Eduardo Rodríguez

Eduardo Rodríguez   (lawyer)
Born	2 March 1956) Cochabamba, Bolivia
Nationality	Bolivian
Alma mater	University of San Simón, Harvard University
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Spouse	Fanny Elena Arguedas
Party	Independent
Harvard-educated judge who became Interim President of Bolivia in 2005.  President of Bolivia  In office 9 June 2005 - 22 January 2006 Succeeded by Evo Morales

Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé is a Bolivian judge who briefly was president of Bolivia from 2005 to 2006 on an interim basis following the resignation of President Carlos Mesa during the 2005 political crisis during protests against the government's economic policies concerning natural gas, as well as the "war on drugs", corruption and violent military responses against strikes.

Evo Morales won the December 2005 general election and Rodriguez's term ended upon Morales' inauguration.

Background and Career

Born in Cochabamba in 1956, Rodríguez is a lawyer and holds a master's degree in public administration. He studied at Colegio San Agustín; later he studied law at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón in Cochabamba and obtained his Master of Public Administration at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Prior to his temporary role as president, he was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bolivia.

Activities as Interim President

After becoming interim president, controversy arose over the destruction of Chinese-made missiles owned by Bolivia in January 2006. His accusers indicate that shortly before the end of his term, Rodríguez authorized these missiles to be sent to the United States to be destroyed.

Commander of the Army Marcelo Antezana confessed to have had authorized the destruction of such missiles, but not their transfer. "Washington requested the repatriation of its missiles to US territory in order to destroy them since the United States feared that Morales won the presidential elections", said ex-general Marcelo Antezana in statements to a local radio station before he backed down.

He was accused of treason by several deputies of Morales' party MAS. However, the Bolivian Legislative Body rejected Rodríguez Veltzé's participation in the events due to lack of evidence, and a process was initiated against former military authorities and mainly against the then Minister of Defense Gonzalo Elías Méndez Gutiérrez.

Later career

Rodríguez was the Bolivian ambassador to the Netherlands where he also was ambassador before the International Court of Justice. On 12 November 2019, he resigned from that post upon the assumption of the government of Jeanine Áñez.

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