Miguel Saiz

Miguel Saiz
Governor of Río Negro Province
In office December 10, 2003 – December 9, 2011
Lieutenant	Mario De Rege Bautista Mendioroz
Preceded by	Pablo Verani
Succeeded by	Carlos Soria
Personal details
Born	(1949-05-17)May 17, 1949 Montevideo, Uruguay
Died	October 22, 2019(2019-10-22) (aged 70) Buenos Aires
Nationality	Argentine
Political party	Radical Civic Union
Profession	lawyer

Miguel Ángel Saiz (May 17, 1949 – October 22, 2019) was an Uruguay-born Argentine politician latterly of the Radical Civic Union (UCR), who served as governor of Río Negro Province from 2003 until 2011.

Beginnings

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Saiz studied at the National University of Córdoba and became a lawyer. He became affiliated with the centrist UCR in 1983, and subsequently directed the National Register of Secured Credit, was Vice President of the Forensic Fund of Río Negro, and President of the SanCor co-operative's insurance division. He was elected Councilman in General Roca in 1989, and mayor of the city in 1991; he was re-elected in 1995 and served until 1999. He became a provincial deputy that year and was president of the Río Negro branch of the UCR-led Alliance (in power nationally between 1999 and 2001 under President Fernando de la Rúa).

Governorship of Río Negro

Saiz was elected governor of the province in 2003, defeating Carlos Soria. He became a leading supporter within UCR ranks of the left-wing Peronist President Néstor Kirchner, and helped form the "K Radicals" caucus (UCR supporters of Kirchner).

Saiz ran for re-election against Justicialist Party politician Miguel Ángel Pichetto in the 2007 gubernatorial race. President Kirchner considered backing Saiz at the expense of his own party, though ultimately opted to play no role in the provincial election. Saiz won re-election over Pichetto by around 5% with the support of various leftist parties, and his membership in the UCR was subsequently suspended by the party committee. Eventually in 2011, he withdrew supporting Cristina Kirchner.

During his tenure in office he banned the use, storage and trasport of mercury and cyanide in Río Negro, allowed fracking, incentivized science and the development and technology through INVAP,, eliminated many slums by building new affordable housing,, and invested on the 'Tren Patagónico' rail line.

External links

• Río Negro Province (in Spanish)