Carlos Soria

Soria was born in Bahía Blanca in 1949, and was raised in a nearby rural town, General Daniel Cerri. His father, Ernesto Soria, was an outspoken Peronist, and was arrested shortly after the 1955 coup against President Juan Perón. Following his release several months later, the Sorias relocated to Bariloche. The elder Soria was again arrested amid a crackdown on Peronist protests during a state visit to Bariloche by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower in March 1959, and was imprisoned in Bahía Blanca. He was released in April 1962 and the family settled in General Roca, Río Negro, where they opened a neighborhood store. Carlos Soria enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires, earning a law degree in 1973. Elections that March returned Peronists to power, and Soria was elected to the local Justicialist Party (JP) chapter. He was later elected to the Provincial Council of the JP, and upon the return of democracy in 1983, won a seat in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. ==Tenure in Congress==

Soria would be elected to Congress for four consecutive terms, becoming Chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee. He also served in the Justice, Impeachments, and Money Laundering committees; chaired the joint committee investigating the 1992 Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires and the 1994 AMIA bombing (the two most significant acts of Islamic terrorism in Argentine history); and served in the Council of Magistracy of the Nation. Soria shared President Carlos Menem's opposition to trials opened in 1996 in Spanish courts against Dirty War perpetrators by Judge Baltasar Garzón, and personally led a delegation to protest these trials; when Judge Garzón turned the tables on the delegation by calling them to testify, they returned, however, creating an embarrassing diplomatic incident. He later presented a bill to restrict rights and toughen sentences for those accused of violent crime, as well as another which would have granted congressional immunity to all members in perpetuity; both bills were defeated. Soria promptly released hitherto sequestered police files relating to the case which confirmed that the robbery, as well as the deaths of all robbers and hostages alike, had been orchestrated by Provincial Police officers. Remaining on the electoral list for National Deputies, Soria took his seat in Congress in December representing the Province of Buenos Aires. He became among the leading congressional opponents of President Fernando de la Rúa's austerity package, scuttling a 2000 decree which would have cut public sector salaries (this ultimately took place the following year). President de la Rúa's resignation in December 2001, and the subsequent Congressional designation of Duhalde as provisional president resulted in Soria's appointment as Secretary of State Intelligence (SIDE) in January 2002. ==Tenure at State Intelligence==

Taking office, as President Duhalde did, amid widespread protest, Soria's tenure at SIDE would eventually be marred by a June 26 incident in which two piqueteros, Maximiliano Kosteki and Darío Santillán, were shot in the back in Avellaneda by Provincial Police officers. SIDE had produced intelligence reports stating that the overthrow of the national government had been openly advocated in piqueteros' assemblies, and that these were attended by the extremist group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Fallout from this incident was compounded by allegations made by Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner that SIDE personnel were spying on her husband, Santa Cruz Governor Néstor Kirchner, who had recently declared his intention to run for President the following year. though in elections held later in 2003, Soria narrowly won the election for mayor of the city of General Roca (the largest in the province). both men were cleared of all charges. ==Return to Río Negro==

Soria was overwhelmingly reelected as mayor of General Roca in 2007, garnering 73% of the vote. ==Death==

Soria died on January 1, 2012, during the new year celebrations with his family at his farm near General Roca. He was shot in the face with a .38 caliber weapon at around 5 am, and was moved immediately to a nearby hospital, where he died minutes later. The police did not determine initially whether the death was caused by an accident or foul play; his wife was held for further questioning. He received a private funeral. That November, Susana Freydoz was convicted of murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Vice-governor Alberto Weretilneck succeeded Soria as governor. Weretilneck considered calling new elections, despite provisions in the Constitution of Río Negro Province that would allow him to complete the remainder of Soria's term. He however chose not to call new elections and was reelected in 2015. ==See also==