Miguel Andrés Costas Zottos (born 30 December 1961) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...

politician who served as a National Deputy elected in

Salta Province Salta () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy. To the north it borders Boli ...

from 2017 to 2021. A member of the localist

Salta Renewal Party The Salta Renewal Party ( es, Partido Renovador de Salta; PRS) is a conservative provincial political party in Salta Province, Argentina. The party is a federalist party, believing in strong and renewed provinces with power decentralised from Bue ...

, Zottos previously served in both houses of the Salta Legislature, and as

Vice Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of Salta under

Juan Manuel Urtubey Juan Manuel Urtubey (born September 6, 1969) is an Argentine politician, lawyer, university professor and former governor of Salta Province. Formerly a senior figure in the ruling Front for Victory faction of the Justicialist Party (PJ) in the Arg ...

from 2007 to 2015.

Early life

Zottos was born on 30 December 1961 in Tartagal,

, to a family of

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 ...

descent. He was raised in the

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

faith, and married into the

Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch ( el, Ελληνορθόδοξο Πατριαρχείο Αντιοχείας), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East ( ar ...

with Marisa Yudi, of

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indig ...

descent. He finished high school at the Escuela de Comercio Alejandro Agüado in Tartagal, and has an unfinished degree on economics from the

National University of Salta The National University of Salta ( es, Universidad Nacional de Salta, or UNSa) is an Argentine public national university in Salta. It was founded on 11 May 1972 as a part of the ''Plan Taquini'', a reorganization plan for education. It has ar ...

Political career

Zottos began his career in 1992 as Undersecretary of Border Areas in the

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

city government; he then went on to serve as a member of the Tartagal City Council. In 1993, he briefly served as interim mayor of Tartagal. In 1995 he was elected to the Salta Province Chamber of Deputies, representing the General San Martín Department; he was president of the

parliamentary bloc in the Chamber starting in 1999. Zottos was elected to the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( es, Cámara de Diputados de la Nación), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress ( es, Congreso de la Nación). It is made up of 257 n ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

. Zottos was the running mate of

at the 2007 gubernatorial election in Salta; the ticket won with 46.39% of the popular vote, and Urtubey was elected. Both Urtubey and Zottos were sworn in on 10 December 2007. The Urtubey-Zottos ticket was re-elected in 2011, this time with 59.57% of the vote. Although Urtubey sought and won a third term in 2015, Zottos did not run for re-election alongside him. Instead, he ran for a seat in the Provincial Senate. Zottos ran for the

again in the 2017 legislative election, this time as the first candidate in the "Unity and Renewal Front" list. The list became the second-most voted, with 24.44% (behind

Cambiemos ( en, Together for Change) is a centre-right political coalition in Argentina. It was created in 2015 as Cambiemos ( en, Let's Change), and renamed in 2019. It is composed of Republican Proposal, Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI and ...

—

PAIS : Pais is a red wine grape that has played a prominent role in the Chilean wine industry. Up until the turn of the 21st century, it was Chile's most planted variety until it was overtaken by Cabernet Sauvignon. Today it is most commonly used in t ...

's 30.25%), and Zottos was elected. He took office on 6 December 2017. As deputy, Zottos formed part of the ''Bloque Justicialista'' parliamentary bloc from 2017 to 2019, and later presided the bloc within the '' Interbloque Federal'' from 2019 to 2021.

References

External links

Profile on the official website of the Chamber of Deputies
(in Spanish) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zottos, Andrés Living people 1961 births Argentine people of Greek descent Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Salta Vice Governors of Salta Province People from Salta Province Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Salta Members of the Senate of Salta 20th-century Argentine politicians 21st-century Argentine politicians