Raúl Alejandro Jalil (born 25 August 1963) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...

politician who is currently

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

Catamarca Province Catamarca () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province had a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km2. Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, fr ...

, since 10 December 2019. Previously, from 2011 to 2019, he was ''

intendente An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) 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 ...

'' (mayor) of

San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca () is the capital and largest city in Catamarca Province in Argentine Northwest, northwestern Argentina, on the Río Valle River, at the feet of the Cerro Ambato. The city name is normally shortened as Catamarc ...

, the capital city of Catamarca Province.

Early life and education

Raúl Alejandro Jalil was born on 25 August 1963, son of José Guido Jalil, a physician and politician of Lebanese origin who was mayor of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca from 1987 to 1991. He studied economics and administration at the

University of Belgrano The University of Belgrano ( es, Universidad de Belgrano, commonly referred to as UB) is a private university established in 1964 and located in the Belgrano district of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Overview The university has nine de ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Political career

In 2005 Jalil was elected to the provincial legislature of Catamarca on the

list. He ran for the mayoralty of

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

in the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory ( es, Frente para la Victoria, 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 wer ...

ticket, succeeding Ricardo Guzmán; he won the election and took office on 9 December 2011. During his tenure as mayor he sponsored a number of initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life for the city's inhabitants, such as the renovation of the historical district of the city, the urbanization of the southern access, and the creation of a local police force (''Guardia Urbana Municipal''). Jalil was re-elected in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

with 41.3% of the vote.

Governor of Catamarca

Ahead of the 2019 general election, Jalil was nominated as the

Frente de Todos The Frente de Todos (translated as "Everyone's Front") is a coalition of Peronist and Kirchnerist political parties in Argentina formed to support President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner. Fernández won the 2019 gene ...

candidate for the governorship of Catamarca, succeeding

Lucía Corpacci Lucía Benigna Corpacci (born 4 December 1959) is an Argentine physician and politician. A member of the Justicialist Party, she was governor of Catamarca Province from 2011 to 2019, the first female governor in Catamarca and the fourth female go ...

(who was, herself, running for a seat in 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 Bourbon R ...

). He won the election with 60.45% of the vote and over 133 thousand votes.

Personal life

Jalil is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. He is married to Silvana Ginocchio, who is a National Deputy representing Catamarca since 2017; Jalil and Ginocchio have two children. Jalil has expressed his opposition to the

legalization of abortion Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as Pro-choice (term), pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have Abortion law, legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support wome ...

in Argentina, but has said he supports keeping the discussion on the matter open.

References

External links

Official website of the Governorship of Catamarca
(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jalil, Raúl 1963 births Living people People from Catamarca Province Argentine people of Lebanese descent Mayors of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca Governors of Catamarca Province Justicialist Party politicians 21st-century Argentine politicians