Juan Pablo Cafiero

Who is Juan Pablo Cafiero?

Juan Pablo Cafiero is an Argentine politician and the Argentine Ambassador to the Vatican since 2008. He has served as a National Deputy and government minister, and is the son of Peronist grandee Antonio Cafiero.

In his youth, Cafiero was an activist in the Peronist Youth and headed the Justicialist Party of San Isidro. In 1989 he was elected as a National Deputy for the Party, but the following year he was one of the 'Group of 8', progressive Peronists opposed to the neo-liberal policies of President Carlos Menem. The Group split from the Justicialist Party to create the Frente Grande and subsequently FrePaSo which formed part of the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education which took Fernando de la Rúa to the Presidency.

Cafiero had returned to Congress in 1997, representing FrePaSo. He was first Vice President of the Chamber. In 2001, he agreed to join the troubled government of De la Rúa as Minister for Social Development. When the Presidency collapsed, Cafiero was kept in his position by President Eduardo Duhalde.

In 2003, he was part of the movement which brought Néstor Kirchner to the Presidency, kirchnerism being much closer to Cafiero's progressive Peronism. He was appointed Minister of Justice and Security in the Buenos Aires Province under Governor Felipe Solá.