Horacio Rodríguez-Larreta (; born 29 October 1965) is an Argentine economist, politician and the former Chief of Government of 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 ...

. Larreta was re-elected in 2019 with almost 56% of the votes, becoming the first candidate to win a mayoral election in the first round since the adoption of Buenos Aires's autonomous constitution. He won in every ''comuna'', except ''Comuna'' 4 and ''Comuna'' 8. Since 2019, he assumed the leadership of the Argentine opposition, Juntos por el Cambio. In February 2023, he announced his candidacy for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

in the 2023 general election. He competed against fellow PRO member Patricia Bullrich for the coalition's nomination but lost in the August 2023 primaries with 11% of the vote against Bullrich's 17%.

Early life and education

Rodríguez-Larreta 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 ...

on 29 October 1965. On his father's side, Rodríguez-Larreta is of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

descent; his ancestors were a wealthy landowning family from

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

. His father, Horacio Rodríguez-Larreta (1934–2004) was a prominent member of the Integration and Development Movement and chairman of Racing Club, while his great-uncle, the namesake Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (1871–1935) was Attorney General of Argentina during the presidency of

Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear y Pacheco (4 October 1868 – 23 March 1942) served as president of Argentina between from 1922 to 1928. His period of government coincided precisely with the end of the Post-war, postwar world crisis, w ...

. Rodríguez-Larreta is also descended from the Leloir family, a wealthy family of French Argentines who once owned the lands that are now Parque Leloir, in Ituzaingó, Buenos Aires, and the Unzué family (through Mariano Unzué), former owners of the now-demolished Palacio Unzué. He finished high school at the Escuela Argentina Modelo, and graduated with a degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

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 ...

in 1988 and obtained a Master in Business Administration in

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. He returned to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in 1993.

Early political career

Rodríguez-Larreta's political career began in 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 ...

. In 1995, during the presidency of

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 ...

, he was appointed director of the National Social Security Administration. In 1998 he moved to the Ministry of Social Development. He led the Comprehensive Medical Attention Program in 2000, during the presidency of

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 ...

. Rodríguez-Larreta's administration is credited with improving the financial structure of the organization by imposing budget cuts.

Republican Proposal

He helped

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 ...

to create the political party Commitment to Change, which would eventually become the Republican Proposal (PRO). Macri became Mayor of Buenos Aires and Larreta served as Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers for eight years. Rodríguez-Larreta and

Gabriela Michetti Marta Gabriela Michetti Illia (; born 28 May 1965) is an Argentine politician and was Vice President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019 during Mauricio Macri's administration. She is the second woman to serve as vice president, 40 years after Isabel ...

ran against each other in the

primary elections 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 pri ...

of PRO Union, a

center-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

coalition in 2015, with Rodríguez-Larreta ely winning the party's support for mayorship of

. On 5 July 2015, LarretaRodríguez- won 45% of the vote, forcing a runoff with the leader of

center-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commonl ...

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

's,

Martín Lousteau Martín Lousteau (born 8 December 1970) is an Argentine economist and politician of the Radical Civic Union (UCR). He is a Argentine Senate, National Senator for the Buenos Aires, City of Buenos Aires. Since 2023, he has been President of the UCR ...

, who secured 28% of the vote. Rodríguez-Larreta won the ballottage by three points over Lousteau and succeeded

as Mayor of the City since 2015. In these elections, PRO was stronger in wealthier northern Buenos Aires, while ECO was stronger in the southern, poorer neighborhoods of the city.

Chief of Government of Buenos Aires

Mauricio Macri was elected President of Argentina in 2015, and Rodríguez-Larreta was elected Mayor of Buenos Aires, both for the

PRO Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof might also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African ret ...

party.

Security

Macri transferred a part 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 ...

to Buenos Aires, as it had been requested by the city many years before. With the police under his control, Larreta went on to remove the '' manteros'' (streetwalk vendors) from the Caballito and

Once Once may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Once'' (film), a 2007 Irish musical film by John Carney ** ''Once'' (musical), a 2011 stage adaptation of the film * ''Once'' (TV series), a 2017–2019 Argentine telenovela * Canal Once (Mex ...

neighborhoods. In 2017, Rodríguez-Larreta formed the Buenos Aires City Police, merging officers from the Federal and Metropolitan police forces.

Public work

During its management, the work of the Paseo del Bajo was started and inaugurated, which is the 7.1-kilometer road corridor that will connect the Illia and Buenos Aires-La Plata highways, the work in question began during January 2017 and the 27 May 2019 shortening the journey from 50 minutes to 10 minutes. It will generate 100,000 square meters of public and green space and improve the circulation of 134,000 daily passengers. He also inaugurated the work of the Mitre Viaduct, which will raise the

Mitre line The Mitre line is an Argentine broad gauge commuter rail service in Buenos Aires Province and is part of the Ferrocarril General Bartolomé Mitre division. The service is currently operated by the state-owned company Operadora Ferroviaria Soci ...

of the metropolitan train over its current course, enabling new level crossings and eliminating traditional barriers. It is 3.9 km inside the city. The objective of this work is to eliminate the level crossings of the streets Monroe, Blanco Encalada, Mendoza, Juramento, Olazábal, Sucre, La Pampa and Olleros. In addition, 4 safe crossings will be opened on streets that were closed to traffic: Roosevelt, Echeverría and Virrey del Pino, for vehicular traffic, and José Hernández, an exclusive pedestrian crossing. In 2018, Rodríguez-Larreta's government inaugurated a new station on Line H serving the

Faculty of Law in the Recoleta neighborhood. In mid-2019, the three new stations of the extension of Line E ( Correo Central, Catalinas and Retiro), were inaugurated. After 45 years of sustained Subway growth, new subway stations construction was halted in 2018 by his administration During its first term, 3 viaducts were built, 9 km of underground work of the Vega Stream, 7 stations of subway, 10,000 security cameras, 62.5 km of metrobus extension, 54 new schools, 10,000 new homes, 7 monitoring centers, 46 health centers, the Olympic District was built, the San Martin Theater was reopened, the Corrientes Street, the

Youth Olympic Games Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 15 to 18 years old. Organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with ...

were held in 2018, neighborhoods were integrated and urbanized and the City became 100%

led A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

Also, he broke a world record selling 267 hectares of Public Lands without consulting their citizens, same as selling 126 "Plazas de Mayo" (May Park) .

Reelection

Larreta was re-elected in 2019 with almost 56% of the votes, becoming the first candidate to win a mayoral election in the first round since the adoption of Buenos Aires's autonomous constitution. He won in every ''comuna'', except ''Comuna'' 4 and ''Comuna'' 8.

Cabinet

Rodríguez-Larreta announced his cabinet on 3 December, a week before taking office. It is composed of: * Felipe Miguel, chief of cabinet of ministers * Fernando Straface, general secretary * Soledad Acuña, minister of education * Ana María Bou Pérez, minister of health *

Guadalupe Tagliaferri Guadalupe Tagliaferri (born 26 June 1974) is an Argentine politician, currently serving as a National Senator for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires since 2019. She previously served as Minister of Human Development of Buenos Aires in the admi ...

, minister of urban development * Leticia Montiel, legal and technical secretary * Andrés Freire, minister of modernization * Darío Lopérfido, minister of culture * Martín Ocampo, minister of justice * Eduardo Macchiavelli, minister of public space * Franco Moccia, minister of transport * Martín Mura, minister of finances * Bruno Screnci, minister of government * Marcelo Nachón, secretary of media

Personal life

Rodríguez-Larreta is married to Bárbara Díez de Tejada, a wednner, since 2001. He and Díez de Tejada have two daughters, Paloma (born 2003) and Serena (born 2016), while Díez de Tejada has an older daughter, Manuela, from an earlier marriage. Rodríguez-Larreta and Díez de Tejada have been separated since 2020. In October 2022, he made public his relationship with Milagros Maylin, a public officer in the Buenos Aires City Government. Rodríguez-Larreta is a

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 ...

. He has stated his personal opposition to the legalization of abortion in Argentina. Rodríguez-Larreta suffers from essential tremor (ET).

Electoral history

Executive

Legislative

Publications

* 1996: Tecnología y competitividad en el Mercosur * 1997: Hacia un nuevo sector público * 1998: Domando al elefante blanco * 1999: El desafío de la igualdad * 2004: La reconstrucción del Estado * 2005: Cómo superar el default social * 2006: El país que queremos

Notes

References

External links

Official site

Biography by CIDOB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez Larreta, Horacio Mayors of Buenos Aires 1965 births Living people Argentine people of Basque descent Argentine people of French descent Republican Proposal politicians Justicialist Party politicians University of Buenos Aires alumni Politicians from Buenos Aires People educated at Colegio Cardenal Newman Harvard Business School alumni Argentine Roman Catholics