Patricia Bullrich (born June 11, 1956) is an Argentine politician. She leads the Unión por Todos (UPT), which is part of the Civic Coalition, and serves as Federal Minister of Security.
Patricia Bullrich bio
Born in Buenos Aires, Bullrich graduated from the University of Palermo. In her youth, she was involved with the Peronist Youth, closely linked to the Montoneros, the terrorist arm of Peronism. She held the rank of second lieutenant in the late-stage organization, closely connected to Rodolfo Galimberti and Roberto Perdía, high-ranking leaders of Montoneros, and used the nom de guerre La Piba. After the return of democracy, she became Secretary of Organization of the Buenos Aires Justicialist Party and was elected a Peronist deputy in 1993. In 1995, she was named Legislator of the Year.
Patricia Bullrich: post-Peronism
Disillusioned with the Peronist cause, Bullrich left Congress in 1997 and founded UPT, originally as a platform to study and campaign on crime and security issues. She worked for the state government in the province of Buenos Aires on security matters, developing a community policing project in Hurlingham that became nationally and internationally recognized.
In 1999, UPT became part of the Alliance for Work, Justice and Education, which brought Fernando de la Rúa to the presidency. Bullrich was appointed to a position in the Department of Criminal Policy and Penitentiary Affairs. In 2001, she was appointed cabinet minister, first as Secretary of Labor, Employment, and Human Resources, and later that year as Secretary of Social Security. During the 2001 economic crisis, she led the plan to substantially reduce state employee salaries and public pension levels.
Following the collapse of De la Rúa’s Alliance government, Bullrich and her colleagues officially launched UPT as a political party on March 6, 2002. The following year, the party took part in elections for the City of Buenos Aires, with Bullrich running for Chief of Government under the Unión para Recrear Buenos Aires alliance, in collaboration with Ricardo López Murphy’s Recrear movement. They finished fourth with nearly 10% of the vote.