Álvaro Marcelo García Linera (born 19 October 1962), is a Bolivian politician who has been Vice President of Bolivia since 2006. He was born in Cochabamba and graduated from San Agustín High School. Then, he studied mathematics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City but did not obtain a degree. After failing his studies at UNAM, he returned to his native Bolivia and attempted to put some of his long-held socialist ideology to practice and joined the Katarist "Ayllus Rojos", a series of experimental, Marxist-inspired native communities in northwestern Bolivia. When this attempt at grass-roots politics failed, García opted for a more radical approach. Alongside Felipe Quispe, he organized and worked in the insurgent Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army. After being caught destroying electrical distribution towers in rural La Paz, he was arrested and charged with insurrection and terrorism. In 1991, along with his brother Raul, he was convicted for theft of $441,000 destined to pay salaries of teachers of a local university (12), to this date, even thought he was found guilty, he continues to pressure the government to return the money that was confiscated from that crime. UMSS, the university affected is also trying to get their money back and get legal action against the Garcia Lineras and their gang. While imprisoned, he studied sociology but did not obtain a degree failing again. After his release he taught at a university illegally since Bolivian universities require their faculty to have a professional degree. He also was a political analyst, and news commentator. He made people think he is an academic, but he does not hold any academic degree, known for his support of indigenous and left-wing political movements in South America (in spite of his upper-middle class upbringing and the fact that he is of Spanish descent). He wrote a monograph about the different political and social organizations that were a part of the political rise of the MAS and other indigenous factions, Sociología de los Movimientos Sociales en Bolivia (Sociology of Social Movements in Bolivia), which was published in 2005.