Eva Copa | |
---|---|
Mayor of El Alto | |
Assumed office 3 May 2021 | |
Preceded by | Soledad Chapetón |
President of the Senate | |
In office 14 November 2019 – 3 November 2020 | |
Preceded by | Jeanine Áñez[a] |
Succeeded by | Andrónico Rodríguez |
Senator for La Paz | |
In office 18 January 2015 – 3 November 2020 | |
Substitute | Miguel Manuel Coñaja |
Preceded by | Eugenio Rojas |
Succeeded by | Felix Ajpi |
Personal details | |
Born | Mónica Eva Copa Murga 3 January 1987 El Alto, La Paz, Bolivia |
Political party | Independent (2021–present) |
Other political affiliations | Movement for Socialism (2014–2020) Jallalla La Paz (2020–2021) |
Alma mater | Public University of El Alto |
Awards | BBC 100 Women, 2022[2] |
Signature | |
Website | evacopa.bo |
Mónica Eva Copa Murga (born 3 January 1987) is a Bolivian politician, social worker, and former student leader serving as mayor of El Alto since 2021. As a member of the Movement for Socialism, she previously served as senator for La Paz from 2015 to 2020, during which time she was president of the Senate from 2019 to 2020.
Born to a family of Aymara descent, Copa studied at the Public University of El Alto, where she held student leadership positions. An unlikely choice of candidate due to her youth, she was elected senator for La Paz in 2014 but maintained a low profile for the majority of her tenure. In the midst of the 2019 political crisis, she quickly gained national prominence when the Plurinational Legislative Assembly elected her president of the Senate, a position of increased importance due to the vacancy in the vice-presidential office. Copa cooperated with the transitional government in convoking new elections, but also remained critical of what she viewed as its undemocratic tendencies.
Shortly after closing the legislative session, Copa was seen as a frontrunner for the mayorship of El Alto, but failed to receive the MAS' nomination. Her decision to present her candidacy on behalf of the Jallalla La Paz civic group resulted in her expulsion from the MAS' ranks. Nonetheless, Copa managed to win the election with almost seventy percent of the popular vote, a significant electoral defeat for the MAS in its historic center of support. On 3 May 2021, she was inaugurated as mayor of El Alto. Months into her term, Copa was ousted from Jallalla due to political disagreements with its leader but maintained a majority of supporters on the city's municipal council, conforming the so-called "RenuEva" bloc.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).