Antonio Cafiero

Antonio Francisco Cafiero (born 12 September 1922 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. [ [http://www.antoniocafiero.com.ar/ Official website] .]

Cafiero studied at the University of Buenos Aires and became an accountant in 1944, and a Doctor in Economic Sciences in 1948. He was involved in political activity since he entered the university. As a militant Peronist, from 1962 he held offices in the National Justicialist Movement, in different institutions within the Justicialist Party at the national level and in Buenos Aires Province.Cafiero served several presidential administrations. He was the Minister of Foreign Trade under Juan Perón (1952–1954). During Perón's last term, he was the Secretary of Commerce (1974). After Perón's death and his replacement by his wife, Vice-President Isabel Perón, Cafiero was appointed Federal Interventor of Mendoza Province (1974–1975). He served also as Ambassador to the European Economic Community and Belgium (1975), Minister of Economy (1975–1976) and Ambassador to the Holy See (1976). In 1992 he was Ambassador to Chile.

With regards to elected posts, he was a National Deputy (1985–1987), Governor of Buenos Aires Province (1987–1991) and a Senator (1993–2001; 2002-2005), having taken leave to act as Cabinet Chief during a transitional presidency.

While governor of Buenos Aires, he ran in the primary election to choose a Justicialist Party candidate for the 1989 presidential election; but lost to Carlos Menem (who subsequently won the general election). In 1994 he was part of the Convention that modified the Argentine Constitution and allowed for Menem's re-election.

In 2006 Cafiero was formally accused, along with Isabel Perón and several of her former ministers, of involvement in the forced disappearance of a minor in 1976. In October 1975, the president and her cabinet had signed decrees ordering "military and security operations that may be needed to annihilate the works of subversive elements throughout the territory of the country" "(see Dirty War for historical context)". [Clarín, 9 November 2006. [http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/11/09/um/m-01306226.htm Conceden la eximición de prisión a Cafiero en una causa por desaparecidos durante la dictadura] .] Cafiero, during the Trial of the Juntas in 1985, had stated that the government believed that common police tactics were not enough to combat the guerrillas, and that he learned of the human rights violations committed then only after the coup d'état that ousted Isabel Perón on 24 March 1976. [Nuncamas.org. Trial of the Juntas, 22 April 1985. [http://www.nuncamas.org/testimon/cafiero_antonio.htm Testimony of Antonio Cafiero] .]

Cafiero has served as President of COPPAL, the Permanent Conference of the Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean, since 2005.

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