María Cecilia Rodríguez (born September 12, 1967) is an Argentine public policy maker. She was Minister of Security of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

from 4 December 2013 to 10 December 2015, serving in the cabinet of

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and former politician who served as the 56th president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, and later as the 37th Vice ...

Biography

Rodríguez was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. She enrolled at the

Universidad del Salvador The University of the Salvador (, also known for its acronym USAL) is a Jesuit university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to its campus in downtown Buenos Aires, it has instructional and research facilities in Pilar, San Miguel, Bahía B ...

, a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

university in

, in 1985 and graduated with a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

in 1990. She entered public service in 1991 as an electoral history researcher at the National General Archives, later serving as an assistant in the Ministries of Education (1992) and the Interior (1993). She taught history, economic, and sociology at the IAES college preparatory school (1991–92); and social policy at the

Argentine National Gendarmerie The Argentine National Gendarmerie (, GNA) is the national gendarmerie force and corps of border guards of the Argentine Republic. As at 2011, It has a strength of 30,000 The gendarmerie is primarily a frontier guard force but also fulfils othe ...

Officers' School (1994–95) and the Catholic University of

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...

from 2000 to 2002. Rodríguez joined Argentina's White Helmets

humanitarian assistance Humanitarian assistance is aid and action designed to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity during and after man-made crises and disasters. It encompasses a wide range of activities, including providing food, water, shelter, ...

organization as a project planning official in 1994. She contributed in this capacity to White Helmet missions in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

(youth sports);

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

(health crisis management in the aftermath of

Hurricane Mitch Hurricane Mitch was an extremely deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane, which became the second-deadliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record. Mitch caused 11,374 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately ...

);

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

(

Chagas disease Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily Triatominae, known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change throughout the ...

mitigation);

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

(family farming); and Argentina itself (flood relief). Rodríguez served in this post until 1999, and was made a member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) in April of that year. Her later humanitarian projects include sports development for the

United Nations Mission in Kosovo The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Привремена административна мисија Уједињених нација на Косову, Privremena administrativna misija Ujedinjenih na ...

(2002), as well as

disaster relief Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actu ...

planning for the UN

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

(2001) and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

(2005). She returned to the Ministry of Social Development in 2006 as a specialist in emergencies, reaching the position of Technical Coordinator of Direct Social Assistance for the Secretariat of Territories in February 2009; she was promoted in March 2010 to National Director of Critical Care at the same undersecretariat. Rodríguez remained in that position until March 2012, when she was appointed Secretary of Citizen Participation for the Secretariat of Security by the newly appointed Security Secretary Sergio Berni. She was appointed Secretary of Military Emergency Assistance Coordination in May 2013, and in December of that year was nominated by President

as Minister of Security. As Security Minister, Rodríguez refocused the nation's drug policy by prioritizing

illegal drug trade The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of drug prohibition, prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibitionism, prohibit trade, exce ...

abatement over suppressing possession as had been the case in Argentina for decades. She stated during her nomination process that "the war on drugs has failed at a global level" and in July 2014 affirmed that the decriminalization of drug use in Argentina should be debated in the near future.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Maria Cecilia 1967 births Living people Politicians from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Spanish descent Universidad del Salvador alumni Women government ministers of Argentina Argentine officials of the United Nations 21st-century Argentine women politicians 21st-century Argentine politicians Fernández de Kirchner administration cabinet members