Mauricio Macri is the incumbent President of Argentina, a South American G20 member country. Prior to taking the office on 10th December 2015, Macri was the Chief of Government of Buenos Aires for eight years. He also served Buenos Aires as a National Deputy.
Early Life and Education
Mauricio Macri was born on February 8, 1959 to father Francisco Macri and mother Alicia Blanco Villegas. Born to a moneyed family, Macri was raised well – financially, emotionally and socially. Since the very early age, he got drawn towards business and economics.
For early education, Macri went to Colegio Cardenal Newman. He later joined the Catholic University of Argentina to do civil engineering. His interest in business took him to study few courses at Columbia Business School and Wharton School of Uni of Pennsylvania.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jS77o3wcWg
Personal Life
Married to Yvonne Bordeu a decade since 1981, Macri had three children: Augustina, Francisco, and Jimena Macri. After a divorce in 1991, Mauricio tied the knot with Isabel Menditeguy in 1994. The couple didn’t have a baby and got divorced in 2005.
Macri’s third and the current wife is Juliana Awada, an Argentine businesswoman. At 37 years, Juliana gave birth to daughter Antonia Macri. Antonia is 5 years old now.
Career
Mauricio Macri wasn’t always a prominent international leader. He kicked off his professional career as a Junior Analyst at SIDECO Americana S.A. After working there for three years, he went to Buenos Aires to take a position at Citibank Argentina. However, Macri quickly left the finance sector to join Socma. Subsequently, he was elected as the president of Sevel Argentina in 1994.
As Macri had already been a multi-millionaire by that time, he was kidnapped and kept hostage for 12 days in 1991. Although a prominent businessman, Macri was only released after paying an enormous ransom. This incident supposedly led Macri to venture into the political world. Reportedly, the kidnappers were Argentine Federal Police officers.
Starting in 2003, Mauricio Macri entered Argentine politics by establishing a party called Compromiso para el Cambio. This party supported him to run for mayor of Buenos Aires, but he was thrashed by his opposing counterpart Anibal Ibarra. So, he merged the newly-formed party with Republican Proposal and Murphy of Recrear. The same year, he was elected as a National Deputy from Buenos Aires. He held the office for two years.
As a promotion to the next level politics, Macri climbed to the position of Chief of Government of Buenos Aires on 10 December, 2007. Preceded by Jorge Telerman, Macri remained in the office until 10 December, 2015. Following continuous political successes, people’s favorite Macri prepared to run for president.
The Argentine Presidential election held on November 22, 2015 was clearly a day of triumph for Argentinians and Macri himself. To everyone’s surprise, Macri had a neck to neck to victory against the opposing candidates. Macri’s election to the office of president terminated a long-term Kirchnerism and gave rise to an era of politics run by a businessman.
As promised, Argentinians will expect the incumbent president to reduce inflation, encourage business investment and terminate relations with Venezuela and Iran. Macri also vowed to formulate his infrastructural development strategy called Plan Belgrano.
So far, Macri has been successful in meeting different heads of states and strengthen bilateral ties. Likewise, as soon as he took the office, he deregulated currency controls and removed tax liability from grain, beef and fish exports. Also, he joined numerous world leaders at World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The discussions held in the program were fruitful to bring about small business reforms in Argentina.
While Macri’s many political aspirations remain unaccomplished, he has been an agent of change in Argentina.
Donald Trump and Macri
Trump and Macri differ quite significantly in terms of their political views. While Macri stands on the side of welcoming Syrian refugees, Trump proposed a travel ban from seven Muslim countries including Syria. However, the two world leaders resemble on abortion – they both claim to be pro-life.
Trump also received a congratulatory call from Macri. Interestingly, Trump reportedly requested Argentinian President to authorize building construction in Buenos Aires.
