Alberto Ángel Fernández (born April 2, 1959) is an Argentine politician. He was the Chief of Cabinet of Argentina during Néstor Kirchner presidency, and part of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's. He resigned on July 23, 2008.
Fernández was born in Buenos Aires, where he would later attend Law School at the University of Buenos Aires. He graduated at the age of 24, and later became a professor of Criminal Law there. In the field of politics, he worked in non-elective posts in the Deliberative Council of Buenos Aires City, in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and in the national Ministry of Economy, during the 1990s. He was also involved in insurance and health services companies in the private field and in state banks and other companies. During this time he became politically close to former governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Eduardo Duhalde.
On June 7, 2000, Fernández was elected Deputy for the City of Buenos Aires, for the minor party Acción por la República led by Domingo Cavallo, then Minister of Economy of the de la Rúa administration. He gave up his seat when he was appointed Chief of Cabinet by President Néstor Kirchner upon taking office on May 25, 2003. He retained the same position under new President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner upon her election in 2007 and resigned to his office on July 23, 2008. In November 2009, at a convention held at the Paseo La Plaza, Alberto Fernandez said is ready to challenge Duhalde and Kirchner at the time the Partido Justicialista will nominate its Presidential candidate for the following general election. In Argentina, the nomination of candidates is usually the responsibility of the political party organizations themselves and does not involve the general public. At conference held at the Hotel Castelar, Alberto Fernandez has announced that Santiago Montoya -a former Director of the Agency of Tax Collection for the Province of Buenos Aires, ARBA- has joined forces.
Alberto Angel Fernández (born April 2, 1959 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a lawyer and politician that held the Government Chief of Cabinet post of this country from 2003 to 2008, under the presidencies of Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. This is the longest that an officer has held that post since it was created. He is a member of the Justicialist Party (Spanish: Partido Justicialista- PJ), a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.
He attended Law School at the University of Buenos Aires, where he is a Professor of Criminal Law. He was President of the Latin American Insurance Chief Officers association from 1989 to 1992, under Carlos Saul Menem’s presidency, and is a co-founder of the Insurance Chief Officers International Association. Previous to this, he was an adviser for the Congress and Deputy Director of Legal Affairs of the Economy Department. In 1999 he became Director of the Transparency in Public and Private Organizations Program in the University of Buenos Aires. In 2000 he was elected legislator for the City of Buenos Aires. He was also involved in Insurance and Health Care in the private field, and has been awarded the Millennium award for Businessman of the century, amongst others.
Upon being elected president, Néstor Kirchner appointed Alberto A. Fernández to be his Chief of Cabinet in May 35, 2003. After a couple of years of political chaos and an economic crisis that ended in the country’s default and social unrest, Nestor Kirchner’s government is credited with leading Argentina out of it’s institutional turmoil. Cristina Fernadez de Kirchner, who was elected President of Argentina on October 2007, kept Alberto Fernández as Chief of Cabinet. He resigned his post on July 23, 2008, amidst a crisis related to a new system of variable taxes on agricultural exports, citing he wanted to "give oxigen to the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner".
He is currently working on his own project within the Justicialist Party, and has told the media that he can see himself as President of Argentina in 2011, given his experience in various fields of the country’s administration.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Alfredo Atanasof |
Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina 25 May 2003 - 23 Jul, 2008 |
Succeeded by Sergio Massa |