudsman's Office to build bridges with the urban middle class, long weary of the Evo Morales administration.
Despite his top billing on the MAS's slate of candidates, Maldonado nonetheless actively campaigned for the position. In a region with a history of political violence, he nearly lost his life while on a campaign stop in the Tinguipaya Municipality after a mob of campesinos allegedly supportive of a rival candidate attacked his group. He ultimately recovered from the ordeal and lived to win the race, part of the MAS's blowout victory in Potosí, in which it swept nearly the entirety of the department's parliamentary delegation.