Raúl Alejandro Jalil (born 25 August 1963) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei. Fo ...

politician who is currently

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Catamarca Province Catamarca () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province had a population of 429,556 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km2. Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, f ...

, since 10 December 2019. Previously, from 2011 to 2019, he was ''

intendente An intendant (; ; ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Success ...

'' (mayor) of

San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca () is the capital and largest city in Catamarca Province in northwestern Argentina, on the Río Valle River, at the feet of the Cerro Ambato. The city name is normally shortened as Catamarca and is also kno ...

, the capital city of Catamarca Province.

Early life and education

Raúl Alejandro Jalil was born on 25 August 1963, son of José Guido Jalil, a physician and politician of Lebanese origin who was mayor of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca from 1987 to 1991. He studied economics and administration at the

University of Belgrano The University of Belgrano (, commonly referred to as UB) is a private university in the Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Belgrano district of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was established in 1964. Overview The university has nine departments: ...

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 ...

Political career

In 2005 Jalil was elected to the provincial legislature of Catamarca on the

list. He ran for the mayoralty of

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

in the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory (, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were elected as representatives ...

ticket, succeeding Ricardo Guzmán; he won the election and took office on 9 December 2011. During his tenure as mayor he sponsored a number of initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life for the city's inhabitants, such as the renovation of the historical district of the city, the urbanization of the southern access, and the creation of a local police force (''Guardia Urbana Municipal''). Jalil was re-elected in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

with 41.3% of the vote.

Governor of Catamarca

Ahead of the 2019 general election, Jalil was nominated as the

Frente de Todos The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") was a centre-left political coalition of political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner. Fernández won the 2019 gen ...

candidate for the governorship of Catamarca, succeeding

Lucía Corpacci Lucía Benigna Corpacci (born 4 December 1959) is an Argentine physician and politician. A member of the Justicialist Party, she was governor of Catamarca Province from 2011 to 2019, the first female governor in Catamarca and the fourth femal ...

(who was, herself, running for a seat in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

). He won the election with 60.45% of the vote and over 133 thousand votes.

Personal life

Jalil is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. He is married to Silvana Ginocchio, who is a National Deputy representing Catamarca since 2017; Jalil and Ginocchio have two children. Jalil has expressed his opposition to the legalization of abortion in Argentina, but has said he supports keeping the discussion on the matter open.

References

External links

Official website of the Governorship of Catamarca
(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jalil, Raúl 1963 births Living people People from Catamarca Province Argentine people of Lebanese descent Mayors of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca Governors of Catamarca Province Justicialist Party politicians 21st-century Argentine politicians