Edgar Luis Fernández (born 11 November 1971) is a Bolivian cab driver, politician, and trade unionist who served as a party-list member of the Chamber of Deputies from Santa Cruz from 2010 to 2015. Although born in Cochabamba, Fernández spent most of his life residing in Santa Cruz. He eventually settled in the capital city's district, where he got his start providing share taxi services. At age 18, Fernández joined his local drivers' syndicate, progressively rising through the union's ranks throughout the early 2000s. A member of the Movement for Socialism, Fernández actively worked to align his sector with the party, actions that bore fruit in the form of a long-lasting political alliance. After two failed runs for public office in 2004 and 2005, Fernández was elected to represent the Santa Cruz Department in the Chamber of Deputies in 2009. He was not nominated for reelection. Early life and career Early life and education Edgar Fernández was born on 11 November 1971 to Guemersindo Montaño and Juana Fernández. Although born in Totora, a rural town in the Carrasco Province of Cochabamba, he spent most of his life in the Santa Cruz Department, having moved there with his mother at the age of 1. The two settled in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, one of the primary zones of economic opportunity in the country since the latter half of the twentieth century. There, his mother set up shop as a merchant, with Fernández himself taking up a job at a local noodle factory around age 9. Simultaneously to that, he attended the city's San Martín School, studying up to middle grade before financial constraints forced him to drop out. Trade unionism Between ages 14 and 15, Fernández fulfilled his term of mandatory military service. Upon his return home, he briefly resumed his factory job before relocating to Santa Cruz's in 1987. The municipal district was a hub of lower-class immigration to the city, mostly by migrants from the western departments. There, Fernández began working as a cab driver in the employment of some family members, taking night shifts as he lacked a license at the time. Using money he saved from his factory job, he was able to buy his own minibus, which he operated as a share taxi. Through that, he eventually came to own his own bus route. Fernández became affiliated with Santa Cruz's urban drivers' unions at the