Eliane Capobianco

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

Beatriz Eliane Capobianco Sandoval (born 15 April 1973) is a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as minister of rural development and lands from January to November 2020. A member of the Social Democratic Movement, she previously served as a party-list member of the Chamber of Deputies from Santa Cruz from 2015 to 2019 on behalf of the Democratic Unity coalition. Before that, she served as a member of the Constituent Assembly from Santa Cruz, representing circumscription 51 from 2006 to 2007 on behalf of the Social Democratic Power alliance. A professional in cadastre and land and real estate registration, Capobianco held numerous positions linked to Santa Cruz's agribusiness sector, including serving twice as departmental director of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform, first from 2001 to 2002 and again from 2019 to 2020.

Eliane Capobianco
Official portrait, 2017
Minister of Rural Development and Lands
In office 28 January 2020 – 6 November 2020
President	Jeanine Áñez
Preceded by	Mauricio Ordoñez [es]
Succeeded by	Wilson Cáceres [es]
Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Santa Cruz
In office 18 January 2015 – 3 December 2019
Substitute	José Carlos Gutiérrez
Preceded by	Betty Tejada
Succeeded by	Jordana Middagh
Constituency	Party list
Constituent of the Constituent Assembly from Santa Cruz circumscription 51
In office 6 August 2006 – 14 December 2007
Constituency	Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Personal details
Born	Beatriz Eliane Capobianco Sandoval (1973-04-15) 15 April 1973 (age 51) São Paulo, Brazil
Nationality	Bolivian
Political party	Social Democratic Movement (2014–present)
Parents	Jorge Capobianco Beatriz Sandoval
Relatives	Guillermo Capobianco (uncle)
Alma mater	Gabriel René Moreno University (BSL)
Occupation	Lawyer politician
Signature

Early life and career

Eliane Capobianco was born on 15 April 1973 in São Paulo, Brazil. She was raised by an eminently political family with an extensive history in private and public affairs. Her father, Jorge Capobianco, served as president of the Santa Cruz Development Corporation, while her mother, Beatriz Sandoval, was a magistrate and dean of the Supreme Court of Justice. Her uncle, Guillermo Capobianco, was a founding member of the Revolutionary Left Movement, serving as minister of the interior in the administration of Jaime Paz Zamora. Capobianco studied law at Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University, graduating with a degree in legal sciences. She later undertook postgraduate studies in Denmark, attaining a master's degree in cadastre and land and real estate registration. Her expertise in agrarian law led her to work as a university professor, teaching students at the Simón Bolívar Andean University and the Aquino University of Bolivia.^[1][2]

Throughout her career, Capobianco held key positions related to Santa Cruz's agribusiness sector. She worked as an advisor for the National Association of Oilseed Producers and the Federation of Ranchers of Santa Cruz, two of the most powerful agroindustrial business entities in the department. Between 2001 and 2002, Capobianco served as departmental director of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA), a position of particular import in Santa Cruz, the country's primary agricultural region.^[3] Capobianco's connections with Santa Cruz's business sector led her to become an early opponent of the government of Evo Morales, whose land reform policies stood against the interests of the department's major landowners.^[4]

Constituent Assembly

Capobianco entered the political scene in 2006, participating in that year's Constituent Assembly elections as a candidate in circumscription 51, encompassing a portion of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, an opposition stronghold. Her candidacy was facilitated through the Social Democratic Power alliance, which sought to fill its ranks with political outsiders—typically young professionals with minimal previous party experience—as a means of challenging the rising primacy of the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP). The jump from the private to public spheres was a common step amongst Cruceños in the business sector, reflecting the propensity of the department's agribusiness elites to occupy positions in public administration that granted them influence over land reform policy.^[5] Throughout her term, Capobianco served on the Land-Territory Subcommission, charged with drafting and debating articles precisely related to matters of agrarian and land reform.^[6]

Chamber of Deputies

Election

Further information: 2014 Bolivian general election

Following her stint in the Constituent Assembly, Capobianco returned to Santa Cruz, where Governor Rubén Costas appointed her to serve as director of regional development. During this time, she became a component of the nascent Social Democratic Movement (MDS), a party that united regional opposition leaders into a single anti-MAS front.^[5] In the 2014 general elections, the MDS aligned itself with the National Unity Front, granting it control over the coalition's legislative ticket in Beni and Santa Cruz.^[7] As part of its strategy of nominating ex-legislators and political professionals to fill its electoral list, the MDS selected Capobianco to serve as a party-list member of the Chamber of Deputies.^[5][8]

Tenure

As with in the Constituent Assembly, Capobianco's term in the legislature focused its efforts on constructing policy relating to land distribution; she worked in the Territorial Organization of the State and Autonomies Commission and was a member of the Departmental Autonomies Committee.^[9] Upon the conclusion of her term, she sought reelection, topping the Bolivia Says No (BDN) alliance's electoral list in Santa Cruz.^[10] Capobianco did not retain her seat, owing to the electoral disaster BDN experienced in the 2019 elections, cushioned only by the later annulment of the results due to allegations of fraud.^[11][12] Following the election, Capobianco made a brief return to Santa Cruz as the newly-appointed departmental director of INRA, reassuming the position after seventeen years.^[13]

Commission assignments

• Territorial Organization of the State and Autonomies Commission
  • Departmental Autonomies Committee (2015–2016, 2018–2019)^[14][15][16]
  • Municipal and Regional Autonomies Committee (2016–2017)^[17]
• Human Rights Commission
  • Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Committee (2017–2018)^[18]

Minister of Rural Development

Capobianco's brief return to the direction of INRA lasted just over two months; by late January 2020, she was profiled as a potential pick for a ministerial role in the Cabinet of Jeanine Áñez.^[19] Áñez and Capobianco's shared relationship extended to their time as delegates to the Constituent Assembly, continuing through the 2015–2020 legislature, where the former served as a senator while the latter was in the Chamber of Deputies.^[20] Capobianco's entry into the Áñez administration was formalized on 28 January, with her appointment as head of the Ministry of Rural Development and Lands.^[21]

A proponent of biotechnology, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Capobianco sought to open the country to the use of genetically modified agricultural products as a means of generating greater crop yields. In May, the government granted authorization to the National Biosafety Committee to conduct an exhaustive evaluation on the use of genetically modified forms of corn, cotton, soybeans, sugarcane, and wheat.^[22][23] Speaking to El Deber, the minister stated that the use of transgenics was essential to keep Bolivian producers competitive in the international market.^[24] Other means of reactivating the agricultural sector were outlined in June when the government presented its economic plan. According to Capobianco, the program—set to last between six months and two years—sought to guarantee food security for the Bolivian population, boost the economy, generate production and trade, and support family farming, medium-scale agriculture, and agro-industrial export agriculture.^[25]

Electoral history

Year	Office	Party		Alliance		Votes			Result	Ref.
						Total	%	P.
2006	Constituent		Independent		Social Democratic Power	21,582	39.05%	1st	Won	[26]
2014	Deputy		Social Democratic Movement		Democratic Unity	506,704	39.82%	2nd	Won	[27][α]
2019			Social Democratic Movement		Bolivia Says No	149,071	9.42%	3rd	Annulled	[28][α]
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

References

Notes

1. Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.

Footnotes

1. Romero Ballivián 2018, pp. 128–129.
2. "¿Quién es quién?: Eliane Capobianco". El Diario (in Spanish). La Paz. 31 January 2015. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
3. Romero Ballivián 2018, pp. 129–130.
4. Schipani, Andres (14 May 2009). "Outrage at 'slavery' in Bolivia". BBC News. London. Archived from the original on 25 June 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
5. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 130.
6. National Institute of Agrarian Reform 2010, pp. 71–72.
7. Vacaflor, Nancy (28 June 2014). "Opositores alistan renuncias para candidatear en elecciones". Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
8. Layme, Beatriz (15 July 2014). "UD apuesta por exlegisladores para hacerle frente al MAS". Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
9. Jimenez, Gustavo Fernando (28 January 2020). "Dos políticos y una periodista son los nuevos ministros de Áñez". El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
10. "Monasterio y Capobianco encabezan listas de Bolivia Dice No en Santa Cruz" (in Spanish). La Paz. ERBOL. 18 July 2019. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
11. "Oscar Ortiz da su apoyo a Mesa 'sin ninguna condición'" (in Spanish). La Paz. ERBOL. 20 October 2019. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
12. Pozzebon, Stefano (24 November 2019). "Jeanine Áñez promulga ley de 'Régimen Excepcional y Transitorio para la realización de Elecciones Generales'". CN͠N (in Spanish). Atlanta. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
13. "Designan a Eliane Capobianco como directora departamental del INRA". Red UNO (in Spanish). La Paz. 4 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
14. "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2015–2016". diputados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 29 January 2015. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
15. "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2018–2019". diputados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 1 February 2018. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
16. "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2019–2020". diptuados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 24 January 2019. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
17. Chamber of Deputies [@Diputados_Bol] (27 January 2016). "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2016–2017" (Tweet) (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022 – via Twitter.
18. Chamber of Deputies [@Diputados_Bol] (31 January 2017). "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2017–2018" (Tweet) (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022 – via Twitter.
19. "Eliane Capobianco se perfila como nueva ministra de Áñez". UNITEL (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. 28 January 2020. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
20. Ijurko, Juan Manuel (28 April 2022). "'Entiendo tu temor, aunque no lo comparto'; Áñez envía una carta a Eliane Capobianco, que no acudió para ser su testigo". El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
21. "Capobianco asume la cartera de Desarrollo Rural". Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. 28 January 2020. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
22. "Gobierno aclara que el nuevo decreto es para evaluar cinco alimentos y no para el uso directo de transgénicos". El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. 14 May 2020. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
23. "Ministerio de Desarrollo Rural justificó el uso de la biotecnología en el País". La Patria (in Spanish). Oruro. 14 May 2020. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
24. Rosales Melgar, Alvaro (2 February 2020). "'El MAS tomó la decisión política de perjudicar a los agropecuarios'". El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
25. Paz Vargas, Carla (18 June 2020). "Plan de reactivación agropecuaria prevé más empleos y anticipa resultados en seis meses". El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
26. "Elecciones Constituyentes 2006 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
27. "Elecciones Generales 2014 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
28. "Publicación de Resultados Nacionales: Elecciones Generales 2019" (PDF). www.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). Plurinational Electoral Organ. 2019. pp. 14, 24. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 May 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2022.

Bibliography

• Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria (2010). Breve Historia del Reparto de Tierras en Bolivia: De la Titulación Colonial a la Reforma Agraria y Ley INRA; Certezas y Proyecciones de la Ley de Reconducción Comunitaria en Bolivia (PDF) (in Spanish). La Paz. pp. 71–72. OCLC 1121163757. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Romero Ballivián, Salvador (2018). Quiroga Velasco, Camilo Sergio (ed.). Diccionario Biográfico de Parlamentarios 1979–2019 (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). La Paz: Fundación de Apoyo al Parlamento y la Participación Ciudadana; Fundación Konrad Adenauer. pp. 128–130. ISBN 978-99974-0-021-5. OCLC 1050945993 – via ResearchGate.

External links

• Constituent profile Constituent Assembly (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 November 2007.
• Parliamentary profile Office of the Vice President (in Spanish).
• Parliamentary profile Chamber of Deputies (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 15 September 2018.