Graciela Ocaña

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Graciela Ocaña
Minister of Health
In office
10 December 2007 – 29 June 2009
PresidentCristina Fernández de Kirchner
Preceded byGinés González García
Succeeded byJuan Luis Manzur
Personal details
Born (1960-09-16) September 16, 1960 (age 63)
FREPASO (Before 2001)
ARI (2001–2003)
Front for Victory (2004–2009)
Union for Social Development (2011–2013)
Public Trust (since 2013)
Alma materUniversidad Argentina John F. Kennedy

Graciela Ocaña (born September 16, 1960) is an Argentine politician.

She has a degree in political science. In 2007 she was Minister of Health of Argentina in the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and was a national deputy for four terms.

In 2017, Ocaña joined

Province of Buenos Aires.[1] In 2021, she is a pre-candidate seeking her re-election.[2]

Life and times

Ocaña was born and raised in the western

immigrants from Spain. Ocaña received her primary education at the Santa Rosa de Lima School, an institution maintained by Dominican nuns. She was transferred to the San Justo Secondary School system and enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires in 1978, where she graduated with a degree in political science
in 1983.

Ocaña became affiliated with the Justicialist Party and found work in the private sector, managing a number of import-export businesses in the San Justo area.

Ocaña became disaffected from the Justicialist Party following President

Alliance ticket that brought Álvarez to the office of Vice President in 1999
.

Ocaña earned renown for her work in the

christian democratic
party.

Enjoying Carrió's esteem, she was invited to run on the ARI ticket for Governor of Buenos Aires Province, but declined, opting to stand for reelection as Congresswoman. Prominent in the

abortion rights and birth control (which she opposed), she maintained a low profile while earning plaudits for her active intervention in a number of large public hospitals, notably the Hospital Francés. Increasingly distanced from ARI leader Elisa Carrió, Ocaña formally resigned her seat in Congress in 2006.[3]

Hoping to win a fraction of ARI voters over following their defeat in the

Cristina Kirchner offered Ocaña the post of Health and Environment Minister, which the popular PAMI director accepted, taking office on December 10. Ocaña's decision to demand reimbursement for around US$60 million in PAMI services rendered to health plans administered by the CGT and other labor unions intensified CGT Secretary General Hugo Moyano's opposition to her tenure, helping result in her June 23, 2009, decision to resign her post.[4] Her departure from the Health Ministry was not announced until after the mid-term elections on June 28, and Tucumán Province surgeon and Vice Governor Juan Luis Manzur was tapped to succeed her on July 1.[5]

In 2014, Ocaña founded the anti-corruption political party Public Trust [es] (Spanish: Confianza Pública). The party, which is currently a member of the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio (English: Together for Change), supported former president Mauricio Macri in the 2015 and 2019 elections.

References

  1. ^ "Graciela Ocaña se sumará a Cambiemos como candidata a diputada bonaerense".
  2. ^ "Diego Santilli lanzó su candidatura con un discurso centrado en la seguridad y la educación". 22 July 2021.
  3. ^ La Nación: Elijieron a Ocaña para dirigir el PAMI (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Clarín: Fría despedida de Cristina (in Spanish)
  5. ^ Clarín: Un médico sanitarista tucumano reemplazará a Ocaña en Salud (in Spanish)

External links

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