Macri, Mauricio

Macri, Mauricio,

1959–, Argentinian political leader. After graduating from the Catholic Univ. of Argentina, he was active in his family's businesses in the 1980s and 90s before becoming president of the Boca Juniors soccer club (1995–2008). A founder of the center-right Republican Proposal party, he was a member of Argentina's congress (2005–7), then served as mayor of Buenos Aires (2007–15). In the 2015 presidential election, Macri defeated Daniel Scioli, governor of Buenos Aires prov. and the ruling party candidate, after a runoff. His election ended 12 years of rule by Néstor KirchnerKirchner, Néstor Carlos
, 1950–2010, Argentinean politician. A native of Patagonia, he was a lawyer and left-wing Peronist and, after two brief imprisonments, was in private practice during the 1976–83 military dictatorship.
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 and Cristina Fernández de KirchnerFernández de Kirchner, Cristina Elisabet
, 1953–, Argentinian politician. A Peronist student activist in the 1970s, she received (1979) a law degree from the National Univ. of La Plata.
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. In 2016 he resolved the outstanding bond claims that remained from Argentina's 2001 default, enabling the country to sell bonds again on the international financial markets. He was strengthened politically in 2017 after his party won a plurality in the national congress, but lost popularity in 2018 as the country faced economic difficulties, sought aid from the International Monetary Fund, and was forced to adopt austerity measures.