Beatriz Luisa Ávila (born 5 October 1966) is 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 ...

journalist and politician, currently serving as a National Senator for

Tucumán Province Tucumán () is the most densely populated, and the second-smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the province has the capital of San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighb ...

. Ávila previously served as a member of the Legislature of Tucumán from 2003 to 2017, and as a National Deputy from 2017 to 2021.

Early life and education

Ávila was born on 5 October 1966 in

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (), usually called simply Tucumán, is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentin ...

. She studied social communication at Instituto San Miguel, specializing on journalism in 1989. From 1992 to 2003 she worked at the Tucumán-based newspaper '' La Gaceta''. Ávila is married to Germán Alfaro, mayor of San Miguel de Tucumán and founder of the Party for Social Justice, of which Ávila is a member.

Political career

Ávila ran for a seat in 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 the 2017 legislative election; she was the second candidate in the

Cambiemos (JxC, ) was a political coalition in Argentina. A liberal coalition, it was created in 2015 as Cambiemos (), and renamed in 2019. It was composed of Republican Proposal, Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI and United Republicans. These ...

list in Tucumán, behind José Manuel Cano. The list was the second-most voted, with 32.56% of the votes, enough for both Cano and Ávila to make it past the D'Hondt cut to be elected. She was sworn in on 10 December 2017. Ávila initially formed part of the Cambiemos parliamentary inter-bloc, forming the Party for Social Justice single-member bloc. Following the 2019 general election, Ávila broke away from the Cambiemos inter-bloc and joined Pablo Ansaloni, José Luis Ramón and Antonio Carambia in forming the "Federal Unity for Development" inter-bloc. The move received nationwide attention and was criticized by president

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...

, head of the Cambiemos alliance. In November 2020, she broke away from the Federal Unity for Development inter-bloc, and remained in her single-member bloc by herself. As a national deputy, Ávila formed part of the parliamentary commissions on Freedom of Expression, Municipal Affairs, Social Action and Public Health, and Co-operative Affairs and NGOs. She was an opponent of the legalization of abortion in Argentina, voting against the two Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy bills that were debated by the Argentine Congress in 2018 and 2020.

National Senator

Ávila and her husband, Germán Alfaro, were the

Juntos por el Cambio (JxC, ) was a political coalition in Argentina. A liberal coalition, it was created in 2015 as Cambiemos (), and renamed in 2019. It was composed of Republican Proposal, Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI and United Republicans. These ...

(JxC) candidates to the Tucumán seats in the

Argentine Senate The Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation () is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina. Overview The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 1854, pursuant to Articles 46 to 54 of the 185 ...

in the 2021 legislative election. Juntos por el Cambio was the second-most voted list in the province, granting Alfaro the minority seat as per the

limited voting Limited voting (also known as partial block voting) is a voting system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available. The positions are awarded to the candidates who receive the most votes. In the special case in which th ...

system used for the Argentine upper house. However, shortly after the election, Alfaro announced he would not be taking his seat; this meant the seat would go to the second candidate in the JxC list, Ávila.

References

External links

Profile on the official website of the Senate
(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Avila, Beatriz Living people 1966 births People from San Miguel de Tucumán Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Tucumán Women members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies Members of the Argentine Senate for Tucumán Women members of the Argentine Senate Members of the Legislature of Tucumán Argentine journalists Argentine women journalists 20th-century Argentine politicians 21st-century Argentine women politicians Argentine deputies 2017–2019 Argentine deputies 2019–2021