Education
University of Chile.
University of Chile.
As a congressman of the Falange Socialista Boliviana, he was jailed by the regime of General René Barrientos (1964-1969) for his loud denunciation of the San Juan Massacre, in which dozens of dissenting miners were murdered by the military of Bolivia in the Siglo XX mines on Street John"s Eve 1967. In 1969, he was appointed Minister of Mining and Energy by de facto President Alfredo Ovando Candía, who purported to be a populist dedicated to bringing major structural reforms. Quiroga recommended, and then carried out, the controversial nationalization of the Bolivian concerns of the United States-based Gulf Oil Company.
This turned him into a national celebrity of sorts.
His portion of the party then came to be known as the Partido Socialista-1 following a split while in exile during the long years of the Hugo Banzer dictatorship (1971-1978). Upon returning to Bolivia in 1977, Quiroga participated in the presidential elections of 1978, 1979 (inconclusive) and 1980.
He did particularly well in the 1980 contest, when he finished fourth with double the number of votes he had received in 1979. From his congressional seat, he led the effort to bring to trial the former dictator Hugo Banzer, on charges of massive human rights violations and economic mismanagement.
This may have cost him his life, for Quiroga was brutally abducted and subsequently assassinated during the early hours of July 17 1980, during the coup led by General Luis Garcia Meza.
Many witnessed, at the headquarters of the Central Obrera Boliviana, his wounding and abduction by security forces. He had been participating in a high-level meeting to discuss ways to resist the coup. His body has never been found, nor those who killed him.
A gifted orator and uncompromising idealist, Quiroga is revered in Bolivia as one of the martyrs of the anti-authoritarian and pro-democratic struggles of the 1970s.
He was clearly on the rise, and, in fact, had become the most visible and popular spokesman for the Socialist left.