Tomasa Yarhui

Tomasa Yarhui Jacomé is a Bolivian lawyer and politician who made history as the first indigenous woman to serve as a government minister in Bolivia, holding the post of Minister of Peasant and Indigenous Affairs under President Jorge Quiroga in 2002. Born in the Quechua community of Manca Jallpa in Chuquisaca, she became active in indigenous and peasant syndicalism at a young age and later served as a municipal councilor in Sucre and as a substitute senator for the Podemos party from 2006 to 2010. She also ran for the vice presidency of Bolivia in 2014 alongside presidential candidate Jorge Quiroga on the Christian Democratic Party ticket, and she has continued her work as national coordinator for indigenous peoples within her political movement.