Yerko Núñez

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Núñez and the second or maternal family name is Negrette.

Yerko Núñez
Yerko Núñez en enero de 2020.png
Núñez in January 2020
Minister of the Presidency
In office
3 December 2019 – 6 November 2020
PresidentJeanine Áñez
Preceded byJerjes Justiniano Atalá
Succeeded byMaría Nela Prada
Minister of Public Works, Services, and Housing
In office
13 November 2019 – 3 December 2019
PresidentJeanine Añez
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Senator for Beni
In office
22 January 2015 – 13 November 2019
Mayor of Rurrenabaque
In office
January 2005 – July 2014
In office
2000–2003
Personal details
Born
Yerko Martin Núñez Negrette

(1973-04-17) 17 April 1973 (age 48)
Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Political partyNational Unity Front (2014–present
Other political
affiliations		Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (before 2010)
Beni First (2010–2014)
Parents
  • Antonio Núñez Gamarra (father)
  • Carmen Negrette Arce (mother)

Yerko Martin Núñez Negrette (born 17 April 1973) is a Bolivian agronomist and politician who served as Minister of the Presidency from December 2019 to November 2020 and briefly as Minister of Public Works, Services, and Housing between 13 November and 3 December 2020 during the interim government of Jeanine Áñez.[1][2][3][4] Núñez previously served as Senator for Beni from 2015 to 2019 and as the Mayor of Rurrenabaque from 2000 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2014.

Biography[]

Yerko Núñez was born on 17 April 1973 in Rurrenabaque, Bolivia. He is the son of Antonio Núñez Gamarra and Carmen Negrette Arce who were teachers. He was a member of an upper-middle-class family linked to politics and closely affiliated with the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR). His father, Antonio Núñez Gamarra, and his grandfather were recognized MNR mayors of Rurrenabaque.

Throughout the 1990s, Núñez participated in various training courses abroad in the United States, Germany, Colombia, and Peru.[5] Núñez served as National Director of Popular Participation in 2003 and worked for a time as a public official in the position of technical secretary of the Chamber of Senators in 2004.[5] From 2007 to 2012, he served as President of the Board of Directors of the Association of Municipalities of Beni. During this period, he also held the position of Secretary of the Beni Autonomous Council.[6]

Mayor of Rurrenabaque[]

Yerko Núñez entered began his political career at age 26. In 1999, he ran as a candidate for Mayor of Rurrenabaque in that year's municipal elections on behalf of the MNR. He won with 27.8% of the electorate and was the youngest mayor in Bolivia at the time. He held the post of mayor from 2000 to 2003.[7]

In 2004, he ran for a nonconsecutive term, again representing the MNR. He won with 35% of the votes. In 2010, he ran for reelection as part of the Beni First (PB) political group, then led by Ernesto Suárez Sattori. He won with 44% of the popular vote, the highest out of his three mayoral bids, and allowing him to stay in office until 2015.[7]

Senator for Beni (2015–2019)[]

Núñez ran for Senator for the Beni Department on behalf of the Democratic Unity (UD) political alliance along with Jeanine Áñez who was seeking her re-election in the 2014 general elections. Both Núñez and Áñez won. As a Senator in 2016, he held the position of Second Vice President of the Senate and was a member of various commissions.[8][9][10]

Cabinet Minister[]

Minister of Public Works, Services, and Housing (2019)[]

On 13 November 2019, now President Jeanine Áñez installed Yerko Núñez in the position of Minister of Public Works, Services, and Housing. Núñez held the position for 20 days when he was reassigned and replaced by .[4]

Minister of the Presidency (2019–2020)[]

Núñez replaced Jerjes Justiniano Atalá as Minister of the Presidency on 3 December 2019.[3]

Miss Rurrenabaque 2016 case[]

On 3 May 2020, Núñez was denounced for misuse of State property for transporting the former Rurrenabaque beauty queen Yarakoby Shiraishi on a "high authority" government aircraft from Rurrenabaque to La Paz.[11] Núñez admitted to allowing the flight but claimed it was for "humanitarian reasons" as the model was in poor health and urgently needing medical treatment.[12] On 6 May, he apologized for the incident and announced the authorization of solidarity flights for those who could not return to their respective regions due to quarantine restrictions.[13]

It was announced that Núñez had contracted COVID-19 on 2 July 2020. A few hours later, he confirmed that his health was stable.[14]

Núñez resigned on 6 November 2020 along with other cabinet ministers in advance of the inauguration of Luis Arce on 8 November.[15]

Criminal charges and arrest[]

On 12 March 2021, Núñez, along with 10 other former ministers as well as former president Jeanine Áñez were charged with terrorism, sedition, and conspiracy in relation to what the new government described as the coup d'état which brought Áñez and her ministers to power in the 2019 political crisis.[16] Núñez denounced the actions as a "witch hunt" and pointed out that the alleged coup "refers to events that occurred before the Áñez government assumed command of the country."[17] That same day, Núñez's nephew Gary Tudela reported that 20 policemen had raided the house of the former minister's mother without showing either an arrest warrant nor a search warrant.[18] On 18 March, Núñez's son Antonio Núñez was held in police custody in order to collect "data" about his father. He was released hours later and took refuge at the Beni Civic Committee.[19]

Núñez released an appeal to annul the arrest warrant against him and declared himself in hiding to avoid being apprehended. On 21 March, at a hearing at the Fourth Criminal Investigation Court of El Alto, the appeal was rejected on the grounds that the defense did not appear as required.[20] On 24 March, Vice Minister of Government Emilio Rodas confirmed that police were searching for Núñez in Trinidad, Santa Cruz, and La Paz, and that there was no indication that he had fled the country.[21]

References[]

  1. ^ "Vicepresidencia del Estado". www.vicepresidencia.gob.bo. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Añez destituye a Justiniano y posesiona en su lugar a Yerko Nuñez; Iván Arias llega al gabinete". Urgentebo (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Áñez designa a Yerko Nuñez como nuevo ministro de la Presidencia en reemplazo de Jerjes Justiniano". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 3 December 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Núñez, de senador a ministro de Obras Públicas". www.paginasiete.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Ministro de la Presidencia". 13 February 2020. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Alcalde de Rurrenabaque preside la asociación beniana de municipios". 11 July 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ a b Ballivián, Romero (2018). p. 414. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ^ "Senado conforma Directiva Camaral legislatura 2016-2017". Cámara de Senadores (in Spanish). 20 January 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Senado conforma comisiones y comités por la Legislatura 2017 – 2018". Cámara de Senadores (in Spanish). 31 January 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Senado posesiona a su Directiva Camaral para la gestión 2018-2019 y conforma comisiones y comités". Cámara de Senadores (in Spanish). 19 January 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Denuncian que exmiss también llegó a La Paz en una nave de la FAB". www.paginasiete.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Núñez admite que trajo a la miss en nave de la FAB "porque estaba mal"". www.paginasiete.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Yerko Núñez pide disculpas por haber llevado a una miss en un avión de la Fuerza Aérea Boliviana | EL DEBER". eldeber.com.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Ministro Yerko Núñez: "Gracias a Dios me encuentro estable" | EL DEBER". eldeber.com.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  15. ^ Bolivia, Opinión. "Una decena de ministros y viceministros de Áñez renuncia a sus cargos". Opinión Bolivia (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Bolivia: Ex-interim President Jeanine Áñez arrested over 'coup'". BBC News. 13 March 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  17. ^ "Añez y Núñez denuncian persecución política y retorno de la «dictadura»". www.paginasiete.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  18. ^ Bolivia, Opinión. "Denuncian que 20 policías irrumpieron en la casa de la madre de Yerko Núñez". Opinión Bolivia (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  19. ^ "Hijo de Yerko Núñez dice que no había orden de aprehensión en su contra y que cualquier cosa que le pase a su familia es responsabilidad del Gobierno | EL DEBER". eldeber.com.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Justicia rechaza recurso que buscaba anular orden de aprehensión contra Yerko Núñez". La Razón | Noticias de Bolivia y el Mundo. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  21. ^ "La Policía busca al exministro Yerko Núñez en Trinidad, Santa Cruz y La Paz | EL DEBER". eldeber.com.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 March 2021.
Political offices
Preceded by
 Minister of Public Works, Services, and Housing
2019 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of the Presidency
2019–2020 		Succeeded by
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