José Luis Gioja (born 1949) 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 ...

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 ...

(PJ) politician, former governor of San Juan Province and former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of 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 ...

Early life and education

Gioja was born in Rawson, a suburb of

San Juan, Argentina San Juan () is the capital and largest city of the Argentina, Argentine Provinces of Argentina, province of San Juan Province (Argentina), San Juan in the Cuyo (Argentina), Cuyo region, located in the Tulúm Valley, west of the San Juan River (A ...

, in 1949. He was raised in nearby San José de Jáchal, and earned a teaching diploma at the local normal school. He enrolled at the

National University of Cuyo The National University of Cuyo (, UNCuyo) is the largest center of higher education in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. As of 2005, the university had 12 academic schools in the city of Mendoza and a delegation in the city of San Rafael (pr ...

, and in his senior year, was elected President of the National University Student Association (ANEU), graduating with a degree in

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

in 1973. He married the former Rosa Palacio, with whom he had four children. Governor Eloy Camus named Gioja his private secretary upon taking office in 1973, and the latter also served as San Juan chapter President of ''Juventud Peronista'' (Peronist Youth). In 1976, whilst working for the provincial government, Gioja was detained in a

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 ...

by the military authorities following 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 ...

. He was imprisoned for nine months, and has claimed that he was tortured by Major Jorge Olivera.

Political career

In 1991, Gioja 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 ...

for San Juan for the Popular Justicialist Front. He was re-elected in 1995, but took a seat as a senator following constitutional reform increasing the number of senators. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2001 and led the

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 ...

bloc in the Senate from 2000, serving as Provisional Senate President from 2002 to 2003. He has been implicated in the Senate scandal in which State Intelligence funds were allegedly used to bribe senators for their vote on a 2000 labour reform package advanced by the

President of Argentina The president of Argentina, officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation, is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Argentina, the national constitution, the president is also the Head of go ...

at the time,

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 ...

. Gioja was elected governor in 2003 with the backing of the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory (, 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 were elected as representatives ...

faction allied to

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 ...

, and was reelected twice as governor, in 2007 and in 2011, increasing his majority every time and winning over 68% of the vote in the 2011 election. He was victim of a helicopter crash on October 11, 2013, during the political campaign for the 2013 legislative election. He was hospitalized immediately. The national deputy

Margarita Ferrá de Bartol A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice (on the rock ...

died in the accident, and the secretary Héctor Pérez and the national deputy Daniel Tomas were hospitalized as well. His elder brother César Gioja is a senator. Another brother, Juan Carlos Gioja, has been a national deputy. On 26 April 2016, he is elected head of the

References

External links

Official hymn to José Luis Gioja

San Juan Province

'' Clarín'', 2002-12-28
CuyoNoticias Diario digital de la región Cuyo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gioja, Jose Luis 1949 births Living people People from San Juan Province, Argentina National University of Cuyo alumni Torture victims of the Dirty War Justicialist Party politicians Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in San Juan Members of the Argentine Senate for San Juan Provisional presidents of the Argentine Senate Governors of San Juan Province, Argentina Argentine deputies 2015–2017 Argentine deputies 2021–2023 Argentine deputies 2017–2019 Argentine deputies 2019–2021 Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents