Agustín Rossi

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Agustín Oscar Rossi (b. 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 is a National Deputy in the Argentine Congress.

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. ^[1]

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 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". ^[2]

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. ^[3] ^[4] 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." ^[5]

Rossi is one of the pre-candidates for the governorship of Santa Fe for the 2007 elections. The party has not yet defined who will run for the post. Rossi's rivals within the party are Rosario-born National Deputy and former Foreign Relations Minister Rafael Bielsa, and the mayor of Rafaela, Omar Perotti. Rossi, who has spoken in favour of conducting a primary election, confirmed his intention of presenting a candidate list during the first official campaign meeting, held in Rosario on 10 October 2006, "unless the other two candidates don't". Rafael Bielsa has said he prefers a consensus candidate, chosen by the party. Curiously, Rossi has stated that he wants Bielsa's sister María Eugenia (current vice-governor of Santa Fe) to be in his list. ^[6] ^[7]