Francisco de Narváez

{{Short description|Colombian-born naturalized Argentine businessman and politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| image =

Francisco de Narvaez.jpg

| caption =

| imagesize =

| office1 = National Deputy

| term_start1 = 10 December 2005

| term_end1 = 3 December 2015

| constituency1 = Buenos Aires

| birth_name = Francisco de Narváez Steuer

| birth_place = Bogotá, Colombia

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|09|22|df=yes}}

| nationality = Argentine

| occupation = Businessman and politician

| party = Justicialist Party {{small|(1983–2008)}}
Light Blue and White Union {{small|(2008–present)}}

| otherparty = PRO Union {{small|(2007–2011)}}
Federal Consensus {{small|(2019–present)}}

| residence = Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina

| spouse = Agustina Ayllón

| website = [http://www.franciscodenarvaez.com Official website]

}}

Francisco de Narváez Steuer (born 22 September 1953 in Bogotá), known as El Colorado or Pancho, is a Colombian-born naturalized Argentine businessman, politician who ran for governor of Buenos Aires Province on the Unión PRO ballot in the 2007 elections in Argentina. He was a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies until late 2015.

Business life

De Narváez arrived in Argentina at the age of three. His father was a Colombian coffee merchant. His mother's family owned the Almacenes Tía chain of supermarkets, started by his grandfather, Karel Steuer, in Eastern Europe as 'Te-Ta'. Upon relocating to South America, it became a major chain. De Narváez began work there at the age of 17 years and was appointed Chief Executive in 1989, a position which he held for ten years.{{cite web |url= http://www.franciscodenarvaez.com/conozcame_biografia.htm |title= Bio |accessdate= November 14, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080917222045/http://www.franciscodenarvaez.com/conozcame_biografia.htm |archive-date= September 17, 2008 |url-status= dead }} De Narváez eventually sold the Argentinean division of the company in 2002{{cite news |url=http://www.derf.com.ar/despachos.asp?cod_des=50439 |date=November 27, 2005 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |title=Francisco de Narváez: "Macri no cree en los partidos políticos tradicionales y yo sí" |publisher=Grupo Derf |author=Daniel Leñini}} for $638 million.{{cite news |url=http://www.perfil.com/contenidos/2007/05/13/noticia_0018.html |title=Francisco De Narváez: "No voy a votar a Kirchner" |date=May 13, 2007 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |publisher=Perfil}}

In 2002, his group bought 50% of La Rural, a major and historic exhibitions centre, and the additional 50% in 2005.{{cite web |url=http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2005/04/23/elpais/p-03001.htm |title=De Narváez, dueño de Rural SA |date=April 23, 2005 |accessdate=November 14, 2012}} In 2007 he bought one of Argentina's most important TV stations, América TV. He owns 20% of the El Cronista Comercial.[http://www.seprin.com/portal/notas1/denarvaez.htm ¿Quién es Francisco de Narváez?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327002632/http://www.seprin.com/portal/notas1/denarvaez.htm |date=2008-03-27 }} {{in lang|es}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAeFIS9OZrEC&q=Francisco+de+Narv%C3%A1ez&pg=PA51 |title=Latin America 2012 46 Ed |author=Robert T. Buckman |page=56 |year=2012 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781610488877 }} In 1983, de Narváez took Argentine citizenship to vote for Raúl Alfonsín. His nickname in business and politics is "El Colorado", and his personal fortune has been estimated to be in excess of $500 million.{{cite news |url=http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2007/09/09/elpais/p-01495762.htm |date=September 9, 2007 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |title=Francisco de Narváez: el millonario que saltó del PJ a candidato de Macri |newspaper=Clarín}}

Political life

Following the 2001 crisis, he decided to enter politics and joined the Justicialist Party. He aided the presidential campaign of Carlos Menem in 2003 as a candidate for the position of Minister of Social Development. De Narváez ran from the political left, commenting that in office he would be a staunch welfarist.{{cite news |url=http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/economia/2-73555-2006-09-26.html |title=El pragmático De Narváez se quedó con "El Cronista" |author=Raúl Dellatorre |newspaper=Página/12 |date=September 26, 2006 |accessdate=November 14, 2012}}

In July 2004 he then self-financed major commemorations around Argentina to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Peron's death.{{cite news |url=http://www.igooh.com/notas/biografia-de-francisco-de-narvaez-steuer-macri-varsvacki-y-el-consejo-judio-mundial/ |date=June 3, 2010 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |title=BIOGRAFÍA DE FRANCISCO DE NARVÁEZ STEUER. MACRI, VARSVACKI Y EL CONSEJO JUDÍO MUNDIAL |author=De Narváez Steuer}}

As a centre-right pro business politician, he supported the senatorial bid of Hilda de Duhalde and sits with dissident Peronists in Congress, opposed to the government of the Kirchners.[http://www.noticias.uol.com.ar/edicion_1502/nota_00.htm Peronismo Ca$h] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612141308/http://www.noticias.uol.com.ar/edicion_1502/nota_00.htm |date=2007-06-12 }} {{in lang|es}} Then, he was elected as National Deputy for Buenos Aires Province in 2005, the first foreigner to be elected to the Chamber.

He stood to be Governor of the Province in 2007, gaining over a million votes. Jorge Macri, cousin of Mauricio Macri, was his running mate and their campaign was supported by Macri's party Commitment to Change and the PRO coalition. De Narváez mentioned to the press in November 2012 that he would be interested in forming a similar coalition in the upcoming 2013 election season as well.{{cite news |url=http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1524285-de-narvaez-apoyara-una-eventual-candidatura-de-macri-en-la-provincia |title=De Narváez apoyará una eventual candidatura de Macri en la provincia |date=November 7, 2012 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |newspaper=La Nación}}

In 2008 de Narváez took the side of agriculture workers against the Argentinian government over efforts to either ban certain meat exports.{{cite news |url=http://www.agencianova.com/nota.asp?n=2006_12_8&id=36099&id_tiponota=4 |title=Francisco De Narváez: "El Gobierno recibió en Misiones un tsunami de votos" |date=December 8, 2006 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |publisher=Nova}} He has also spoken out about the nationalization of private industry in many other areas of governance.{{cite news |url=http://www.diaadia.com.ar/content/francisco-de-narvaez-amanece-repartiendo-boletas |title=Francisco De Narváez amanece repartiendo boletas |date=June 26, 2009 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |publisher=Día a Día}}

During his campaigns, de Narváez is known for self-financing his campaigns, using his own money to pursue his political interests.{{cite news |url=http://www.losandes.com.ar/notas/2009/7/12/politica-434801.asp |title=Los negocios políticos y económicos de De Narváez en Mendoza |date=July 12, 2009 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |author=Mario Fiore |publisher=Los Andes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530111846/http://www.losandes.com.ar/notas/2009/7/12/politica-434801.asp |archive-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=dead }}

File:De Narvaez at Gran Cuñado.jpg.]]

On June 28, 2009, de Narváez defeated former president Nestor 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, 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,[http://m.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1141009 La sátira que desnuda un vacío de ideas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706081607/http://m.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1141009 |date=2011-07-06 }} {{in lang|es}} while other think that such influence was relative.[http://www.elargentino.com/nota-46584-Gran-Cunado-y-la-intencion-de-voto.html El efecto de Gran Cuñado sobre la intención de voto] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627112321/http://www.elargentino.com/nota-46584-Gran-Cunado-y-la-intencion-de-voto.html |date=2009-06-27 }} {{in lang|es}} Francisco de Narváez says that Gran Cuñado helped him,[http://www.lu22radiotandil.com.ar/2009/07/25/de-narvaez-tengo-mas-plata-que-los-kirchner/ De Narváez: “Tengo más plata que los Kirchner”]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{in lang|es}} and that it helped to humanize the image of politicians.[http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1135996 La visita de De Narváez a "Gran Cuñado", al ritmo del reggaeton] {{in lang|es}} He also ran the campaign in Buenos Aires as part of a political alliance between himself, Chief of Government of the City of Buenos Aires Mauricio Macri and former Governor of Buenos Aires Felipe Solá.{{cite news |url=http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1098775-acuerdo-entre-sola-macri-y-narvaez-de-cara-a-octubre |title=Acuerdo entre Solá, Macri y Narváez de cara a octubre |date=February 11, 2009 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |newspaper=La Nación}}

In 2010 de Narváez introduced a bill to the Argentinian legislature to increase the universal child allowance from 180 pesos to 250. The bill was targeted at alleviating child poverty, and to correlate the allowance with wage inflation.{{cite news |url=http://www.lanueva.com/hoy/nota/edebb64bcc/1/68323.html |date=July 8, 2010 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |title=Francisco De Narváez impulsa un proyecto para que la Asignación por Hijo pase a 250 pesos |publisher=Diario La Nueva Provincia |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629150729/http://www.lanueva.com/hoy/nota/edebb64bcc/1/68323.html |archive-date=June 29, 2013 |url-status=dead }} In 2011 de Narváez ran for office with the UDESO as a gubernatorial candidate in the Buenos Aires province.{{cite news |url=http://www.lanoticia1.com/noticia/elecciones-2011-de-narvaez-apunta-a-aglutinar-a-la-oposicion-20997.html |title=Elecciones 2011: De Narváez apunta a aglutinar a la oposición |date=October 3, 2011 |accessdate=April 25, 2013 |publisher=La Noticia 1}}

In October 2012 de Narváez began national calls for the formation of a new coalition to remove the majority coalition from power in Argentina, naming Peronist dissidents, the PRO, and others as potential members of a new ruling coalition.{{cite news |url=http://www.lacapital.com.ar/ed_impresa/2012/10/edicion_1452/contenidos/noticia_5451.html |title=De Narváez pide un frente de unidad nacional |date=October 27, 2012 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |publisher=Diario La Capital}} He has been particularly critical of the national government in its handling of civil security and the country's problem with crime.{{cite news |title=La inseguridad es una realidad y un problema nacional |date=November 12, 2012 |accessdate=November 14, 2012 |url=http://www.minutouno.com/notas/267966-la-inseguridad-es-una-realidad-y-un-problema-nacional |publisher=Minutouno}}

Personal life

His second wife is former model Agustina Ayllón, friend of Juliana Awada, with whom he has three children.[http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/09/09/elpais/p-01495762.htm Francisco de Narváez: el millonario que saltó del PJ a candidato de Macri] {{in lang|es}}

References

External links

[http://www.franciscodenarvaez.com Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424091655/http://www.franciscodenarvaez.com/ |date=2008-04-24 }}

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Category:1953 births

Category:Living people

Category:Politicians from Bogotá

Category:Naturalized citizens of Argentina

Category:Justicialist Party politicians

Category:Republican Proposal politicians

Category:Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province

Category:Argentine deputies 2013–2015