Ramón Mestre

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Ramón Mestre
55^th Governor of Córdoba
In office 1995 – 1999
Lieutenant(s)	Luis Molinari Romero
Preceded by	Eduardo Angeloz
Succeeded by	José Manuel De la Sota

Born	August 21, 1937 San Juan, Argentina
Died	March 6, 2003 Córdoba, Argentina
Political party	Radical
Profession	Dentist

Ramón Bautista Mestre (San Juan, Argentina, August 21, 1937 — Córdoba, Argentina March 6, 2003), an Argentine politician, was Governor of Córdoba from July 12, 1995 to July 12, 1999. He also served as Federal Interventor of Corrientes Province (December 16, 1999 to March 20, 2001), Minister of the Interior (from March 20, 2001 to December 21, 2001), and Mayor of the city of Córdoba (from December 1983 to December 1991).

A disciple of Cordoba 52nd Governor Justo Páez Molina, Mestre began his political career as a member of the Radical Civic Union Party (Unión Cívica Radical or UCR). He entered the Páez Molina government after a career in the Student Unión Organizations while studying in the University of Córdoba Dentistry School. In the Páez Molina Government he was Deputy Health Secretary (1964) and Governor’s Chief of Staff (1965). After the 1966 military coup d'état that overthrew President Illia's national government and Paez Molina’s provincial one, he work as a dentist in the private field. From 1973 to 1976 he was a Córdoba Province Representative in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and leader of his Party Group for a period.

In 1983 he was elected mayor of the city of Córdoba for the 1983-1987 period and reelected for a new period from 1987 to 1991. In 1991 he created his own organization in the Radical Party, "Participación y Renovación", to challenge Eduardo Angeloz governor candidacy; he lost the primaries but established his name as a natural candidate in 1995.

In 1994 he was elected to the National Convention for the Constitution Reform. In 1995 he was elected Governor of Córdoba. During his brief mandate, the economic problems were become serious, added to the suspicions of corruption of their assistants' civil employees, the high fiscal deficit, and the prepotent characteristics of his personality, his government quickly became unpopular. In 1999 he failed to win reelection and the Peronist Party won the Province Government after 25 years out of power, and José Manuel De la Sota became the 56th Governor. In 1999 until 2001 Mestre served as Federal Interventor in Corrientes Province, then he was Minister of the Interior during 2001. He had a high degree of responsibility in the bloody repression of the disturbances of Plaza de Mayo, in December 2001, that precipitated the fall of the president De la Rúa.

Mestre died in 2003, as a result of hepatitis.