This article is about the government of Rosario

Rosario

Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....

, the third most populated city in Argentina

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...

, and the largest in the province

Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 of Santa Fe

Santa Fe Province

The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...

. Rosario has about 910,000 inhabitants and is located on the western shore of the Paraná River

Paraná River

The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...

.
Rosario is ruled by two branches of government: the Executive, represented by a Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 (Intendente), and the Legislative, consisting of a Deliberative Council (Concejo Municipal). The status of the city and its form of government are dictated by Santa Fe's Provincial Organic Law of Municipalities (Ley Provincial Nº 2756/39 Orgánica de las Municipalidades), according to which Rosario is a first-category municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 (having more than 200,000 inhabitants).
The Mayor is elected by popular direct vote for a four-year term. He manages several Secretariats in charge of different fields: Government; Finance and Economy; Health; Public Works; Public Services and Environment; Planning; Social Promotion; Culture and Education; Production, Employment Promotion and Foreign Trade; General Secretariat; General Direction of Public Housing Service; General Direction of Social Communication; and the Human Rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 Secretariat, established in 2005 and the first of its kind at the municipal level in Argentina. The seat of the Executive branch (Municipalidad) is the Palacio de los Leones

Palacio de los Leones

Palacio de los Leones is the name of the main municipal building of the city of Rosario, Argentina. The Palace is the seat of the executive branch of the municipal government...

, located beside the Cathedral

Basilica Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary

The Cathedral Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary is a minor basilica and cathedral dedicated to the local Virgin of the Rosary, in the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is the motherchurch of the Archdiocese of Rosario....

, at the historical core of the city.

The Deliberative Council is in charge of local legislation, passing municipal regulations (ordenanzas). It renews half of its 21 members (Concejales) every two years. It gathers near the Municipality, in its seat at the Palacio Vassallo

Palacio Vassallo

Palacio Vasallo is the seat of the Legislative Branch of the municipal government of Rosario, . The building, designed by Alejo Infante and completed in 1911, is located near the National Flag Memorial, and has been the site of Rosario's Deliberative Council since May 18, 1951. It was donated to...

.

Mayors of Rosario

Since the return to democracy in 1983, the Mayors of Rosario were Horacio Usandizaga

Horacio Usandizaga

Horacio Daniel Usandizaga , also known informally as El Vasco, is an Argentine politician.Usandizaga studied to become a lawyer and entered political activity as a member of the Radical Civic Union in 1961. He was first a councillor and then Mayor of Rosario from 11 December 1983 to 10 December 1987...

 (1983–1987, reelected, resigned in 1989), Héctor Cavallero

Héctor Cavallero

Héctor Cavallero , nicknamed El Tigre, "The Tiger", is an Argentine politician, who was mayor of Rosario and a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies for the province of Santa Fe ....

 (elected to complete Usandizaga's term, 1989–1991, then reelected 1991–1995), Hermes Binner

Hermes Binner

Hermes Juan Binner is an Argentine medical doctor and a politician. He was elected Governor of Santa Fe in 2007. Binner is the first Socialist to become the governor of an Argentine province, and the first non-Justicialist to rule Santa Fe since 1983.Binner was previously a Deputy of the Civic and...

 (1995–1999, reelected, 1999–2003), and the current one, Miguel Lifschitz

Miguel Lifschitz

Roberto Miguel Lifschitz , is the current mayor of the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina.He obtained his degree at the Engineering Faculty of the National University of Rosario in 1979, and worked in the private sector until 1989, when he became Director-General of the Public Housing...

 (elected in 2003, reelected for the 2007–2011 term). Usandizaga was a member of the Radical Party

Radical Civic Union

The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...

 (Unión Cívica Radical in Spanish); he had promised to resign if Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...

 was elected President in the national 1989 elections, and he kept his promise. Since then, Rosario's mayors have been members of the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (Argentina)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Argentina. The history of socialism in Argentina began in the 1890s, when a group of people, notably Juan B. Justo, expressed the need for a greater social focus....

, though Cavallero turned to work for the Peronist 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...

 after his last term.

Urban organization

The city is divided into six large administrative districts

Districts of Rosario

The districts of the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina are administrative divisions created to decentralise the workings of the municipal government....

 (Center, North, Northwest, West, Southwest, and South), where Municipal District Centers provide services to the neighbours and organize cultural events.

In December 2003, the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 Development Programme

United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...

 (UNDP) bestowed Rosario (chosen among 257 candidate cities) an award for considering it a model of "successful local governance

Governance

Governance is the act of governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists of either a separate process or part of management or leadership processes...

 and development experience in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

", having achieved a sustained improvement of the citizens' quality of life

Quality of life

The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...

. Between 25 March and 1 April 2005, following a proposal from the UNDP, Rosario hosted a Fair on Governance (Experiencia Rosario).

Push for autonomy

Local people and institutions are pushing the provincial government for a law, or even a constitutional reform, that grants Rosario the status of Autonomous City, in a manner similar to Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

. This would allow the city to organize its government independently, to pass laws, to enact its own tax regulations, etc. The idea of municipal autonomy was expounded and elaborated on by Rosario-born politician Lisandro de la Torre

Lisandro de la Torre

Lisandro de la Torre was an Argentine politician, born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe.De la Torre became a lawyer in 1890. His thesis about municipalities and communes, as well as other works of his, gave rise to the idea of municipal autonomy in Argentina, which was included in the Argentine...

 in the first years of the 20th century, and incorporated into the Argentine Constitution

Constitution of Argentina

The constitution of Argentina is one of the primary sources of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a Constitutional Assembly gathered in Santa Fe, and the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution...

 as part of the 1994 reform

1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution

The 1994 amendment to the Constitution of Argentina was approved on 22 August by a Constitutional Assembly that met in the twin cities of Santa Fe and Paraná...

.

Rosario as seat of the National Congress

A number of politicians, law experts and prominent locals have also been pursuing the idea of moving the National Congress

Argentine National Congress

The Congress of the Argentine Nation is the legislative branch of the government of Argentina. Its composition is bicameral, constituted by a 72-seat Senate and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies....

 to Rosario, turning the city into a federal capital along with Buenos Aires, in order to geographically and politically decentralize

Décentralisation

Décentralisation is a french word for both a policy concept in French politics from 1968-1990, and a term employed to describe the results of observations of the evolution of spatial economic and institutional organization of France....

 the national government.
On 22 November 2005, during a regional development forum, the governors of the Center Region

Center Region (Argentina)

The Center Region of Argentina is the political and economical association of the provinces of Córdoba, Santa Fe and Entre Ríos...

 (provinces of Santa Fe, Entre Ríos

Entre Ríos Province

Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....

 and Córdoba), together with Mayor Miguel Lifschitz and the President of the Board of La Capital

La Capital

La Capital is a daily Spanish-language newspaper edited and published in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It was founded in 1867 , and it is the oldest Argentine newspaper still in circulation, which has gained it the title of Decano de la Prensa Argentina...

newspaper, officially presented the project, which was sent to be studied by the 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....

.
Justifications for the move include sparing legislators from the "urban neurosis" of Buenos Aires, the status of Rosario as the country's fastest-growing city and a productive pole, and historical reasons (President Justo José de Urquiza

Justo José de Urquiza

Justo José de Urquiza y García was an Argentine general and politician. He was president of the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860.He was governor of Entre Ríos during the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas, governor of Buenos Aires with powers delegated from the other provinces...

 intended Rosario to become the federal capital already in the 19th century).

The Municipal Urban Guard

Rosario pioneered the creation of a special force, the Municipal Urban Guard (Guardia Urbana Municipal, GUM) to patrol the city.

The GUM agents are not police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 officers (the police force is under control of the provincial government), so they do not carry weapons and they cannot detain or arrest people, but they can report and record traffic violations, shut down commercial establishments that violate the law, perform first aid

First aid

First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury. It is usually performed by non-expert, but trained personnel to a sick or injured person until definitive medical treatment can be accessed. Certain self-limiting illnesses or minor injuries may not require further medical care...

 procedures, set up roadside blood alcohol content

Blood alcohol content

Blood alcohol content , also called blood alcohol concentration, blood ethanol concentration, or blood alcohol level is most commonly used as a metric of alcohol intoxication for legal or medical purposes....

 controls, etc. The GUM patrols public areas such as squares, monuments, and the pedestrian streets in the center; its operations overlap and coordinate those of other municipal and provincial agencies, and are intended to have an extra dissuasive effect. The GUM was started on 29 June 2004 with 250 agents, and soon taken up by other cities: in Villa Constitución

Villa Constitución

Villa Constitución is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and the head town of the Constitución Department. It is located on the south-western banks of the Paraná River between the courses of the Arroyo Pavón and the Arroyo del Medio, about 214 km south from the provincial capital,...

 a project was presented by a private citizen in September; nearby Roldán

Roldán, Santa Fe

Roldán is a small city in the , located within the metropolitan area of Greater Rosario. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 11,470 inhabitants...

 adopted it in October, Buenos Aires in March 2005 (see Guardia Urbana de Buenos Aires

Guardia Urbana de Buenos Aires

The Guardia Urbana de Buenos Aires was a specialized civilian force of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, that used to deal with different urban conflicts with the objective of develop actions of prevention, dissuasion and mediation, promoting effective behaviors that guarantee the security and...

), and Rafaela

Rafaela

Rafaela is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, about 96 km from the provincial capital. It is the head town of the Castellanos Department. It has a population of 99,150 per the ....

is currently discussing it. The Police Cadet School of Rosario provided technical courses for aspiring agents residing in many towns and cities of Santa Fe.