Rodolfo Suárez

Rodolfo Suárez
Rodolfo Suárez gobernador.png
National Senator
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 December 2023
ConstituencyMendoza
Governor of Mendoza
In office
10 December 2019 – 10 December 2023
Vice GovernorMario Abed
Preceded byAlfredo Cornejo
Succeeded byAlfredo Cornejo
Mayor of Mendoza
In office
7 August 2014 – 10 December 2019
Preceded byVíctor Fayad
Succeeded byUlpiano Suárez
Personal details
Born
Rodolfo Alejandro Suarez

(1963-04-20) 20 April 1963 (age 61)
La Consulta, Mendoza Province, Argentina
Political partyRadical Civic Union
Other political
affiliations		Juntos por el Cambio (2015–present)
Alma materNational University of Córdoba

Rodolfo Alejandro Suarez (born 20 April 1963) is an Argentine Radical Civic Union politician who is currently serving as a National Senator for Mendoza Province since 10 December 2023. He previously served as governor of Mendoza from 2019 to 2023, and from 2014 to 2019, he was intendente (mayor) of the City of Mendoza, having assumed office following the death of then-mayor Víctor Fayad.

Suarez wanted to reform the Constitution, which has not been updated for more than 100 years. He proposed to update rights, establish unicamerality, increase territorial representation, reduce political spending and leave out the possibility of reelection of the governor. The Justicialist Party opposed it. [1]

Early life and education

Rodolfo Alejandro Suarez was born on 20 April 1963 in the rural town of La Consulta, in the San Carlos Department of Mendoza Province, the youngest of four siblings.[2] Suárez comes from a political family: both of his grandfathers served as mayors of San Carlos; Ricardo Reynoso for the Justicialist Party (PJ) and Ulpiano Suárez for the Radical Civic Union (UCR). Rodolfo's father, Ulpiano, served as president of the provincial Chamber of Deputies.[3] His nephew, also named Ulpiano after his father and grandfather, succeeded him as mayor of Mendoza in 2019.[4]

Suárez moved to Mendoza in 1981 to study law at the University of Mendoza, later finishing his studies at the National University of Córdoba, where he earned his licenciatura in 1991.[2][5][6]

Political career

Suárez joined the Radical Civic Union in the 1980s. He held a number of low-profile advisoral positions in the provincial legislature and the City of Mendoza throughout the 1990s before being elected to the Mendoza City Council in 2009.[7]

Throughout his career he maintained a close friendship with Víctor Fayad, who was twice mayor of Mendoza; Suárez has stated that he considered Fayad to be his "mentor" and "political godfather"; it was Fayad who suggested Suárez run for a seat in the City Council.[6] He was sworn in on 21 April 2010.[8] A year later, Suárez was elected president of the city council.[9]

Upon Fayad's death due to cancer on 7 August 2014, Suárez succeeded him as mayor of Mendoza.[5] He ran for the position the next year and won with 59.99% of the vote.[10]

Governor of Mendoza

Ahead of the 2019 general election, Suárez was nominated by the ruling UCR to be the Cambiemos Mendoza gubernatorial candidate.[11] He won the election with 51% against Frente de Todos candidate Anabel Fernández Sagasti's 36%.[12] He took office on 10 December 2019.[13][14]

On 20 December 2019 the provincial legislature passed – with Suárez's blessing – a resolution modifying Law 7722 on mining regulations; the new modified law allowed for the use of cyanide and sulfuric acid in surface mining, which could have had negative impact on the province's already limited water resources.[15] The initiative stirred controversy and was widely protested by locals and environmentalist groups.[16] The law was overturned on 30 December 2019.[17][18]

Personal life

Suárez is married to Fabiana Calleja, a physics education teacher. He has four children: Gastón, Valentín, Sofía and Facundo.[2]

References

  1. ^ Mannino, Pablo (17 February 2021). "Mendoza: El PJ le puso fin al sueño de Suarez de reformar la Constitución". La Nación.
  2. ^ a b c "¿Quién es Rodolfo Suarez? Sus secretos, sus miedos, sus gustos y más". MDZ Online (in Spanish). 30 September 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Quién es Rodolfo Suárez, el sucesor de Cornejo en Mendoza". Clarín (in Spanish). 30 September 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  4. ^ Peralta, Daniel (2 January 2018). "Ulpiano Suárez, pieza clave del gobierno para acordar las paritarias". Los Andes (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b Mannino, Pablo (30 September 2019). "Quién es Rodolfo Suarez, el futuro gobernador de Mendoza". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Rodolfo Suárez gobernador: perfil del nuevo elegido por los mendocinos". Los Andes (in Spanish). 29 September 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Rodolfo Suárez". Los Andes (in Spanish). 29 September 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Elecciones 2010: gran triunfo de la UCR en Capital". Ciudad de Mendoza (in Spanish). 6 April 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Se realizó la jura de los Concejales Electos por Capital". Ciudad de Mendoza (in Spanish). 30 November 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  10. ^ "El radical Rodolfo Suárez se impuso en la ciudad de Mendoza". La Nación (in Spanish). 3 May 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  11. ^ Mercado, Silvia (25 September 2019). "Rodolfo Suárez: "El temor de los mendocinos es que la provincia sea administrada por quienes la fundieron antes de 2015"". Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  12. ^ Mercado, Silvia (30 September 2019). "El triunfo de Suárez en Mendoza posicionó al radical Alfredo Cornejo en la escena nacional y devolvió esperanza al Gobierno". Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Asume Suarez y comienza una nueva etapa en Mendoza". MDZ Online (in Spanish). 9 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Rodolfo Suarez, el nuevo Gobernador de Mendoza". Diario NDI (in Spanish). 10 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  15. ^ Llorens, Francisco (23 December 2019). "Ley de Minería en Mendoza: qué se reclama y qué puede pasar". El Cronista (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  16. ^ Centenera, Mar (23 December 2019). "Protesta masiva en los Andes argentinos contra el uso de cianuro en la minería". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Mendoza derogó la ley que favorecía a la minería". Ámbito (in Spanish). 30 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  18. ^ "Mendoza derogó la Ley de Minería". El Cronista (in Spanish). 30 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rodolfo Alejandro Suárez.
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Mendoza
2014–2019 		Succeeded by
Ulpiano Suárez
Preceded by Governor of Mendoza
2019–2023 		Succeeded by
Alfredo Cornejo