José Manuel de la Sota

José Manuel de la Sota (28 November 1949 – 15 September 2018) was an Argentine politician who was a member of Justicialist Party. He was the governor of Córdoba Province from 1999 until 2007, and was reelected to the post for the 2011–15 term.

Early life and career

Born in Córdoba, de la Sota studied law at the National University of Córdoba and married Silvia Zanichelli, the daughter of former Governor , in 1972. He was designated Legislative Secretary to Córdoba Councilman Miguel Flores, a left-wing Peronist, in 1973, and Chief of Staff to Mayor José Domingo Coronel, a right-wing Peronist, in 1975; the March 1976 coup, however, cut his political career short. though he withdrew in favor of his candidacy for a second four-year term as governor, which he obtained by nearly 15%.

De la Sota and Olga Riutort had two daughters, but divorced in 2004. As governor, he emphasized public works, and during his tenure, 340 schools and over 20,000 public housing units were completed (in a province of 3 million inhabitants). He reaped controversy, however, following his creation of a Corruption Prosecution Office in 2000. The director appointed to the office, Luis Juez, uncovered evidence of corruption by, among others, Córdoba Mayor Germán Kammerath, Public Works Minister Carlos Caserio, and the governor's chief of staff (and wife), Olga Riutort. Lacking support from the governor, Juez resigned on October 10, 2002. The governor's expropriation of the former Ferreyra Palace in 2005 for its use as the Evita Fine Arts Museum also proved contentious; the Ferreya family was reportedly compensated with a fraction of the landmark's market value, and most of the mansion's grand interiors were lost during its subsequent conversion as a museum.

He joined President Néstor Kirchner in supporting Vice-Governor Juan Schiaretti, who was elected in 2007 over Juez in highly contested results. Following speculation that his 2011 bid for governor would be as an opponent to Kirchnerism, de la Sota gave President Cristina Kirchner his endorsement late in the campaign. He was returned to the office of Governor of Córdoba by voters in the August 7, 2011, elections, defeating Juez and UCR candidate Oscar Aguad. Governor de la Sota distanced himself from the president following the 2011 elections amid a dispute over ANSES social security funds in excess of a billion pesos (US$210 million), and in September 2012 established a local Federal Peronist faction opposed to Kirchnerism.

The governor sought the nomination for president during the 2015 election on the centrist United for a New Alternative, coming in second to Sergio Massa on the 9 August primary. His support of right-wing candidate Mauricio Macri ahead of the November 22 runoff helped Macri win Córdoba Province by 43%, giving him a 931,000 margin in the province that exceeded the 679,000 margin he won nationwide.

De la Sota died in a car crash on 15 September 2018; he was 68.