Rodolfo Alejandro Suarez (born 20 April 1963) 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 ...

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union ( es, Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) is a centrist and social-liberal political party in Argentina. It has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from social liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the ...

politician who is currently serving as

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

Mendoza Province Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic ...

, since 10 December 2019. Previously, from 2014 to 2019, he was ''

intendente An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) 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 ...

'' (mayor) of the City of Mendoza, having assumed office following the death of then-mayor

Víctor Fayad Víctor Manuel Federico Fayad (9 February 1955 – 7 August 2014) was an Argentine politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Radical Civic Union. Fayad served as Mayor of Mendoza from 10 December 1987 through 10 December 1991, and again fro ...

. 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 The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...

opposed it.

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

, the youngest of four siblings. Suárez comes from a political family: both of his grandfathers served as mayors of San Carlos; Ricardo Reynoso for the

(PJ) and Ulpiano Suárez for the Radical Civic Union (UCR). Rodolfo's father, Ulpiano, served as president of the provincial Chamber of Deputies. His nephew, also named Ulpiano after his father and grandfather, succeeded him as mayor of Mendoza in 2019. Suárez moved to Mendoza in 1981 to study law at the

University of Mendoza The University of Mendoza (Spanish: ''Universidad de Mendoza'', UM) is an Argentine non-profit private university in the city of Mendoza with a branch in the city of San Rafael. History The University of Mendoza was established on December 22, 19 ...

, later finishing his studies at the

National University of Córdoba The National University of Córdoba ( es, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba,) is an institution of higher education in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. Founded in 1613, the university is the oldest in Argentina, the third oldest university of th ...

, where he earned his ''

licenciatura A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. It may be similar to a master's degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universities in Europe, Latin A ...

'' in 1991.

Political career

Suárez joined the

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. Throughout his career he maintained a close friendship with

, 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. He was sworn in on 21 April 2010. A year later, Suárez was elected president of the city council. Upon Fayad's death due to cancer on 7 August 2014, Suárez succeeded him as mayor of Mendoza. He ran for the position the next year and won with 59.99% of the vote.

Governor of Mendoza

Ahead of the 2019 general election, Suárez was nominated by the ruling UCR to be the Cambiemos Mendoza gubernatorial candidate. He won the election with 51% against

Frente de Todos The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") is a coalition of Peronist and Kirchnerist political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner. Fernández won the 2019 gene ...

candidate Anabel Fernández Sagasti's 36%. He took office on 10 December 2019. 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 Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...

and sulfuric acid in

surface mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in whi ...

, which could have had negative impact on the province's already limited water resources. The initiative stirred controversy and was widely protested by locals and environmentalist groups. The law was overturned on 30 December 2019.

Personal life

Suárez is married to Fabiana Calleja, a

physics education Physics education refers to the methods currently used to teach physics. Physics Education Research refers to an area of pedagogical research that seeks to improve those methods. Historically, physics has been taught at the high school and colleg ...

teacher. He has four children: Gastón, Valentín, Sofía and Facundo.

References

External links

Official website of the Governorship of Mendoza
(in Spanish) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suárez, Rodolfo 1963 births Living people People from Mendoza Province Mayors of Mendoza, Argentina Governors of Mendoza Province Radical Civic Union politicians 21st-century Argentine politicians