Mario Fiad | |
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| National Senator | |
| Assumed office 10 December 2017 | |
| Constituency | Jujuy |
| Minister of Health of Jujuy Province | |
| In office 10 December 2015 – 12 July 2017 | |
| Governor | Gerardo Morales |
| Preceded by | Saúl Flores |
| Succeeded by | Gustavo Bouhid |
| National Deputy | |
| In office 10 December 2009 – 10 December 2015 | |
| Constituency | Jujuy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1957-01-12)12 January 1957 (age 68) San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina |
| Political party | Radical Civic Union |
| Other political affiliations | Social and Civic Agreement(2009–2013) Juntos por el Cambio(2015–present) |
| Alma mater | National University of Córdoba |
Mario Raymundo Fiad (born 12 January 1957) is anArgentine surgeon and politician, currently serving as aNational Senator forJujuy Province since 2017. He previously served as aNational Deputy from 2009 to 2015, and as health minister of Jujuy from 2015 to 2017, in the government ofGerardo Morales. Fiad belongs to theRadical Civic Union (UCR), and presides the Jujuy Province UCR committee since 2015.
Fiad was born on 12 January 1957 inSan Salvador de Jujuy, capital ofJujuy Province. He finished high school at Colegio Nacional Teodoro Sánchez de Bustamante. He enrolled at theNational University of Córdoba in 1975, finishing his medical surgeon degree in 1981.[1] He then specialized in dermatology at theHospital Argerich, inBuenos Aires, and theHospital Clínic, inBarcelona, Spain.[2]
Fiad returned to Jujuy in 1983 to set up his medical practice. He worked as a dermatologist at the Hospital Pablo Soria and later served as the provincial department chief of STIs andleprosy, and as dermatology service chief at the Hospital San Roque. In 1988, he co-founded the Instituto Dermatológico Belgrano. Fiad served as president of the Sociedad Jujeña de Dermatología, overseeing the coordinating unit of national health programmes in Jujuy Province. His work would lead him to be elected president of the Colegio Médico de Jujuy in 2001.[2] In 2006, he finished a new specialty in economy and health administration from Universidad ISalud.[1]
An affiliate of theRadical Civic Union (UCR), Fiad first ran for office in the2009 legislative election as the first candidate in theSocial and Civic Agreement list to theNational Chamber of Deputies in Jujuy. Despite being a newcomer with little public recognition, Fiad's received 30.94% of the votes and was the second-most voted list in the province, enough for Fiad to be elected. He took office on 10 December 2009.[3][4]
In 2011, Fiad was the UCR candidate forgovernor of Jujuy as part of theUnion for Social Development (UDESO) alliance. He stood againstJusticialist Party candidate and former governorEduardo Fellner. Fiad received 25.89% of the vote and came in a distant second against Fellner's 57.53%.[5]
Fiad was re-elected as deputy in2013 as the first candidate in the Frente Jujeño list, which was the most-voted in the province with 39.81% of the vote. Just two years later, however, he resigned from his seat in order to take charge of Jujuy's Ministry of Health in the new government of Gerardo Morales, who had been elected governor in the October 2015 provincial elections.[6]
In2017, Fiad was elected to theNational Senate on theCambiemos list, alongsideSilvia Giacoppo, which was once again the most-voted list in Jujuy with 52.60% of the vote. He took office on 10 December 2017, with mandate until 2023.[1]
Although a member of the traditionally social liberal UCR, Fiad is considered asocial conservative.[7] In 2010, as deputy, Fiad voted against thelegalisation of same-sex marriage in Argentina, despite most of the UCR (including the party's leader in Jujuy,Gerardo Morales) supporting the measure.[8][9] Fiad was also a vocal opponent of thelegalisation of abortion, voting against the twoVoluntary Interruption of Pregnancy bills debated by the Argentine Congress in 2018 and 2020.[10][11]
By contrast, in 2012, Fiad supported a number of bills seeking thedecriminalisation of drug possession for personal use, arguing that drug addictions ought to be considered diseases, not crimes.[12][13] In 2015, he proposed the establishment of a direct emergency line to denounce the illegal sale of drugs.[14]
