Jorge Alberto Rodríguez (born 1944) 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, s ...

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 ...

politician who served as

Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers The Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Argentine Nation ( es, Jefe de Gabinete de Ministros de la Nación Argentina; JGM), more commonly known simply as the Cabinet Chief ( es, Jefe de Gabinete) is a ministerial office within the governmen ...

and as Minister of Education during the second presidency of

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...

Early life

Rodríguez was born in 1944 in

Coronel Hilario Lagos Coronel Hilario Lagos is a village and rural locality (municipality) in La Pampa Province in Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South Ameri ...

, a rural village in

La Pampa Province La Pampa () is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza. History In ...

. He became politically active in the

Peronist movement 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 ...

as a student in the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences, from which he graduated in 1971. He continued to participate in political activities until the 1976 coup d'état, later settling in the United States, where he earned a master's degree on science at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Political career

From 1983 to 1987, Rodríguez served as Undersecretary of Agrarian Affairs of La Pampa Province, during the governorship of Rubén Marín. Later, from 1987 to 1989, he served as the province's Minister of Education, but resigned to run for a seat in the National Chamber of Deputies. In 1992, Rodríguez was appointed as

Minister of Education and Culture The Ministry of Education and Culture is a Cabinet position in the governments of several nations. In some nations the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture are separate departments; in others, the Ministry of Education and Culture als ...

of Argentina by President

, succeeding Antonio Salonia. In 1996, Menem appointed Rodríguez as

. He was the second person to serve in the post, following its creation by the 1994 constitutional amendments. Despite rumours of his intention to resign in 1997, Rodríguez remained in the position throughout the remainder of Menem's presidency, serving until December 1999. In 2004, Rodríguez testified in the trial against fellow Menem administration secretary

María Julia Alsogaray María Julia Alsogaray (October 8, 1942 – September 24, 2017) was an Argentine politician and engineer convicted in 2004 for financial crimes against the state. Biography The second of three children of socialite Edith Gay and conservative polit ...

, who stood accused of corruption. Later, in 2006, Rodríguez was formally accused of

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

on his own, for having allegedly allowed the use of public money for a seminar conducted by a private company.

Personal life

Rodríguez was married to María Susana Pangallo, with whom he has two children.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Jorge 1944 births Justicialist Party politicians Chiefs of Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina Living people People from La Pampa Province University of Buenos Aires alumni University of Nebraska alumni