Arturo Lafalla is an Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 of the Justicialist Party

Justicialist Party

The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...

, in Mendoza Province

Mendoza Province

The Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...

.

Lafalla was born in San Rafael, Mendoza

San Rafael, Mendoza

San Rafael is a city in the southern region of the Mendoza Province, Argentina. With more than 170,000 inhabitants , it is the largest city and the seat of San Rafael Department....

, and educated at the Marist

Marist Brothers

The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...

 College of San José. He graduated from the National University of Cuyo

National University of Cuyo

The National University of Cuyo is the largest center of higher education in the province of Mendoza, Argentina....

, and taught at his alma mater for a number of years. He was chosen as the running mate for Justicialist Party

Justicialist Party

The Justicialist Party , or PJ, is a Peronist political party in Argentina, and the largest component of the Peronist movement.The party was led by Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, until his death on October 27, 2010. The current Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de...

 gubernatorial nominee José Octavio Bordón

José Octavio Bordón

José Octavio Bordón is an Argentine politician and diplomat.-Life and times:Born in Rosario in 1945, Bordón graduated in sociology from the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires in 1970. He was Professor of Political Sociology at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo from 1972 to 1976, and again from...

, as served as the latter's Vice Governor from 1987 to 1991.

Appointed Minister of the Environment

Minister of the environment

An environment minister is a cabinet position in charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation...

 by Governor Rodolfo Gabrielli, Lafalla was elected governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 of Mendoza in 1995. His tenure was marked by the privatization

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 of numerous state enterprises, including the Bank of Mendoza, the provincial pension fund

Pension fund

A pension fund is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.Pension funds are important shareholders of listed and private companies. They are especially important to the stock market where large institutional investors dominate. The largest 300 pension funds collectively hold...

, the water works (OSM), and the electricity distribution

Electricity distribution

File:Electricity grid simple- North America.svg|thumb|380px|right|Simplified diagram of AC electricity distribution from generation stations to consumers...

 company (Edemsa), among others. The proceeds financed the construction of Los Potrerillos Dam

Potrerillos, Mendoza

Potrerillos is an area of the Luján de Cuyo Department of the province of Mendoza, Argentina. It includes a number of small settlements along Provincial Routes 82 and 89, National Route 7, and the rivers Blanco and Mendoza...

, though a number of privatized concerns would suffer from subsequent mismanagement, notably the Bank of Mendoza.

Lafalla was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies

Argentine Chamber of Deputies

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....

 in 1999, and served until 2003. His protégé in the provincial government, Celso Jaque

Celso Jaque

Celso Alejandro Jaque is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician, current governor of Mendoza Province and a former senator.Born in Malargüe, Mendoza, Jaque graduated as an accountant at the National University of Cuyo...

, was elected gobernor in 2007, and in 2010, Lafalla published a reflection on his tenure as governor, Utopía y Realidad.