Horacio Daniel Usandizaga (b. June 15, 1940 in J.B.Molina), also known informally as El Vasco, is an Argentine

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...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Usandizaga studied to become a lawyer and entered political activity as a member of the Radical Civic Union

Radical Civic Union

The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...

 (UCR) in 1961. He was first a councillor and then Mayor of Rosario from 11 December 1983 to 10 December 1987. He was re-elected for four more years but resigned and left office on 22 May 1989. A man of hot temper, Usandizaga had publicly promised that he would leave if 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:...

 was elected president

President of Argentina

The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...

, as eventually happened. His term was completed by Héctor Cavallero

Héctor Cavallero

Héctor Cavallero , nicknamed El Tigre, "The Tiger", is an Argentine politician, who was mayor of Rosario and a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies for the province of Santa Fe ....

, of the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (Argentina)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Argentina. The history of socialism in Argentina began in the 1890s, when a group of people, notably Juan B. Justo, expressed the need for a greater social focus....

.

Usandizaga stood as candidate for Governor of Santa Fe in 1991, 1995 and 1999, but on all three occasions he failed to win, in part due to the electoral system in place at the time (the now-repealed Ley de Lemas

Ley de Lemas

||The ley de lemas is the Spanish name of the double simultaneous voting system which is, or has been, used in elections in Argentina, Uruguay and Honduras...

). He was elected as the provincial representative (Diputado) in the National Congress in 1993, and was a member of the Argentine Senate

Argentine Senate

The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...

 from 29 November 1995 to 9 December 2001. He was re-elected, but at the end of 2002 he announced he would retire from active politics upon the partial renewal of the Upper House on 9 December 2003.

In 2007 he was elected as president of Rosario Central

Rosario Central

Club Atlético Rosario Central is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina. Its football team currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second tier of the Argentine football league system, after being relegated in the 2009-10 season....

, the club that he supported since childhood. He obtained 63% of the votes.

Sources

• Intendentes de Rosario - Mayors of Rosario (in Spanish) on the website of the Municipality.
• List of Argentine Senators - historical records by province.