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Jorge Taiana | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Taiana in 2016 | |
| Minister of Defense | |
| In office 10 August 2021 – 10 December 2023 | |
| President | Alberto Fernández |
| Preceded by | Agustín Rossi |
| Succeeded by | Luis Petri |
| National Senator | |
| In office 10 December 2019 – 9 August 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Cristina Fernández de Kirchner |
| Succeeded by | Juliana Di Tullio |
| Constituency | Buenos Aires |
| Legislator of the City of Buenos Aires | |
| In office 10 December 2013 – 10 December 2015 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship | |
| In office 1 December 2005 – 18 June 2010 | |
| President | Néstor Kirchner Cristina Fernández de Kirchner |
| Preceded by | Rafael Bielsa |
| Succeeded by | Héctor Timerman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1950-05-31)31 May 1950 (age 75) Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Political party | Justicialist Party |
| Other political affiliations | Front for Victory(2003–2017) Unidad Ciudadana(2017–2019) Frente de Todos(2019–present) |
| Alma mater | Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences |
Jorge Enrique Taiana (born 31 May 1950) is anArgentineJusticialist Party politician who served as the country'sMinister of Defense from 2021 to 2023. Taiana previously served asForeign Minister in the administrations ofPresidentNéstor Kirchner and his successor,Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, from 2005 to 2010, and as aNational Senator forBuenos Aires from 2019 to 2021.[1][2]
His father wasJorge Alberto Taiana, colleague and physician of former PresidentJuan Perón.
As of 2025, he is leading theUnión por la Patria inBuenos Aires Province list as a candidate for theChamber of Deputies.[3]
Jorge Taiana was born inBuenos Aires as the fourth and second youngest child of Matilde Puebla and Jorge Alberto Taiana.[4] His father was a prominent Argentine surgeon who later served in a number of social policy posts for PresidentJuan Perón, as well as one of his personal physicians. He attended theColegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, studiedsociology, and was awarded a Master's Degree inSocial Sciences at the Latin American Social Science Institute (FLACSO). He was later a researcher at theNational University of Quilmes and worked in the field ofhuman rights. Taiana is married toTelefe producer Bernarda Llorente; he has three children, two by a previous marriage.[5]
Taiana was a militantPeronist in the early 1970s and in 1973 re-launchedDescamisado, a populist news weekly thereafter associated with theMontoneros guerilla movement.[6] He worked alongside his father in the Ministry of Education as Head of Cabinet following thereturn of Peronism to power in 1973, and despite being threatened by theTriple A, he decided to remain in the country. He was falsely accused to be responsible for a bomb attack on July 4, 1975 which killed two people in a bar in downtown Buenos Aires. In fact, he had been arrested on June 29 and spent seven years in jail, mostly in a military prison inRawson.
Following his release, Taiana held several academic positions until he was appointed Advisor to the Foreign Affairs Committee of theArgentine Chamber of Deputies (1987–89). He was appointed Undersecretary for Organizations and Special Matters after the election of fellow PeronistCarlos Menem in 1989, and in 1990 was appointed Undersecretary for Foreign Policy and later Director of International Organizations (1991). Between 1992 and 1995, he was the Argentine Ambassador toGuatemala and concurrently toBelize. After wide regional support to his candidature, he served as Executive Secretary of theInter-American Commission on Human Rights of theOAS between 1996 and 2001, and then became Secretary for Human Rights of the Government of theProvince of Buenos Aires.[7]
President Kirchner appointed Taiana as Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship in December 2005, replacingRafael Bielsa; Taiana had been Bielsa's Deputy since 2003.[7] As Foreign Minister, Taiana has presided over theUnited Nations Security Council and to dealt with issues such as theFalkland Islands sovereignty dispute, thepaper mill dispute withUruguay and the accession ofVenezuela toMercosur, among many other matters of Argentine foreign policy. He was confirmed as Foreign Minister by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on her inaugural on 10 December 2007.[8] During his time as foreign minister, a parallel embassy was established in Venezuela under the leadership of Claudio Uberti, who developed businesses with money that later financed the Kirchners' political campaigns. The affair became public knowledge when Antonini Wilson entered the country with suitcases containing $800,000.
He resigned his post on 18 June 2010, citing "lack of support and differences" with the President.[9] He remained generally supportive of her administration, however, and in September was nominated to head theFront for Victoryparty list for theBuenos Aires City Legislature.[10]
In the2017 legislative election, Fernández de Kirchner announced her candidacy to theArgentine Senate inBuenos Aires Province as part ofUnidad Ciudadana, and Taiana was announced as the second candidate in the list.[11] The Fernández de Kirchner–Taiana ticket came second in the general election, with 37.31% of the vote. In the electoral system for the upper house, this meant that only Fernández de Kirchner was elected as the senator for the minority.[12] Following the2019 general election, however, in which Fernández de Kirchner was electedvice president alongsideAlberto Fernández, her seat in the Senate was left vacant, and Taiana was sworn into office in her stead on 27 November 2019.[13]
On 9 August 2021,Cabinet ChiefSantiago Cafiero confirmed Taiana would be the nextMinister of Defense of Argentina, in replacement ofAgustín Rossi, who resigned to focus on his campaign to theSenate in the2021 legislative election. Taiana was one of two ministerial replacements ahead of the 2021 election, alongsideJuan Zabaleta, who replacedDaniel Arroyo as Minister of Social Development.[14] His vacancy in the Senate was filled byJuliana Di Tullio.[15]
In August 2025, Taiana was confirmed as a Unión por la Patria in Buenos Aires Province candidate for the Chamber of Deputies. He led the list that came together from an agreement among ex president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and current Buenos Aires province governor Axel Kicillof.[3] In the October elections he came second to the government's candidate,Diego Santilli and the peronist coalition got only one seat representing the Buenos Aires province.[16]
Peru: Grand Cross of theOrder of the Sun of Peru (24 October 2003)[17]
Brazil: Grand Cross of theOrder of Rio Branco (26 November 2003)[18]
Spain: Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Isabella the Catholic (6 February 2009)[19][20]
Chile: Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit (9 February 2009)[21]
Armenia:Mkhitar Gosh Medal (31 March 2015)[22]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 2005–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Defense 2021–2023 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
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