Rodolfo Alejandro Suarez (born 20 April 1963) 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 ...

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...

politician who is currently serving as a National Senator for

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 ...

since 10 December 2023. He previously served as

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of Mendoza from 2019 to 2023, and from 2014 to 2019, he was ''

intendente An intendant (; ; ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Success ...

'' (mayor) of the City of Mendoza, having assumed office following the death of then-mayor Víctor Fayad. Suarez wanted to reform the Constitution, which has not been updated for more than 100 years. He proposed to update rights, establish unicamerality, increase territorial representation, reduce political spending and leave out the possibility of reelection of the governor. 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 ...

opposed it.

Early life and education

Rodolfo Alejandro Suarez was born on 20 April 1963 in the rural town of La Consulta, in the San Carlos Department of

, the youngest of four siblings. Suárez comes from a political family: both of his grandfathers served as mayors of San Carlos; Ricardo Reynoso for the

(PJ) and Ulpiano Suárez for the Radical Civic Union (UCR). Rodolfo's father, Ulpiano, served as president of the provincial Chamber of Deputies. His nephew, also named Ulpiano after his father and grandfather, succeeded him as mayor of Mendoza in 2019. Suárez moved to Mendoza in 1981 to study law at the University of Mendoza, later finishing his studies at the

National University of Córdoba The National University of Córdoba (), is a public university located in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. Founded in 1613, the university is the oldest in Argentina, the third oldest university of the Americas, with the first university being ...

, where he earned his ''

licenciatura A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. The Licentiate (Pontifical Degree) is a post graduate degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universit ...

'' in 1991.

Political career

Suárez joined the

in the 1980s. He held a number of low-profile advisoral positions in the provincial legislature and the City of Mendoza throughout the 1990s before being elected to the Mendoza City Council in 2009. Throughout his career he maintained a close friendship with Víctor Fayad, who was twice mayor of Mendoza; Suárez has stated that he considered Fayad to be his "mentor" and "political godfather"; it was Fayad who suggested Suárez run for a seat in the City Council. He was sworn in on 21 April 2010. A year later, Suárez was elected president of the city council. Upon Fayad's death due to cancer on 7 August 2014, Suárez succeeded him as mayor of Mendoza. He ran for the position the next year and won with 59.99% of the vote.

Governor of Mendoza

Ahead of the 2019 general election, Suárez was nominated by the ruling UCR to be the Cambiemos Mendoza gubernatorial candidate. He won the election with 51% against

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 ...

candidate Anabel Fernández Sagasti's 36%. He took office on 10 December 2019. On 20 December 2019 the provincial legislature passed – with Suárez's blessing – a resolution modifying Law 7722 on mining regulations; the new modified law allowed for the use of

cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...

and

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

surface mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in whic ...

, which could have had negative impact on the province's already limited water resources. The initiative stirred controversy and was widely protested by locals and environmentalist groups. The law was overturned on 30 December 2019.

Personal life

Suárez is married to Fabiana Calleja, a

physics education Physics education or physics teaching refers to the education methods currently used to teach physics. The occupation is called physics educator or physics teacher. Physics education research refers to an area of pedagogical research that seek ...

teacher. He has four children: Gastón, Valentín, Sofía and Facundo.

References

External links

Official website of the Governorship of Mendoza
(in Spanish) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suárez, Rodolfo 1963 births Living people People from Mendoza Province Mayors of Mendoza, Argentina Governors of Mendoza Province Radical Civic Union politicians 21st-century Argentine politicians National University of Córdoba alumni