Francisco de Narváez
Encyclopedia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n-born naturalized Argentine businessman, politician who ran for governor of Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
on the PRO
Republican Proposal
Republican Proposal is a right-wing political party in Argentina. It is usually referred to as PRO. PRO was formed as an electoral alliance in 2005, but was transformed into a unitary party on 3 June 2010....
ballot in the 2007 elections
Argentine general election, 2007
Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on October 28, 2007, and elections for provincial governors took place on staggered dates throughout the year. For the national elections, each of the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are considered electoral districts...
in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. He is currently a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
.
Biography
De Narváez arrived in Argentina at the age of three. His father was a Colombian coffee merchant. His mother's family owned the Casa Tía chain of supermarkets, started by his grandfather, Karel Steuer, in Eastern EuropeEastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
as 'Te-Ta', the Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
word for 'aunt'. Upon relocating to Argentina, it became a major chain. De Narváez began work there at the age of 17 years old and was appointed Chief Executive in 1989, a position which he held for ten years. http://www.franciscodenarvaez.com/conozcame_biografia.htm In 2002, his group bought 50% of La Rural
La Rural
La Exposición Rural , is an annual agricultural and livestock show held in the Palermo section of Buenos Aires, Argentina...
, a major and historic exhibitions centre. In 2007 he bought one of Argentina's most important TV stations, América TV. He owns 20% of the Ambito Financiero
Ámbito Financiero
Ámbito Financiero is an Argentine newspaper founded on December 9, 1976 by economist Julio A. Ramos. It was initially sold in downtown Buenos Aires, covering mainly the daily prices of the U.S. dollar, gold, stocks, etc., and included other editorials....
and is also a director of Clarin
Clarín (newspaper)
Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
.
In 1983, de Narváez took Argentine citizenship to vote for Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
. Following the 2001 crisis, he decided to enter politics and joined the Justicialist Party
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...
. He aided the presidential campaign of Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
in 2003 as a candidate for a ministerial post. He was elected as a National Deputy for Buenos Aires Province in 2005, the first foreigner to be elected to the Chamber. As a centre-right pro business politician, he supported the senatorial bid of Hilda de Duhalde
Hilda de Duhalde
Hilda Beatriz 'Chiche' González de Duhalde is a politician in Argentina. She is a Senator for Buenos Aires Province and the wife of former President Eduardo Duhalde....
and sits with dissident Peronists in Congress, opposed to the government of the Kirchners
Kirchnerism
Kirchnerism is a term used to refer to the political philosophy and supporters of Néstor Kirchner, president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, and of his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President from 2007...
. He stood to be governor of the province in 2007, gaining over a million votes. Jorge Macri, cousin of Mauricio Macri
Mauricio Macri
Mauricio Macri is an Argentine businessman turned politician, and Head of Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Son of Francisco Macri, a businessman of Italian origin prominent in the industrial and construction sectors, he represented the City of Buenos Aires in the Lower House of...
, was his running mate and their campaign was supported by Macri's party Commitment to Change
Commitment to Change
Commitment to Change is a centre-right political party in Argentina, principally active in the city of Buenos Aires.The party is led by Mauricio Macri, businessman and chairman of Boca Juniors football club. It has been active since he stood to be Mayor of Buenos Aires in 2003. He won the first...
and the PRO
Republican Proposal
Republican Proposal is a right-wing political party in Argentina. It is usually referred to as PRO. PRO was formed as an electoral alliance in 2005, but was transformed into a unitary party on 3 June 2010....
coalition.
On June 28, 2009, de Narváez defeated former president Nestór Kirchner in the legislative midterm elections in the province of Buenos Aires. During the electoral campaign he took part of the humoristic TV show Gran Cuñado
Gran Cuñado
Gran Cuñado was a segment of the TV program from Argentina Showmatch, hosted by Marcelo Tinelli. It had 19 participants, began broadcasting on 11 May 2009 with a 31.9 rating and a peak of 46 points. The program consisted of a series of comedians characterized as Argentina's most prominent...
, which included parodies of the most important politicians of Argentina (including De Narváez himself), and engaged with his parody in stage jokes. This act generated controversy in the media about the effects on his actual electoral performance: columnists like Joaquín Morales Solá claim he was benefited from it, while other think that such influence was relative. Francisco de Narváez says that Gran Cuñado helped him, and that it helped to humanize the image of politicians.
His second wife is former model Agustina Ayllón with whom he has two children.