Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz

Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz (Known as "Marcelo Quiroga")

Socialist Party Leader, Writer, Minister of Mines and Petroleum, National Martyr

Born 1931-03-13

Cochabamba, Bolivia

Passed Away 1980-07-17 La Paz, Bolivia

Lifespan 49 years old

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"We know that those who fight for justice can lose their lives, but the cause of popular liberation cannot be executed."

Archival Overview

Visionary Bolivian socialist leader, novelist, and Minister of Mines who nationalized Gulf Oil in 1969 and was assassinated by military paramilitaries during the bloody 1980 Garcia Meza coup.

Biographical Record

Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz was born on March 13, 1931, in Cochabamba. A brilliant literary stylist, his 1964 novel Los deshabitados received the prestigious PEN William Faulkner Foundation prize. In 1969, serving as Minister of Energy and Mines under General Alfredo Ovando, Quiroga drafted the historic decree nationalizing the Bolivian holdings of Gulf Oil Corporation.

A staunch defender of human rights, Quiroga founded the Socialist Party-1 (PS-1) and launched an unyielding impeachment trial in Congress against former dictator Hugo Banzer Suárez for state atrocities. On July 17, 1980, during the paramilitary coup led by Luis García Meza, armed mercenaries raided the headquarters of the Bolivian Workers' Central (COB) and murdered Quiroga; his remains were forcibly disappeared.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial

Cenotaph / Monument at Central Cemetery of Cochabamba
Cochabamba, Bolivia

                         GPS: -17.4045, -66.1670                    

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