Ricardo Colombi (born August 30, 1957) is an Argentine lawyer and politician elected Governor of
Corrientes Province
Corrientes (, ‘currents’ or ‘streams’; gn, Taragui), officially the Province of Corrientes ( es, Provincia de Corrientes; gn, Taragüí Tetãmini) is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by (fr ...
in 2009.
Life and times
Ricardo Horacio Colombi was born in Mercedes, a Corrientes Province agricultural and cattle ranching hub at the southern end of the Esteros del Iberá
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
s. He enrolled at the National University of the Northeast and became active in the Franja Morada, the collegiate chapter of the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR), following which he earned a Law Degree and practiced in his native Mercedes. He married Graciela Barattini in 1988.
Colombi first campaigned for elected office in 1991, and was elected mayor of Mercedes that year. He earned a reputation as a highly-accessible mayor in subsequent years, and was reelected in 1995 and 1999. By 2001, had become the leading opposition figure to the powerful head of the PANU, Raúl Romero Feris. Romero Feris had been convicted of embezzlement, and his controversial 2001 candidacy unified his former allies, the
Liberal Party of Corrientes
The Liberal Party of Corrientes ( es, Partido Liberal de Corrientes) is a liberal provincial political party in Corrientes Province, Argentina. Founded in 1856, it is the oldest political party in Argentina still active.Justicialist Party in opposition to it.
They rallied behind Colombi, who ran on the UCR-led Front for Everyone alliance. Romero Feris narrowly won the first round on October 14, but a November 4 runoff election resulted in a victory for Colombi, who won with 51.2% of the vote. Governing during a national economic recovery, and enjoying President
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
's support, Colombi was prompted by term limits in 2005 to run for a seat in the Argentine Congress and advanced a cousin, Arturo Colombi, as the Front for All candidate for governor. The Corrientes UCR's continued support for the alliance (endorsed by Kirchner) led to a rebuke from the UCR National Committee itself, and this triggered a revolt from the Corrientes chapter of the party, as well as in four others' (notably in
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 o ...
). These differences led to the appearance that year of "K" Radicals (UCR governors and other lawmakers allied with President Kirchner).
Colombi broke with his cousin (the governor), however, and left the Front for All in 2007, when he ran for a seat in the Corrientes Senate on the UCR ticket, and was elected with the endorsement of third parties; as provincial senator, Colombi focused on educational and cultural issues.
Colombi again ran for governor on a UCR-led Corrientes Encounter party, ahead of the 2009 mid-term elections. Colombi's campaign was controversial not only for his choice of running mate (impeached former Governor Pedro Braillard Poccard), but also because it pitted him against his own cousin, who won the first round on September 13. Ricardo Colombi won the runoff on October 4, however, with over 62% of the vote. The runoff victory was clouded, however, by the untimely death that week of Hernán González Moreno, a local journalist who had filed charges of financial wrongdoing against the Colombis in a
Paso de los Libres
Paso de los Libres is a city in the east of the province of Corrientes in the Argentine Mesopotamia. It had about 44,000 inhabitants at the , and is the head town of the department of the same name.
The city lies on the right-hand (western) sh ...
federal court.
Arturo and Ricardo Colombi renewed their former alliance after eight years of estrangement for the latter's 2013 campaign for re-election as governor; despite his affiliation with the UCR, Colombi also received the endorsement of prominent
Federal Peronist
Federal Peronism ( es, Peronismo Federal), also known as Dissident Peronism ( es, Peronismo Disidente) and Menemism ( es, Menemismo), are the informal names given to a conservative political alliance between Justicialist Party figures, curr ...
s such as Congressman
Francisco de Narváez
Francisco de Narváez Steuer (born 22 September 1953 in Bogotá), known as El Colorado or Pancho, is a Colombian-born naturalized Argentine businessman, politician who ran for governor of Buenos Aires Province on the Unión PRO ballot in the 200 ...
José Manuel de la Sota
José Manuel de la Sota (28 November 1949 – 15 September 2018) was an Argentine politician who was a member of Justicialist Party. He was the governor of Córdoba Province from 1999 until 2007, and was reelected to the post for the 2011–15 ...
. He ran against the
Front for Victory
The Front for Victory ( es, Frente para la Victoria, 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 we ...
nominee,
Corrientes
Corrientes (; Guaraní: Taragüí, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from Buenos Aires and from Posadas, on National Route 12. It ha ...
Mayor Carlos "Camau" Espínola; and a rival of Colombi within the UCR, Senator Nito Artaza. Colombi was reelected on September 15 by a 51-to-46% margin over Camau Espínola, and the UCR - which has governed Corrientes since 1999 - would retain its only governorship among the nation's 23 provinces.