At 65, Miguel Lifschitz died

05/09/2021 21:16

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 05/09/2021 21:16

The former governor of Santa Fe Miguel Lifschitz died this Sunday in Rosario, at the age of 65, after contracting coronavirus and suffering a pulmonary compromise that worsened in recent days.

Born in the Cradle of the Flag, the leader of the Progressive Front had been in intensive care since Wednesday, April 21 and had previously spent two days in a general care room at the Sanatorio Parque.

The first part of the isolation at his home had been spent with the provincial deputy Clara García, his current partner.

Socialism suffered on June 26 of last year the loss of Hermes Binner, another of its historical leaders, who died at the age of 77 due to acute pneumonia.   

Lifschitz began working in public management in the late 1980s and his political career progressed alongside the growth of the coalition they shared with the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) and other parties in the province.

In 2003, he succeeded Binner as mayor after accompanying him in different positions in the Municipality and four years later he obtained a

resounding victory

when he ran for reelection.

That result with 57% of the votes was key to propel the Rafael in the provincial elections and make him the first socialist governor, dethroning Peronism after 24 years.

Raised in the Martin neighborhood, east of downtown and near the Paraná river waterfront, the man from Rosario studied high school at the Higher Polytechnic Institute and later graduated as

a civil engineer

.

By then he was already a member of the National Reform Movement (MNR) and at the beginning of the last decade he began to gain ground as one of the leaders of the party of the rose at the provincial level.

In 2011, the then mayor wanted to compete for the governorship to once again follow in Binner's footsteps, but the candidacy was ultimately in the hands of Antonio Bonfatti.

In that instance, he accepted to compete for the departmental senatorial office, which he obtained with ease, and to anoint the national deputy Mónica Fein to be his successor at the head of the Municipality in the bastion of socialism.

The engineer had a revenge in 2015 to finally reach the Gray House, although it was not easy at all.

The competition with Peronism was joined by Cambiemos and the comedian Miguel Torres del Sel was less than 2,000 votes away from achieving a historic triumph.

A little more relegated in the distribution of the votes by thirds was Omar Perotti, the current head of the Executive Power in Santa Fe.

When it came to drawing his profile in comparison with Binner and Bonfatti, Lifschitz stood out for having

greater dialogue with the justicialism

and other sectors within the framework of his administration.

In 2019 he tried to launch himself into the national arena and underpinned the presidential candidacy of Roberto Lavagna.

At the beginning of the campaign, he was emerging as a possible running mate for the economist in Federal Consensus, but finally he was relegated in the bidding.

Instead, the list he led in the provincial elections won by a wide margin and thus became the incumbent of the lower house, where the new opposition has a majority.

This year, Lifschitz had made public his interest in trying once again to make the leap from the province.

After acknowledging that he did not rule out the idea of ​​being a candidate for national senator, he set about building agreements that would guarantee the leadership of his sector within the PS against those who proposed to lean towards macrismo or the ruling party in a scenario of polarization.

On Sunday April 18, Fein won as a candidate for national president of socialism and thus obtained the first objective.

The former governor could only

celebrate by video call

, by then he had been isolated with coronavirus for a week and the next day he was admitted after submitting him to a series of medical studies.

Rosary beads.

Correspondent.

AFG