Topic: Fernando de la Rua

Fernando de la Rúa (born September 15, 1937) is an Argentine politician. He was president of the country from December 10, 1999 to December 21, 2001 for the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education (a political alliance of the Radical Civic Union and Frepaso).

Born to Eleonora Bruno and Antonio De la Rúa in the city of Córdoba, he attended the local Military Lyceum before entering the National University of Córdoba, from which he obtained his law degree. The son of a judge and longtime supporter of the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR), de la Rúa became involved in politics at a young age, and entered public service in 1963 as an advisor to President Arturo Illia's Internal Affairs Minister. He married the former Inés Pertiné, a Buenos Aires socialite, in 1970, and had three children, including Antonio de la Rúa, an entrepreneur who is engaged to pop superstar Shakira.

He first appeared in the national political arena in 1973, when he was elected to the Argentine Senate, representing the city of Buenos Aires. A few months later he ran for the Vice Presidency as veteran UCR politician Ricardo Balbín's running mate in snap elections called for September of that year, though the ticket was defeated by the recently returned populist leader, Juan Perón, in a landslide. His youth (running for Vice President at the age of 36) earned him the still-standing nickname of "chupete" ('pacifier' or 'dummy'), as he was perceived as a political neophyte.