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Agustín Rossi

Agustín Rossi
Rossi in 2023
Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers
In office 15 February 2023 – 10 December 2023
President	Alberto Fernández
Preceded by	Juan Luis Manzur
Succeeded by	Nicolás Posse
Minister of Defense
In office 10 December 2019 – 10 August 2021
President	Alberto Fernández
Preceded by	Oscar Aguad
Succeeded by	Jorge Taiana
In office 3 June 2013 – 10 December 2015
President	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Preceded by	Arturo Puricelli
Succeeded by	Julio Martínez
National Deputy
In office 10 December 2017 – 10 December 2019
Constituency	Santa Fe
In office 10 December 2005 – 3 June 2013
Constituency	Santa Fe
Personal details
Born	(1959-10-18) 18 October 1959 (age 64) Vera, Santa Fe, Argentina
Political party	Justicialist Party
Other political affiliations	Front for Victory (2003–2017) Unidad Ciudadana (2017–2019) Frente de Todos (2019–2023) Union for the Homeland (since 2023)
Spouse	María Raquel Pezzelato
Children	4
Alma mater	National University of Rosario
Profession	Civil engineer
Nickname	Chivo

Agustín Oscar Rossi (born 18 October 1959) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. Rossi has held a number of important political posts throughout his career, most notably as Minister of Defense during the presidencies of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2013–2015) and Alberto Fernández (2019–2021).

Rossi was a National Deputy for his native Santa Fe, and served as leader of the Front for Victory parliamentary bloc in the lower house. Since 15 February 2023, Rossi has been Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers to the incumbent president Alberto Fernandez. He was the running mate of Sergio Massa in the 2023 Argentine general election, seeking the vice presidency as part of the Union for the Homeland coalition until Massa lost to Javier Milei in runoff.

Rossi was born in Vera, a small city in the north of Santa Fe Province, where he spent his early youth. He moved to Rosario when he was 17 years old, and graduated as a civil engineer at the National University of Rosario. ^[1]

Rossi was a member of the Peronist University Youth in the 1970s, and joined the Justicialist Party in the 1980s. He was elected to the Rosario Deliberative Council in 1987, but returned to his private practice in the 1991. He returned to politics in 2001, was elected to the Deliberative Council in 2002, and presided said body from 2004 to 2005.

In the 2005 legislative elections he ran for a seat in the Lower House of Congress for the Front for Victory, the largest faction of the Justicialist Party, formed by supporters of President Néstor Kirchner. His campaign capitalized on, and was centered on gaining support for, the successful policies implemented by Kirchner on the national level; Rossi, who was not yet well known in the province, presented himself as "Kirchner's candidate."^[2] The Front for Victory party list headed by Rossi came in second (with 33% of votes) after the Socialist Party list headed by Hermes Binner (43%).^[3]

He then became the head of the Front for Victory bloc in the lower house of Congress.^[4] In that capacity, he took on the task of imposing party discipline while rallying legislative support of Kirchner's policies; he stated that "the bloc [belonging to the ruling party] has the fundamental role of being the legislative arm of the government. I cannot conceive a [government party] block that has doubts or criticism for the government's projects. Society tells us: 'I choose you to strengthen the course of action initiated by the President."^[5] He also courted controversy with his rhetoric, notably in August 2010 when he described lawmakers who presented a bill that sought reverse a government decision to revoke an expired license for the Fibertel internet service provider, as "lawyers" for the Clarín Group (Fibertel's parent company); there have been ongoing controversies between Clarín and Kirchnerism since 2008 over a number of issues.^[6]

Rossi was a candidate in the FpV primary for the governorship of Santa Fe in the 2007 elections. His rival within the party was Rosario-born National Deputy and former Foreign Relations Minister Rafael Bielsa. The Mayor of Rafaela, Omar Perotti, campaigned for some time as well, but finally gave up and turned to support Bielsa. In the classical caudillist fashion that has prevailed in Argentina’s last century of politics, although some in the party, including Bielsa, would have rather negotiated on a consensus candidacy, Rossi insisted on conducting a primary election. Rossi also stated that he wanted Bielsa's sister María Eugenia (then vice-governor of Santa Fe), on his party list, though he instead chose Jorge Fernández, former Minister of Education during the governorship of Víctor Reviglio.^[7][8][9] Bielsa was eventually chosen as the party's candidate in primary elections on July 1, 2007, but subsequently lost the election to Socialist Hermes Binner.

Rossi continued in his role as Majority Leader of the Chamber of Deputies as head of the Front for Victory bloc, which retained a majority in the Chamber. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner nominated him to the post of Minister of Defense of Argentina on 30 May 2013.^[10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agustín Rossi.

• Official website of the Ministry of Defense (in Spanish)