Centa Rek
Centa Lothy Rek López (born 29 August 1954) is a Bolivian politician, psychologist, and writer serving as senator for Santa Cruz since 2020. A member of Creemos, she previously served as senator for Santa Cruz from 2010 to 2015 on behalf of the National Convergence alliance. Early life and career. Early life and education. Centa Rek was born on 29 August 1954 in San José de Chiquitos, Santa Cruz. She was the only biological child of her parents, who raised her with five foster siblings. Rek is of German descent; her paternal grandparents emigrated from Germany and settled  in the Chiquitos Province to dedicate themselves to husbandry and agricultural work. This profession continues to be practiced by her family: her foster brothers, Erwin and Elmar, presided over the Federation of Ranchers of Santa Cruz (FEGASACRUZ ), and the former also administered Fexpocruz in 1996. At age fourteen, Rek was sent to study at the Santa Ana School, a boarding school in Sucre. She completed her final year of high school in Santa Cruz de la Sierra before traveling to the United States as a foreign exchange student. Upon returning, she studied psychology in Rio de Janeiro with the intention  of "learning about the world and its cultures". However, she did not complete her degree due to disagreements with other students. Instead, she attended the Catholic University of Córdoba in Argentina, where she graduated as a psychologist. Psychology and journalism careers. While still studying in Argentina, at twenty-one years old, Rek married José Luís Durán, with whom she settled in Santa Cruz after graduating and had two children. However, the couple soon divorced due to Durán's wish that she not work. Later, she remarried and has one daughter with her second husband. Rek practiced her profession as a  psychologist in various schools, mainly in partnership with the Faith and Joy schools. During this time, she participated in establishing the Santa Cruz College of Psychologists (CPSC). After some years, Rek moved away from her field of expertise to focus on education, briefly working as a school director, before venturing into television journalism. Together with another colleague, she hosted the show "Rayos X" which covered cultural, political, and social issues. The program ran for six years, after which she was brought on as the director of the newspaper "La Estrella del Oriente", a position she held for four years between  2005 and 2009. Chamber of Senators. First term (2010–2015). 2009 general election. In the early 2000s, Rek was a harsh critic of then-president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada as well as the capitalist and neoliberal political system more generally. Her initial sympathies towards the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP) led her to join the 2006–2007 Constituent Assembly as a collaborator with the Presidential Representation for the Constituent Assembly (REPAC). However, Rek later became a strong supporter of the Santa Cruz autonomist movement and was critical of what she viewed as the MAS' attempt to be "enthroned" in power indefinitely. Despite  her lack of political experience, National Convergence (PPB-CN), the opposition alliance of Manfred Reyes Villa, added her to its electoral list as a candidate for second senator for Santa Cruz in the 2009 general elections. Tenure. On New Year's Day 2010, a few weeks before entering the Chamber of Senators, Rek participated in the foundation of New Civic Power, a regional civic group led by Santa Cruz Senator Germán Antelo and other elected deputies for the department. During her term, she was twice elected to head the opposition PPB caucus in the Senate: once in 2012 on an  interim basis in replacement of Roger Pinto Molina and again in 2014 for the remaining duration of 2010–2015 Legislative Assembly. At the end of her term, she did not seek reelection. In an interview with "La Razón", Rek asserted that she had come to view the Plurinational Legislative Assembly as "a place where very little actually happens, and that does not generate any change in the lives of citizens". She pointed to the opposition's weakness as a reason for why the legislature had become "isolated from civic life". According to Rek, the MAS' supermajority in the Legislative Assembly left  the opposition in a position where it could only denounce the government's actions, something it failed to do forcefully due to the "improvised [and] erratic situation" it found itself in. After leaving the Senate, Rek retired from political life and joined a volunteer group providing psychological assistance to young men and women. Second term (2020–present). 2020 general election. In 2020, Rek returned from political retirement to once again run for senator, this time for the position of first senator for Santa Cruz on behalf of the Creemos political alliance. At age sixty-six, she was the oldest of  the twelve candidates that made up the electoral lists of the top three contending parties. Tenure. Rek has characterized "obsolete centralism, shameful budget, and politicized health" as the "chronic ills of the State". In order to address the public health crisis, she has proposed the increase of the health budget to ten percent of the national budget. To pay for this, Rek suggested levying taxes on harmful products such as alcohol and cigarettes. In terms of her main goals, she stated that "deepen[ing] autonomy [of Santa Cruz]" would be the focus of her second term in the Senate. Centa Rek