Nilda Garré
| Nilda Garré | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Defense Minister Nilda Garré, 2008. | |
| Minister of Security | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office December 15, 2010 |
|
| President | Cristina Fernández de Kirchner |
| Preceded by | Julio Alak (As minister of Justice, Security and Human Rights) |
| Minister of Defense | |
| In office November 28, 2005 – December 15, 2010 |
|
| President | Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Néstor Kirchner |
| Preceded by | José Pampuro |
| Succeeded by | Arturo Puricelli |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 3, 1945 Buenos Aires |
| Nationality | Argentine |
| Political party | Broad Front - Front for Victory |
| Spouse(s) | Roberto Copello (1972-73) Juan Manuel Abal Medina (1973-82) |
| Alma mater | Universidad del Salvador |
Nilda Celia Garré (born November 3, 1945), a former leftist militant, is the current Minister of Security of Argentina, and the former Minister of Defense since 2005. She was the first woman to hold each office in the country.
[edit] Life and career
Garré was born in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires in 1945. Her father, Raúl Garré, was a Peronist Party member of the Buenos Aires Province Legislature until the 1955 coup against populist President Juan Perón.[1] She graduated as a professor of English language at the Juan Ramón Fernández Institute of Foreign Language Education in 1962, and enrolled at the Universidad del Salvador, where she earned a law degree in 1968.[2]
Garré entered public service upon graduation as an adviser to Interior Minister Guillermo Borda, during the dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía. She married Roberto Copello, a member of a prominent local family which included the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Santiago Copello. The marriage was brief, however, and in early 1973 Garré married Juan Manuel Abal Medina. Appointed Secretary General of the Peronist Movement on the eve of Perón's return from exile, Abal Medina had met Garré during her activities with the Peronist Youth Movement, and he included his wife in the Frente Justicialista de la Liberación party list as a candidate for a seat in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies for the City of Buenos Aires.[3] Elected in the March 1973 Peronist landslide, Garré became the youngest woman elected to Congress in Argentina to that date, and was among those on the Alitalia flight that returned Perón to Argentina.[1] Garré belonged to a leftist faction within Peronism, however, and was among eight Deputies expelled from the Justicialist Party by Perón in 1974 following his falling out with the party's left.[3]
She remained in Congress until its dissolution by the military dictatorship installed in 1976. Informed, as were most lawmakers, that leftist elected officials would be targeted for imprisonment or assassination, Garré sought refuge with her husband at the Mexican Embassy, where he would remain for six years. She later joined the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), a legal aid foundation established in 1979 to defend the habeas corpus rights of those targeted by the dictatorship.[4] Obtaining safe conduct in 1982, Abal Medina sought exile in Mexico City and the couple were divorced.[5]
Garré became an ally of Catamarca Province Senator Vicente Saadi and of Peronist Renewal leader Antonio Cafiero upon the return of democracy in elections in 1983. She was given a post in a National Automobile Registry office, but reentered politics after President Carlos Menem's turn to the right during the early 1990s. She joined Chacho Álvarez's leftist Frente Grande (Broad Front) in 1993, and was returned to the Chamber of Deputies in 1995 on the FrePaSo ticket formed by the Broad Front and other progressive parties.[1] She was named Deputy Interior Minister by Minister Federico Storani in October 2000. The government of President Fernando de la Rúa of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), which was backed by FrePaSo in an Alliance, was in crisis, however, and Garré resigned in protest over the appointment of conservative economist Ricardo López Murphy as Minister of Economy of Argentina in March 2001.[4]
She returned to the Chamber of Deputies in 2001, serving until 2005. Garré served briefly as Ambassador to Venezuela in 2005, and helped organize demonstrations led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at the 4th Summit of the Americas against U.S. President George W. Bush and the proposed FTAA.[6]
Garré was recalled to join the government of President Néstor Kirchner as Defense Minister in November, becoming the first woman to hold that post in Argentina. She implemented numerous significant changes during her tenure, including policies promoting jointness (in the Argentine vernacular, conjuntez) within the Argentine Armed Forces and those emphasizing civilian leadership in national defense matters; until then each one of the armed forces had had a virtual autonomy on budget, procurement, organization and deployment.[7]
Garré was named to head the powerful new Security Ministry, established in December 2010 by President Cristina Kirchner. The distribution of the Clarín and La Nación newspapers was blocked on March 27, 2011, and the police did not act to prevent or stop this; the Argentine Federal Police operates under the aegis of the new Security Ministry. This was not the first time this had happened, and the government had already been enjoined by the judiciary to prevent further blockades. The UCR (the largest party in opposition in the Argentine Senate) proposed Garré's impeachment following this incident, albeit unsuccessfully.[8] Garré has also reaped criticism by officials in Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri's administration for her decision to withdraw Federal Police officers from the city's hospitals, schools, subway stations, and other public places.[9]
Garré is one of numerous South American women who, around 2005, assumed leadership positions traditionally held by men. This group includes Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Garré's compatriot, Felisa Miceli, who served as Minister of Economy.[10] This would later include Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Nilda Garré, aquella muñeca brava que ahora es generala". Clarín. http://edant.clarin.com/suplementos/zona/2005/12/04/z-03701.htm.
- ^ "Dr. Nilda Celia Garré. Curriculum Vitae". Argentine Ministry of Defense. http://aaocontenidos.site40.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46%3Adra-nilda-celia-garre-curriculum-vitae&catid=36&Itemid=65.
- ^ a b "Abal Medina, tu sangre es negocio en la Argentina". SEPRIN. http://www.seprin.com/2011/01/17/abal-medina-tu-sangre-es-negocio-en-la-argentina/.
- ^ a b "Reporte de Inteligencia sobre la ministra de Defensa". CELS. http://www.cels.org.ar/common/documentos/ficha_ministra_garre.doc.
- ^ "Juan Manuel Abal Medina". Revista Siete Días. http://www.magicasruinas.com.ar/revistero/esto/revdesto338.htm.
- ^ "Desde el avión de Perón hasta la confianza del kirchnerismo". La Nación. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/760461-desde-el-avion-de-peron-hasta-la-confianza-del-kirchnerismo.
- ^ "Kirchner reglamenta la ley para reestructurar a las Fuerzas Armadas". Clarín. http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/06/12/elpais/p-00501.htm.
- ^ "La UCR impulsa un juicio político a Garré por no acatar el fallo judicial". Clarín. http://www.clarin.com/politica/Bloqueo_a_diarios-UCR-Nilda_Garre_0_451755090.html.
- ^ "Garré anunció que retira la Federal de las estaciones de subte". La Política Online. http://www.lapoliticaonline.com/noticias/val/79715-6/garre-anuncio-que-retira-la-federal-de-las-estaciones-de-subte.html.
- ^ "Women Take Key Gov't Roles in South America". Oh My News. http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=262345&rel_no=1.
[edit] External links
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