Arnoldo Castillo (April 29, 1922 – September 29, 2005) was an Argentine politician.
Life and times
Arnoldo Aníbal Castillo was born to Carmen Berrondo and Gualberto Castillo in
Quilmes
Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the south east of the Greater Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and it is the seat of the eponymous county. With a population of 230,810, it is located south of the ...
, a suburb of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, in 1922. His parents relocated to
Catamarca, in the
Argentine Northwest
The Argentine Northwest (''Noroeste Argentino'') is a geographic and historical region of Argentina composed of the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy, La Rioja, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán.
Geography
The Argentine Northwest comprises ...
, early in his childhood. Castillo enrolled 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 t ...
, where he studied
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...
, and at the
National University of San Juan
The National University of San Juan (in Castilian, ''Universidad Nacional de San Juan'', UNSJ) is a public university in Argentina. Its seat is located in the city of San Juan, capital of the province of the same name, in the Cuyo region. It wa ...
, to study
mining engineer
Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...
ing. Unable to graduate, he was subsequently hired as a
public administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...
clerk at ''Vialidad Nacional'', the National Highway Bureau, and became a specialized advisor in the construction of mountain roads.
His experience took him to
Bolivia in 1949, and helped plan that country's stretch of the
Pan-American Highway
The Pan-American Highway (french: (Auto)route panaméricaine/transaméricaine; pt, Rodovia/Auto-estrada Pan-americana; es, Autopista/Carretera/Ruta Panamericana) is a network of roads stretching across the Americas and measuring about in to ...
. Returning to Catamarca, he worked as a consultant from 1950 to 1963, when he was elected to the Provincial Legislature on the centrist
Radical Civic Union (UCR-P) ticket. Castillo was elected Mayor of Catamarca in 1966, in the first
direct election for that post in the province's history; a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
that June led to his removal by military authorities, however.
The same regime, represented in Catamarca by de facto Governor Horacio Pernasetti, appointed Castillo interim Mayor of Catamarca in 1971. A subsequent
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
again called on Castillo shortly after the
March 1976 coup; Castillo resigned his membership in the UCR, and he served in the post until 1981. His membership in the UCR was reinstated after the return of democracy with
elections in 1983.
The new governor,
Ramón Saadi of the (Peronist)
Justicialist Party, faced a crisis of his own when the rape and murder of a local teen,
María Soledad Morales, in September 1990, was placed at the hands of two youths whose fathers were close to Governor Saadi. Saadi, an ally of President
Carlos Menem, was replaced with a Federal
Receivership
In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in c ...
by order of the President within days of the tragedy; ultimately, however, Catamarca voters turned against the ruling Justicialists, and Castillo was elected governor in
elections in 1991.
Castillo's tenure was marked by an emphasis on
infrastructure investments, notably road building and
rural electrification
Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2017, over 1 billion ...
. Two landmark projects include the Cuesta de El Portezuelo road and the
San Francisco Pass
The San Francisco Pass is a pass over the Andes mountains which connects Argentina and Chile. The highest point of this pass is at AMSL.
Location
The pass is located at and connects the Argentine province of Catamarca with the Atacama Re ...
, which improved links between both sides of the rugged
Ancasti range, and facilitated commerce with neighboring
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, respectively. The governor responded to the province's judicial bottlenecks by decreeing that, counter to the provincial constitution, candidates from anywhere in Argentina could be eligible for the bench in Catamarca. Castillo was challenged in his 1995 campaign for reelection by Ramón Saadi, who was defeated by 8%; the strength of the UCR in Catamarca led Castillo to forego joining the
Alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
formed at the national level with the center-left
Frepaso
The Front for a Country in Solidarity ( or ) was a center-left political coalition in Argentina. It was formed in 1994 out of the Broad Front (''Frente Grande''), which had been founded mainly by progressive members of the Peronist Justicialist ...
in 1997.
His tenure, in turn, was criticized for refusing to advertise in ''
El Ancasti
''El Ancasti'' is a local daily newspaper published in San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, Argentina.
''El Ancasti'' was founded on July 8, 1988, and like the town of the same name, was named for a Cácan term referring to the Andes that domin ...
'', Catamarca's most important news daily, as well as for its numerous lawsuits against the publication. Around 200 fraudulent pensions awarded during the Castillo tenure sent three of his officials to prison shortly after his retirement.
He was succeeded as governor by his son,
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
, in 1999, and retired from public office; the UCR retained the governor's post in subsequent elections. Suffering from
Type II diabetes
Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urinatio ...
, his health deteriorated in his later years. Arnoldo Castillo died in Catamarca in 2005, at age 83. A monument in his honor was unveiled in Catamarca in 2010.
''El Ancasti''
References
External links
*
''La Nación'': Falleció Arnoldo Castillo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Arnoldo
1922 births
2005 deaths
People from Quilmes
20th-century Argentine engineers
Mayors of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca
Radical Civic Union politicians
Governors of Catamarca Province
Deaths from diabetes