Agustín Rossi

Agustín Oscar Rossi (born 18 October 1959), also known by his nickname "El Chivo Rossi", is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician from the province of Santa Fe. Since 2005 he has been a National Deputy in the Argentine Congress and is leader of the majority Front for Victory block in the Chamber of Deputies.

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. [Desarrollo y Región. [http://www.desarrolloyregion.com/ampliar_novedades.asp?contentId=3508 Profile of National Deputy candidates] .]

Rossi was a member of the Peronist University Youth in the 1970s, and joined the Justicialist Party in the 1980s. He was a member of the legislative body of Rosario (the Deliberative Council) at that time, but turned to his private practice in the 1990s. He returned to politics in 2001, and presided the Deliberative Council of Rosario until 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 presented himself as "Kirchner's candidate". [Clarín, 19 September 2005. [http://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/09/19/elpais/p-00801.htm "Santa Fe: esa pulseada clave que concentra la atención de Kirchner"] .]

Rossi's candidate list came second (with 33% of votes) after the one headed by Hermes Binner (43%), which was considered a relative defeat since Rossi was not well-known in the province. He then became the head of the Front for Victory block in the lower house of Congress. [Atlas Electoral de Andy Tow. [http://www.towsa.com/andy/totalpais/santafe/2005d.html 2005 legislative elections, National Deputies, Santa Fe Province] .] [Argentine Chamber of Deputies. [http://www1.hcdn.gov.ar/diputados/diputado.asp?id=arossi Data on Agustín Rossi] .] Since then, he has taken on the task of imposing party discipline and rally for legislative support of Kirchner's policies. He has stated that "the block [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." [La Nación, 29 January 2006. [http://www.lanacion.com.ar/775945 "Agustín Rossi: "El oficialismo no puede ser crítico"] .]

Rossi was one of the pre-candidates for the governorship of Santa Fe for the 2007 elections. Rossi's 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. 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) to be on his list, though he finally chose Jorge Fernández, former Minister of Education during the governorship of Víctor Reviglio. [RosarioNet, 3 August 2006. [http://www.rosarionet.com.ar/rnet/regionales/notas.vsp?nid=29009 "Rossi y Bielsa podrían ir a internas en Santa Fe"] .] [Rosario/12, 10 October 2006. [http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/rosario/9-5680-2006-10-10.html "Yo voy a presentar lista"] .] [Rosario3, 3 April 2007. [http://www.rosario3.com/noticias/noticias.aspx?idNot=10649 "Listos y preparados, los precandidatos ya están en carrera"] .] Bielsa was eventually chosen as the party's candidate in primary elections on 1 July 2007, but subsequently lost the election to Socialist Hermes Binner.

Rossi continued in his role as Deputy and was elected as head of the Front for Victory block, which has a majority in the Chamber, in 2007.

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