Antonio Francisco Cafiero (12 September 1922 – 13 October 2014) was 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. Cafiero held a number of important posts throughout his career, including, most notably, the governorship of

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

from 1987 to 1991, the Cabinet Chief's Office under interim president Eduardo Camaño from 2001 to 2002, and a seat in the Senate of the Nation from 1993 to 2005.

Early and personal life

Cafiero was born in

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 ...

. He joined

Catholic Action Catholic Action is a movement of Catholic laity, lay people within the Catholic Church which advocates for increased Catholic influence on society. Catholic Action groups were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic cou ...

in 1938, and enrolled at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

, becoming President of the Students' Association. He graduated as an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

in 1944, and earned a Doctor in

Economic Sciences Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyses ...

in 1948, teaching in the discipline as a professor from 1952 to 1984. Cafiero became a militant

Peronist Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, Pe ...

from the 17 October 1945 mass demonstrations in support of populist leader

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and Statesman (politician), statesman who served as the History of Argentina (1946-1955), 29th president of Argentina from 1946 to Revolución Libertad ...

, and entered public service in 1952 as Minister of Foreign Trade in the latter's administration, serving until 1954. He married the former Ana Goitía, and they had ten children. Cafiero lost his wife of fifty years, Ana Goitía, in 1994. His son, Juan Pablo Cafiero, was appointed as Ambassador to the Holy See in 2008. He had been a national deputy for the Peronists and for FrePaSo, Minister for Social Development under Presidents

Fernando de la Rúa Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) served as the President of Argentina from 1999 until his resignation in 2001. A member of the Radical Civic Union, he previously served as national senator for Buenos Aires across non-consecuti ...

and

Eduardo Duhalde Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentina, Argentine former peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President of Argentina, Vice President ...

, and as Minister of Security for Buenos Aires Province. Another son, Mario Cafiero, served as a National Deputy from 1997 to 2005. His grandson, Santiago Cafiero (Juan Pablo's son) served as Cabinet Chief and Foreign Minister.

Political career

Cafiero held offices in the National Justicialist Movement from 1962, as well as in different institutions within the

at the national level and in

. Following the return of Peronists to power in the 1973 elections, Cafiero was appointed Secretary of Commerce in Perón's last term (1974). Following Perón's death and his replacement by his wife, Vice-President

Isabel Perón Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas; 4 February 1931) is an Argentine politician who served as the 41st president of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the List of elected and appointed female heads of s ...

, he was appointed Federal Interventor of

Mendoza Province Mendoza (), officially the 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 r ...

(1974–1975), and as Ambassador to the European Economic Community and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

(1975). Cafiero was appointed Economy Minister in August. He grappled with the aftermath of the June 1975 ''

Rodrigazo ''Rodrigazo'' is the name given to a group of economic policies announced in Argentina on June 4, 1975 and the riots that ensued thereafter. The name is from the fact that the policies were announced and implemented by Celestino Rodrigo, the Mini ...

'' ( economic shock treatment enacted by a predecessor) with no success, and he was dismissed in February 1976, serving briefly as Ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

until the

March 1976 coup March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 m ...

Governor of Buenos Aires

He founded the Movement for Unity, Solidarity and Organization in September 1982, a reformist faction of the

, ahead of the 1983 return of democracy. The group, known as ''Renovación Peronista'' (Peronist Renewal), was defeated in the party's September 1983 nominating convention, however, by more conservative figures supported by Lorenzo Miguel of the Steelworkers' Union. Cafiero was elected to the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies (), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress (). It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in multi-member constituencies c ...

in 1985, and in 1987, Governor of Buenos Aires Province. Elected President of the Justicialist Party National Council, he ran in the May 1988

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

for the upcoming presidential campaign. He failed to regain the support of the CGT, or to sway delegates from the smaller provinces, and lost to less well-known

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

, who subsequently won the 1989 general election.

Later career

Menem appointed Cafiero Ambassador to Chile in 1992, and Cafiero returned to elected office as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

in 1993. He took part in the convention negotiating the

1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution The 1994 amendment to the Constitution of Argentina was approved on 22 August 1994 by a Constitutional Assembly that met in the twin cities of Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe and Paraná, Argentina, Paraná. The calling for elections for the Constit ...

, which allowed for Menem's re-election. The amended

Argentine Constitution The Constitution of the Argentine Nation () is the Constitution, basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing Law of Argentina, law in Argentina. Its Argentine Constitution of 1853, first version was written in 1853 b ...

included article 129, which guaranteed

greater self-governance. The ''Indentente'' (appointed Mayor) was replaced by a ''Jefe de Gobierno'' (elected Mayor), and the city council by the

Buenos Aires City Legislature The Buenos Aires City Legislature (, commonly known as the ) is the legislative power of the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is housed in the Buenos Aires City Legislature Palace, Legislature Palace (), an archite ...

. Shortly before the historic, June 30, 1996, elections to these posts, however, Senator Cafiero succeeded in limiting the city's autonomy by advancing National Law 24.588, which reserved control of the

Argentine Federal Police The Argentine Federal Police ( or PFA) is the national civil police force of the Argentine federal government. The PFA has detachments throughout the country. Until January 1, 2017, it also acted as the local law enforcement agency in the cap ...

(the federally administered city force), the

Port of Buenos Aires The Port of Buenos Aires () is the principal maritime port in Argentina. Operated by the ''Administración General de Puertos'' (General Ports Administration), a state enterprise, it is the leading transshipment point for the foreign trade of Arge ...

and other faculties to the national government. The controversial bill, popularly known afterward as ''Ley Cafiero'' (the "Cafiero Law") was signed in 1996 by President Menem, remaining a sticking point between successive Presidents (most of whom have been

) and Buenos Aires Mayors (none of whom have been). Cafiero was re-elected as Senator in 2001. The aging lawmaker, who had severe hearing loss by then, took leave to act as Cabinet Chief during the transitional presidency of Eduardo Camaño (2001–02), returning to the Senate and retiring in 2005. Cafiero was formally accused in 2006, along with Isabel Perón and several of her former ministers, of involvement in the

forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

of a minor in 1976. President Isabel Perón and her cabinet had signed decrees on October 6, 1975, ordering "military and security operations that may be needed to annihilate subversive elements throughout the territory of the country" ''(see

Dirty War The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...

for historical context)''. Cafiero, during the

Trial of the Juntas The Trial of the Juntas () was the judicial trial of the members of the ''de facto'' military government that ruled Argentina during the dictatorship of the '' Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'' (''el Proceso''), which lasted from 1976 to 1 ...

in 1985, had stated that the Isabel Perón government (which presided over the early phase of the Dirty War) believed that common police tactics were not enough to combat the guerrilla threat, and that he learned of human rights violations committed at the time only after Perón's overthrow in the March 1976 coup d'état. Cafiero served as President of

COPPPAL The Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (; , COPPPAL) is an international organization of political parties in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was created at the behest of the Institutional Revolutiona ...

, the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean, from 2005 to 2011. He died on 13 October 2014 in

.Legendary Peronist leader Antonio Cafiero dies at 92
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafiero, Antonio 1922 births 2014 deaths Politicians from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Italian descent University of Buenos Aires alumni Argentine accountants Justicialist Party politicians Governors of Mendoza Province Ministers of economy of Argentina Ambassadors of Argentina to Belgium Ambassadors of Argentina to the Holy See Ambassadors of Argentina to Chile Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province Governors of Buenos Aires Province Members of the Argentine Senate for Buenos Aires Province Chiefs of Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina Deaths from pneumonia in Argentina Isabel Perón administration cabinet members