Surco began his career as a union leader from Alto Beni, La Paz, and rose to leadership in the Federation of Colonizers of La Paz (Spanish: Federación de Colonizadores de La Paz) and later the Syndicalist Confederation of Intercultural Communities of Bolivia.
He also served as President of the National Coordination for Change from 2008 to 2010.
He served .as Senator from La Paz department in Bolivia's Plurinational Legislative Assembly from 2010 to 2015.
In December 2016, he sought to become the Vice President of the MAS-IPSP at the party's Ninth Congress, but consensus was not reached.
In January 2017, the position was awarded to Gerardo GarcÃa, another former leader of the Intercultural Confederation.