Solá was also Secretary of Agriculture during the presidency of Carlos Menem, and served as Vice Governor of Buenos Aires under Carlos Ruckauf until Ruckauf's resignation in 2002. From 2007 to 2019, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies.
Upon graduation Solá worked as a university professor, journalist, and economics counselor and researcher. He married María Teresa González in 1982, and they had two children; the couple were separated in 2003.[3] He met María Elena Cháves in La Plata in 2004, and the two have lived in his home in Pilar since 2007.[4]
Solá returned to the post of Secretary of Agriculture under Menem in 1993, remaining in the post until 1998.[2] His tenure is best known for his controversial 1996 decision to allow the cultivation of GMOsoy in Argentina, authorized a mere 81 days after Monsanto applied for a permit.[5]
Governor of Buenos Aires
On 10 December 1999, he became Vice Governor of Buenos Aires under Carlos Ruckauf, and took up the governorship on 3 January 2002, when Ruckauf resigned to become Foreign Affairs Minister for interim President Eduardo Duhalde after the socioeconomic collapse of 2001.[6]
Solá abandoned his political allegiance to Duhalde after President Néstor Kirchner did likewise, aligning with Kirchner's expansionist policies. As governor and amid 9% economic growth, his support for Kirchnerist candidates in his province during the campaign for the 2005 legislative elections helped result for a landslide win over Duhalde's faction and other parties. He successfully headed Kirchner's Front for Victoryparty list for his province's congressional candidates in 2007, stepped down as governor and returned to Congress.[6]
Solá became a primary candidate in August 2009 for president ahead of the 2011 elections;[7] but lacking support, he withdrew on 11 June and endorsed Duhalde's Popular Union ticket, which went on to fifth place.[8]
He later joined the Renewal Front, a centrist Peronist faction created by Sergio Massa ahead of the 2013 mid-term elections. Like Solá, Massa had broken with President Cristina Kirchner after the 2008 agro-export tax hike dispute, and the Renewal Front bested Kirchner's Front for Victory in Buenos Aires Province in 2013.[9]
Solá ran for Governor of Buenos Aires Province in 2015 on the Renewal Front-led United for a New Alternative ticket; but placed third (21%). He then headed Massa's Buenos Aires Province party list for the 2017 mid-term elections, dubbed 1País, but again placed third (11%).
He broke with the Renewal Front and on 22 October 2018, joined four fellow Renewal Front congressmen and four allies to create Red por Argentina (RxA; "Network for Argentina"). Amid a worsening economic crisis Solá stated that his goal was to promote unity against the Mauricio Macri administration for the 2019 elections.[10] The member parties of Red por Argentina would later join the broader Frente de Todos coalition.[11]
Appointment as foreign minister
On 6 December 2019, it was announced Solá would be the next Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Argentina in the incoming cabinet of President Alberto Fernández.[12] He assumed office alongside the rest of the cabinet on 10 December 2019.