Agustín Rossi
Rossi in 2023
Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers
In office
15 February 2023 – 10 December 2023
PresidentAlberto Fernández
Preceded byJuan Luis Manzur
Succeeded byNicolás Posse
Minister of Defense
In office
10 December 2019 – 10 August 2021
PresidentAlberto Fernández
Preceded byOscar Aguad
Succeeded byJorge Taiana
In office
3 June 2013 – 10 December 2015
PresidentCristina Fernández de Kirchner
Preceded byArturo Puricelli
Succeeded byJulio Martínez
National Deputy
In office
10 December 2017 – 10 December 2019
ConstituencySanta Fe
In office
10 December 2005 – 3 June 2013
ConstituencySanta Fe
Personal details
Born (1959-10-18) 18 October 1959
Vera, Santa Fe, Argentina
Political partyJusticialist Party
Other political
affiliations		Front for Victory (2003–2017)
Unidad Ciudadana (2017–2019)
Frente de Todos (2019–2023)
Union for the Homeland (since 2023)
SpouseMaría Raquel Pezzelato
Children4
Alma materNational University of Rosario
ProfessionCivil engineer
NicknameChivo

Agustín Oscar Rossi (born 18 October 1959) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. Rossi has held a number of important political posts throughout his career, most notably as Minister of Defense during the presidencies of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2013–2015) and Alberto Fernández (2019–2021).

Rossi was a National Deputy for his native Santa Fe, and served as leader of the Front for Victory parliamentary bloc in the lower house. Since 15 February 2023, Rossi has been Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers to the incumbent president Alberto Fernandez. He was the running mate of Sergio Massa in the 2023 Argentine general election, seeking the vice presidency as part of the Union for the Homeland coalition until Massa lost to Javier Milei in runoff.

Early life and education

Rossi was born in Vera, a small city in the north of Santa Fe Province, where he spent his early youth. He moved to Rosario when he was 17 years old, and graduated as a civil engineer at the National University of Rosario. [1]

Political career

Provincial career

Rossi was a member of the Peronist University Youth in the 1970s, and joined the Justicialist Party in the 1980s. He elected to the Rosario Deliberative Council in 1987, but returned to his private practice in the 1991. He returned to politics in 2001, was elected to the Deliberative Council in 2002, and presided said body from 2004 to 2005.

In the 2005 legislative elections he ran for a seat in the Lower House of Congress for the Front for Victory, the largest faction of the Justicialist Party, formed by supporters of President Néstor Kirchner. His campaign capitalized on, and was centered on gaining support for, the successful policies implemented by Kirchner on the national level; Rossi, who was not yet well known in the province, presented himself as "Kirchner's candidate."[2] The Front for Victory party list headed by Rossi came in second (with 33% of votes) after the Socialist Party list headed by Hermes Binner (43%).[3]

Congressional terms and Ministry of Defense

He then became the head of the Front for Victory bloc in the lower house of Congress.[4] In that capacity, he took on the task of imposing party discipline while rallying legislative support of Kirchner's policies; he stated that "the bloc [belonging to the ruling party] has the fundamental role of being the legislative arm of the government. I cannot conceive a [government party] block that has doubts or criticism for the government's projects. Society tells us: 'I choose you to strengthen the course of action initiated by the President."[5] He also courted controversy with his rhetoric, notably in August 2010 when he described lawmakers who presented a bill that sought reverse a government decision to revoke an expired license for the Fibertel internet service provider, as "lawyers" for the Clarín Group (Fibertel's parent company); there have been ongoing controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism since 2008 over a number of issues.[6]

Rossi was a candidate in the FpV primary for the governorship of Santa Fe in the 2007 elections. His rival within the party was Rosario-born National Deputy and former Foreign Relations Minister Rafael Bielsa. The Mayor of Rafaela, Omar Perotti, campaigned for some time as well, but finally gave up and turned to support Bielsa. In the classical caudillist fashion that has prevailed in Argentina’s last century of politics, although some in the party, including Bielsa, would have rather negotiated on a consensus candidacy, Rossi insisted on conducting a primary election. Rossi also stated that he wanted Bielsa's sister María Eugenia (then vice-governor of Santa Fe), on his party list, though he instead chose Jorge Fernández, former Minister of Education during the governorship of Víctor Reviglio.[7][8][9] Bielsa was eventually chosen as the party's candidate in primary elections on July 1, 2007, but subsequently lost the election to Socialist Hermes Binner.

Rossi continued in his role as Majority Leader of the Chamber of Deputies as head of the Front for Victory bloc, which retained a majority in the Chamber. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner nominated him to the post of Minister of Defense of Argentina on 30 May 2013.[10]

Electoral history

Executive

Electoral history of Agustín Rossi
Election Office List Votes Result Ref.
Total  % P.
2007 (P) Governor of Santa Fe Plural Concertation 228,501 34.96%[lower-alpha 1] 2nd[lower-alpha 2] Not elected [11]
2011 Governor of Santa Fe Santa Fe for All 388,231 22.76% 3rd Not elected [12]
2023 1-R Vice President of Argentina Union for the Homeland 9,853,492 36.78% 1st → Round 2
2023 2-R 11,384,014 44.25% 2nd Not elected
  1. ↑ Percentage out of the votes received by the party or front within which the primary was contested.
  2. ↑ Out of the lists contesting the primary.

Legislative

Electoral history of Agustín Rossi
Election Office List # District Votes Result Ref.
Total  % P.
2005 National Deputy Front for Victory 1 Santa Fe Province 489,584 33.28% 2nd[lower-alpha 1] Elected [13]
2009 Front for Victory 1 Santa Fe Province 162,615 9.63% 3rd[lower-alpha 1] Elected [14]
2015 Mercosur MP Front for Victory 3 National list 8,922,609 37.46% 1st[lower-alpha 1] Elected [15]
2017 National Deputy Justicialist Front 1 Santa Fe Province 509,190 25.90% 2nd[lower-alpha 1] Elected [16]
  1. 1 2 3 4 Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.

References

  1. ↑ Desarrollo y Región. Profile of National Deputy candidates Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Clarín, 19 September 2005. Santa Fe: esa pulseada clave que concentra la atención de Kirchner Archived 26 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Atlas Electoral de Andy Tow. 2005 legislative elections, National Deputies, Santa Fe Province Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Argentine Chamber of Deputies. Data on Agustín Rossi.
  5. ↑ La Nación, 29 January 2006. Agustín Rossi: "El oficialismo no puede ser crítico" Archived 31 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "Rossi criticó duramente a la oposición por su intención de revocar la licencia de Fibertel". Terra Noticias. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  7. ↑ RosarioNet, 3 August 2006. Rossi y Bielsa podrían ir a internas en Santa Fe Archived August 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ Rosario/12, 10 October 2006. "Yo voy a presentar lista" Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Rosario3, 3 April 2007. Listos y preparados, los precandidatos ya están en carrera Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "CFK shuffles Cabinet, taps Rossi for Defence, Puricelli for Security". Buenos Aires Herald. 30 May 2013. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  11. ↑ "Elecciones 2007". santafe.gov.ar (in Spanish). Tribunal Electoral de la Provincia de Santa Fe. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  12. ↑ "Elecciones 2011". santafe.gov.ar (in Spanish). Tribunal Electoral de la Provincia de Santa Fe. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  13. ↑ "Elecciones 2005". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  14. ↑ "Elecciones 2009". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  15. ↑ "Elecciones 2015". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  16. ↑ "Elecciones 2017". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). Dirección Nacional Electoral. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
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