Gerardo Morales

Gerardo Rubén Morales (Born, July 18, 1959) is an Argentine public accountant, teacher, and politician, current governor of the Jujuy Province.

Gerardo Morales
Gerardo Morales.png
Governor of Jujuy
Assumed office
10 December 2015
Vice GovernorCarlos Haquim
Preceded byEduardo Fellner
National Senator
In office
December 2001 – 10 December 2015
ConstituencyJujuy
President of the National Committee of the Radical Civic Union
In office
1 December 2006 – 5 December 2009
Preceded byRoberto Iglesias
Succeeded byErnesto Sanz
Personal details
Born18 July 1959 (aged 66)
San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina
NationalityArgentine
Political partyRadical Civic Union
Other political
affiliations
Juntos por el Cambio (2015–present)
ProfessionPublic accountant

Birth

Morales was born on July 18, 1959, the grandson of Bolivian immigrants. While some sources says that he was born in San Salvador de Jujuy, others place his birthplace in the city of Salta, capital of the neighboring province of the same name. He himself, however, has stated that he wants to be considered "jujeño".

Education

He completed his university studies at the National University de Jujuy (UNJu). This is where he graduated as a public accountant in the early 1980s. He also worked as a teacher at there. During this period, which saw the recovery and start of democracy in Argentina in 1983, he began his political militancy within the Purple Strip, a university group linked to the Radical Civic Union (UCR), a ruling party at the national level with Raúl Alfonsín. as president.

Governor of Jujuy

Morales was elected governor in 2015. Expecting protests from Milagro Sala, he requested police reinforcements to the national government. He wanted to prevent riots during the end of the year. 43 gendarmeries were sent to Jujuy, but died in a car accident at Rosario de la Frontera, in unclear circumstances.[1]

The Tupac Amaru organization denied the existence of violence in the province, and started a permanent demonstration at the Jujuy plaza.[2] Morales accused the organizations that compose the Tupac Amaru of keeping the social welfare money for themselves, and distributing it only to their political supporters. To reduce their influence, he arranged that those payments should be done through bank accounts and not with cash, to keep track of the money. After a month, he urged the organizations to accept the terms and leave the plaza, or he would revoke their legal authorizations.[3] The Tupac Amaru was split by this, as most organizations accepted Morales' proposal, but Sala and a reduced faction rejected it.[4] Milagro Sala was arrested a few days later, accused of calling to riots and civil disorder.[5]

References

Other websites