Norberto Quirno Costa

Norberto Quirno Costa
9th Vice President of Argentina
In office October 12, 1898 – October 12, 1904
President	Julio A. Roca
Preceded by	José Evaristo Uriburu
Succeeded by	José Figueroa Alcorta
Personal details
Born	July 18, 1844(1844-07-18) Buenos Aires
Died	March 2, 1916(1916-03-02) (aged 71) Buenos Aires
Nationality	Argentine
Political party	National Autonomist Party
Profession	Lawyer

Norberto Quirno Costa (July 18, 1844 – March 2, 1915)^[1][2] was an Argentine lawyer, politician, and diplomat.

Life and times

Quirno Costa was born in Buenos Aires to Fernanda Costa and Gregorio Quirno. He received a juris doctor at the University of Buenos Aires, and married Alcira Albarracín Pacheco, with whom he had four children. He entered public service as an official in the Argentine legation in Brazil in 1868, and was appointed the following year as Undersecretary of Foreign Relations. Taking office towards the end of the War of the Triple Alliance, in which Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay were in a protracted war with Paraguay, Quirno Costa represented Argentina at the 1870 treaty ending hostilities, and obtained the concession of what is today Formosa Province (coveted for its Quebracho forests).^[3]

He formed part of a commission on the reform of the Buenos Aires Province Constitution in 1871, and was elected to Congress in 1878 for the newly-formed National Autonomist Party. The election of that party's nominee, Miguel Juárez Celman, to the presidency in 1886 resulted in his appointment as Foreign Minister, during which he pursued regional international law agreements and negotiated a treaty with Chile to help settle the Puna de Atacama dispute, in which Argentine claims over Tarija, Bolivia were dropped for a greater share of the Puna de Atacama region (prized for its copper deposits).

Quirno Costa was appointed Ambassador to Chile in 1892, by which he sought, unsuccessfully, to resolve the Beagle Channel dispute between the two neighboring countries. The longtime leader of the National Autonomists, Julio Roca, ran again for the presidency in 1897 (he had been once elected, in 1880) and chose Quirno Costa as his running mate. He presided over the January 1898 constitutional amendment convention, and was elected with Roca that April, serving uneventfully as Vice President for the entirety of Roca's second, six-year term.^[3]

Quirno Costa returned briefly to government as Interior Minister (Home Secretary) to President José Figueroa Alcorta in 1906, but retired shortly afterwards and died in Buenos Aires in 1914.^[3]

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ ^{a b c} Todo Argentina: Norberto Quirno Costa (Spanish)

Persondata
Name	Quirno Costa, Norberto
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 18, 1844
Place of birth	Buenos Aires
Date of death	1916
Place of death	Buenos Aires