Marcelo Armando Ramal (born 13 October 1954) is an Argentine economist, university professor, and Trotskyist politician serving as provincial deputy of Buenos Aires. He was elected in October 2013 as a candidate of the

Workers' Left Front The Workers' Left Front – Unity ( es, Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores – Unidad, FIT-U) is an alliance of initially three Trotskyist parties in Argentina formed to fight a number of elections in 2011, announced at a press conference ...

and is a member of the Workers' Party (PO).

Biography

Ramal began political activity at age 15, with ties to

Peronism Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...

. He distanced himself from Peronism after the events of Cordobazo, but formed a bond with Catalina Guagnini, an Argentine Trotskyist activist, and opposed the 1976 dictatorship. Between 2000 and 2003, he was Parliamentary Secretary of the Labor Party bloc in the

Buenos Aires City Legislature The Buenos Aires City Legislature ( es, Legislatura de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, links=no, commonly known as the ) is a central part of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is housed in the Legislature Palace ( es ...

. He worked with Jorge Altamira to increase the minimum wage and urbanize the city. In 2003, Ramal was beaten and detained while resisting the eviction of 24 families from the Children's Board (Pa.De.La.I.). Ramal is an adjunct professor of industrial organization at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires. In 2008, he overcame an attempt to annul his position through a

competitive exam Civil service examinations are examinations implemented in various countries for recruitment and admission to the civil service. They are intended as a method to achieve an effective, rational public administration on a merit system for recruitin ...

after he was supported by students and faculty.

Political career

In the 2013 elections, Ramal led the Workers' Left Front, which obtained 4.96 percent of the vote. He was sworn in on 3 December 2013, mentioning "the working class,

Mariano Ferreyra On 20 October 2010, Argentine student and Trotskyist activist Mariano Ferreyra was shot dead in Buenos Aires by members of a railway workers union. Incident Mariano Ferreyra (born 3 June 1987 in Sarandí) was an Argentine student active in t ...

and the kids of Cromañón." He led the coalition for the first two years until a scheduled leadership transfer. On 20 November 2013, Ramal filed a criminal complaint against the Republican Proposal and the major opposition blocs in the legislature for alleged

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

and influence peddling. During a 2013 heat wave, Ramal drafted a bill declaring an electricity emergency in Buenos Aires. The bill would create a committee that would work to restore power, and coordinate electrical companies' responses, and would be funded by a special tax on gambling houses, which were tax-exempt. In 2015, he proposed two laws addressing violence against women, coinciding with the Ni Una Menos movement. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 2023 primary elections with Patricia Urones as his vice presidential running mate.

External links

Workers' Party biography of Ramal (Spanish)

References

1954 births Living people Politicians from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Spanish descent Argentine economists Workers' Party (Argentina) politicians {{argentina-economist-stub