Sergio Urribarri

Sergio Urribarri
Urribarri in 2007
Ambassador of Argentina to Israel
In office
7 May 2020 – 8 April 2022
Preceded byMariano Caucino
Succeeded byShimon Axel Wahnish
Governor of Entre Ríos
In office
10 December 2007 – 10 December 2015
Vice GovernorJosé Lauritto
José Orlando Cáceres
Preceded byJorge Busti
Succeeded byGustavo Bordet
Personal details
Born (1958-10-07) 7 October 1958 (age 66)
Arroyo Barú, Entre Ríos, Argentina[1]
Political partyJusticialist Party
SpouseAnalía Aguilera
Children4

Sergio Daniel Urribarri (born 7 October 1958) is an Argentine Justicialist Party (PJ) politician and former governor of Entre Ríos Province. Since 2020 he has been Argentina's ambassador to Israel. In April 2022 he resigned from office after being sentenced to eight years and a perpetual ban from public office for the crimes of negotiations incompatible with public service and embezzlement.

Biography

Born in the village of Arroyo Barú, Entre Ríos, to Antonia Martínez, a schoolteacher, and Arturo Urribarri, a railway engineer. Urribarri grew up and attended school in Colón, before moving to General Campos, where at the age of 20 he became Director of the public library. He was a successful footballer for the town's club, and in 1985 he was elected Mayor of General Campos.[1] He and his wife Analía married in 1981 and have five sons; one of them, Bruno Urribarri, became a football defender for Club Atlético Colón.[2]

Urribarri had a lengthy tenure as director of the Concordia Football League and was elected provincial deputy on three occasions, sitting in the provincial legislature between 1991 and 2003. He served as head of CAFESG, the governing body of the hydroelectric plant at the Salto Grande Dam from 2003, and then as minister of government, justice, education and public works under Governor Jorge Busti, from 2004.[1][3]

Urribarri was elected Governor on the Front for Victory slate in March 2007. He and Busti were on opposite sides of the 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector over higher export tariffs proposed by President Cristina Kirchner (whom Urribarri supported). He bested the UCR candidate, Gustavo Cusinato, with 47% of the vote to Cusinato's 20%.[4] He was re-elected in 2011 with 56% of the vote, defeating Atilio Benedetti of the UCR-led Progressive Civic Front Alliance as well as Busti, who ran on a Federal Peronist ticket.[5]

Following the president's decision in March 2012 to partly renationalize the nation's leading energy firm, YPF, Urribarri suggested as a potential adviser or director Schlumberger oil engineer and executive Miguel Galluccio; the Entre Ríos native was appointed CEO of YPF upon the firm's renationalization on May 5.[6]

In 2019 the Argentine government nominated him to be the country's ambassador in the State of Israel. On 7 January 2020 his credentials were accepted by the Israeli government.[7] In April 2022, Urribarri was convicted of corruption and resigned from the position. Shimon Axel Wahnish was nominated as his replacement in December 2023.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Sergio Daniel Urribarri, Gobernador electo Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, El Diario Paraná quoted in CableInformación, 19 March 2007.
  2. ^ "Mi familia". Sergio Urribarri.
  3. ^ Ríos elige su gobernador, El Litoral, 18 March 2007.
  4. ^ "Entre Ríos. Gobernador y Vice. 18 de marzo de 2007". Andy Tow's Electoral Atlas of Argentina.
  5. ^ "Entre Ríos. Gobernador y Vice. 23 de octubre de 2011". Andy Tow's Electoral Atlas of Argentina.
  6. ^ "Llega un técnico de prestigio para conducir YPF". Página/12. 5 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Israel concedió el plácet a Urribarri como embajador argentino". Perfil (in Spanish). 7 January 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  8. ^ Nollman, Maria (2023-12-11). "Axel Wahnish, el rabino ortodoxo que instruye y acompaña a Milei en las sombras y que irá como embajador a Israel". La Nación. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
Preceded by Governor of Entre Ríos
2007–2015 		Incumbent