Rodrigo Paz Pereira Profile: The Bolivian Facing Kast

BOLIVIA · PROFILE

This Rodrigo Paz Pereira profile looks at the man who received Chile’s President José Antonio Kast in La Paz on Friday 16 October, the first state visit by a Chilean leader in 71 years. Paz is an economist and former Tarija mayor whose father also led Bolivia, and he has staked his foreign policy on trade rather than old quarrels.

For US readers, his stance matters because Bolivian cargo, mining projects and border controls all run through Chile. The day-by-day account of the visit is in Kast Meets Rodrigo Paz in Bolivia Friday, and the history behind it in Chile Bolivia Relations: Kast Visit Explained.

A Rodrigo Paz Pereira Profile: Exile, Family and Schooling

Paz was born in 1967 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, while his parents were in exile, BioBioChile reports. His father, Jaime Paz Zamora, was president of Bolivia from 1989 to 1993.

Eju.tv counts Paz as the fourth Bolivian president to follow his father into the office, after Adolfo Ballivián and the brothers Hernán Siles Zuazo and Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas. He studied economics and international relations, BioBioChile notes, and his mother, Carmen Pereira, is Spanish.

From Tarija Mayor to President

Paz was a deputy and a Tarija councillor before winning the Tarija mayoralty in 2015 against Evo Morales’s MAS party, BioBioChile reports. He governed the southern city until 2020 and later became a senator for Comunidad Ciudadana, the opposition force of former president Carlos Mesa.

In 2025 he ran for the Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC), a Christian Democratic party, with the former police captain Edmand Lara Montaño as his running mate. The electoral authority’s count gave the pair 3,519,534 valid votes, or 54.96%, against 2,884,661 votes, or 45.04%, for the Libre alliance of former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in the 19 October 2025 runoff.

The electoral tribunal proclaimed the winners on Monday 27 October, eju.tv reports. Paz took the oath on Saturday 8 November 2025 in Plaza Murillo, La Paz, Teleamazonas reported that day.

How Paz Approaches Chile

Paz first met Kast, then Chile’s president-elect, in Panama on 29 January and called the talks “frank and fraternal”, 24 Horas reported. He said both countries should focus on present and future problems rather than past ones.

On 7 February he told the national chamber of commerce that he wants “a new stage” and is “looking at the future” rather than the past, and offered Bolivian territory and ports as a link between the Atlantic and the Pacific, according to a Brújula Digital report carried by eju.tv. He then travelled to Santiago for Kast’s inauguration on 11 March and proposed a joint effort on mining with Chile and Peru, Correo del Sur said.

Before Kast landed, Paz said that “the past was conflict, the present and the future must be development”, El Deber reported on Thursday 15 October. He added that children should not have to die over the accounts of the past.

The Pressure at Home

Former president Evo Morales said on Thursday that failing to negotiate the sea question at the meeting would be “treason to the homeland”, Opinión reported. Fernando Aramayo, Paz’s Minister of the Presidency, said on Friday that Bolivia will not renounce its historic maritime claim but must also pursue an economic agenda, El Deber reports.

Quiroga, the runoff loser, told Kast to present evidence, retract or apologise over the alleged drugs in Bolivian timber held in Chilean ports, La Tercera reported. That case is an allegation under investigation, and La Tercera says the inquiry is not finished.

What Paz Said After Meeting Kast

After the private meeting Paz wrote that “after decades, we have the opportunity to build a new stage in the relationship between Bolivia and Chile” and that “it is time to turn dialogue into concrete agreements”, Red Uno reported. La Tercera listed a mining memorandum, terms of reference to modernise the ACE 22 trade pact and fibre-optic, health and power-link initiatives as the documents on the table.

La Tercera wrote at the close of its edition that the signing and the joint declaration of the two presidents were still under way. No outlet we reviewed had published their contents by mid-afternoon in La Paz on Friday.

What It Means for You

For US investors, Paz is a president who has linked his political fortunes to trade routes and mining cooperation with a neighbour that controls Bolivia’s main ports. A signed text would show whether he can turn warm words into rules, while his critics at home cap how far he can go on the sea claim.

His economic record is set out in Who Is Rodrigo Paz? Bolivia’s President and His US Bet, and his place in the region in Bolivia’s Role in Latin America: Lithium, Mercosur, Allies, while no new border rule for travellers has been announced.

What Is Not Known

The contents of the joint declaration and of any signed memorandums are not yet public, so the practical result of the talks is unconfirmed. Whether ambassadors will return, and on whose initiative, is also not established.

It is not known how the timber case will be resolved or whether Paz will take the sea question beyond dialogue. The criticisms by Morales and Quiroga are political statements, not findings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Rodrigo Paz Pereira?

He is Bolivia’s president since 8 November 2025, a former mayor of Tarija and senator. He is the son of former president Jaime Paz Zamora.

How did Rodrigo Paz win the presidency?

He won the 19 October 2025 runoff with 54.96% of valid votes against Jorge Quiroga’s 45.04%, the electoral authority’s count shows. He ran for the Partido Demócrata Cristiano with Edmand Lara Montaño as vice president.

What offices did Paz hold before the presidency?

He was a deputy, a Tarija councillor, mayor of Tarija from 2015 to 2020 and later a senator. He studied economics and international relations.

Where does Paz stand on Chile?

He calls for dialogue and trade and says the past should not shape the future. His government says it has not renounced Bolivia’s maritime claim.

What came out of the Paz-Kast meeting?

Paz called for turning dialogue into concrete agreements, and Chilean press listed a mining memorandum and trade-pact terms of reference. The contents of the joint declaration were not yet published at the time of writing.

Sources: Bolivia electoral authority, official count of the 19 October 2025 runoff; BioBioChile, profile of Rodrigo Paz Pereira, 18 August 2025; eju.tv, profile of Rodrigo Paz Pereira; eju.tv, proclamation, 27 October 2025; Teleamazonas, inauguration, 8 November 2025; eju.tv, Paz speech to the chamber of commerce, 7 February 2026; 24 Horas, 29 January 2026; Correo del Sur, 11 March 2026; El Deber, 15 October 2026; El Deber, 11-point agenda, 16 October 2026; Opinión, 15 October 2026; Red Uno, 16 October 2026; La Tercera, visit report, 16 October 2026; La Tercera, 15 October 2026.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

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