Eduardo Félix Valdés (born 16 February 1956) 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 ...

politician, currently serving as National Deputy elected in the

Federal Capital A federal capital is a political entity, often a municipality or capital (political), capital city, that serves as the Seat of government, seat of the federal government. A federal capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the offices ...

. A member of the

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 ...

, Valdés served as the Argentine 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 ...

during the presidency of

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and former politician who served as the 56th president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, and later as the 37th Vice ...

. In addition, Valdés also served as a member of the

Mercosur The Southern Common Market (commonly known by abbreviation ''Mercosur'' in Spanish and ''Mercosul'' in Portuguese) is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full me ...

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

from 2015 to 2019, as a member of 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 ...

from 2000 to 2003, and as a member of the 1994 Constitutional Convention.

Early and personal life

Eduardo Félix Valdés was born on 16 February 1956 in Córdoba, though he was raised in

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

. He went to school at the Colegio Don Bosco of Neuquén. Later on, he studied law 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 ...

. Valdés has master's degrees in international relations from the

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

and

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. Valdés is married and has two sons. One of his sons, Juan Manuel, is active in politics and currently serves as a member of the

. Valdés is a devout

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, and various sources describe him as being a friend to

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

, whom Valdés met when Francis was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Career

Valdés's political career began in 1989, as secretary general of the Buenos Aires City Government during the mayorship of Carlos Grosso. In 1991, Valdés was appointed city councillor. Later, in 1994, he was elected as one of the representatives of the Federal Capital in the Constitutional Convention tasked with rewriting the

Constitution of Argentina The Constitution of the Argentine Nation () is the basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a constitutional assembly which gathered in Santa Fe; the ...

. In 1995, he founded the National School of Governance of the National Institute of Public Administration; he served as the school's director until 1998. In

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, Valdés was elected to the

, where he presided the Justicialist Front parliamentary bloc. In 2003, he was appointed chief of staff of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship (; abbreviated MRECIC), informally referred to as the Chancellery (), is the Argentine government ministry dealing with the foreign relations of Argentina, Argentina's foreign p ...

, during the administration of

Rafael Bielsa Rafael Antonio Bielsa Caldera (born February 15, 1953) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician from Rosario, province of Santa Fe. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2005. From 2020 to 2023 he was also Argentina's amba ...

. He stepped down from that post upon then-president

Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoić (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Justicialist Party, he previously served as Governor of Sa ...

's request, following a diplomatic spat with Cuba over Hilda Molina, the mother of a Cuban-born Argentine resident who was denied the right to leave the island. Following his resignation from the Foreign Ministry, Valdés turned to the private sector and worked as an independent lawyer. As an attorney, Valdés represented one of the victims of former priest Julio César Grassi.

Ambassador to the Holy See

In 2014, Valdés was appointed as Argentina's ambassador to the

by President

, replacing Juan Pablo Cafiero. He was granted

agrément Agrément, in international affairs, is the agreement by a state to receive members of a diplomatic mission from a foreign country. In this procedure, the posting state formally requests consent, via a ''demande d'agréation'', from the receivin ...

on 15 October 2014 and confirmed by 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 ...

days later. As ambassador, Valdés organized the five meetings held between Fernández de Kirchner and

in 2015. He also organized the Pope's meetings with

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

and members of

La Cámpora La Cámpora is an Argentine left-wing political youth organization supporting the governments of Néstor Kirchner, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and Alberto Fernández. It is named after former Peronism, Peronist president Héctor José Cá ...

. He resigned from the post in December 2015 to take office as member of the

Mercosur Parliament The Mercosur Parliament (, ), known also as Parlasur, or Parlasul, is the parliamentary institution of the Mercosur trade bloc. It is composed of 81 MPs, 18 from each member states of the bloc – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay &n ...

. His last official act as ambassador was the inauguration of a new building for the Argentine embassy in the Vatican, near St. Peter's Square.

National Deputy

At the 2019 general election, Valdés was the 5th candidate in the

Frente de Todos The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") was a centre-left political coalition of political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner. Fernández won the 2019 gen ...

list to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

in the

City of 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 ...

. Despite not being elected, Valdés took office on 10 December 2019 in place of

Fernando Solanas Fernando Ezequiel "Pino" Solanas (16 February 1936 – 6 November 2020) was an Argentine film director, screenwriter, Film score, score composer and politician. His films include; ''The Hour of the Furnaces, La hora de los hornos (The Hour of the ...

, who never took his seat and instead became Argentina's representative before

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. As a deputy, Valdés's position on the legalization of abortion was subject of much speculation by Argentine media ahead of the Chamber of Deputies vote on the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill on 11 December 2020. Despite the bill counting with support from President

Alberto Fernández Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer, and academic who served as President of Argentina from 2019 to 2023. He was also the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers from 2003 to 2008. His tenure as Cabin ...

, Valdés's faith and his closeness to the Vatican and to Pope Francis were highlighted as potential reasons for his opposition. In an open letter, Valdés was personally asked by his son, Juan Manuel, to vote in favor of the bill. In the end, Valdés voted against the bill, becoming one of the 32 deputies out of 119 in the Frente de Todos to vote against. In 2021, Valdés caused controversy when it was revealed he had been vaccinated against

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

under improper conditions, suggesting favoritism by then-

Health Minister A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

Ginés González García Ginés González García (31 August 1945 – 18 October 2024) was an Argentine politician and physician who served twice as the country's Ministry of Health (Argentina), Minister of Health under the successive presidencies of Eduardo Duhalde an ...

Electoral history

References

External links

Profile on the official website of the Chamber of Deputies
(in Spanish) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdés, Eduardo Living people 1959 births Politicians from Córdoba, Argentina People from Neuquén Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Argentine deputies 2019–2021 Argentine deputies 2021–2023 Argentine deputies 2023–2025 Members of the Buenos Aires City Legislature Ambassadors of Argentina to the Holy See Argentine Roman Catholics Justicialist Party politicians University of Buenos Aires alumni