{{Short description|Argentine politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Mario Alberto Ishii.jpg | name = Mario Alberto Ishii | office = Mayor of José C. Paz | term_start = 10 December 2015 | predecessor = Carlos Urquiaga | successor = | term_start1 = 10 December 1999 | term_end1 = 10 December 2013 | predecessor1 = Rubén Oscar Glaria | successor1 = Carlos Urquiaga | office2 = Provincial Senator of Buenos Aires | term_start2 = 10 December 2013 | term_end2 = 10 December 2015 | constituency2 = First Electoral Section | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|6|22|mf=y}} | birth_place = Buenos Aires, Argentina | death_place = | party = Justicialist Party | occupation = }} [[File:Scioli Ishii Cristina.jpg|thumb|Daniel Scioli, Mario Alberto Ishii (center) and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at the official ceremony (January 17, 2008).]] '''Mario Alberto Ishii''' (born 22 June 1951) is an Argentine politician of the Justicialist Party, currently serving as ''intendente'' (mayor) of José C. Paz, a ''partido'' in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. He is popularly known as ''El Japonés'' ("the Japanese") due to his Japanese heritage.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Savoia|first=Claudio|date=25 July 2020|title=Mario Ishii, un caudillo feudal del conurbano que juró lealtad K y controla la capital de la pobreza|work=Clarín|url=https://www.clarin.com/politica/mario-ishii-caudillo-feudal-conurbano-juro-lealtad-k-controla-capital-pobreza_0_SUnjixKZp.html}}</ref>
He was first elected mayor in 1999, and continued to be so until 2013, when he was elected to the as Buenos Aires Province Senate.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=25 July 2020|title=Eterno oficialista y con graves denuncias: quién es Mario Ishii, el intendente de José C. Paz|language=es-AR|trans-title=Eternal officialist and with serious complaints: who is Mario Ishii, the mayor of José C. Paz|work=Infobae|url=https://www.infobae.com/politica/2020/07/25/eterno-oficialista-y-con-graves-denuncias-quien-es-mario-ishii-el-intendente-de-jose-c-paz/}}</ref> In 2015, he was once again elected mayor.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Di Santi|first=Matías|date=26 October 2020|title=¿Cómo queda el mapa de los intendentes tras la salida de la mayoría de los barones del conurbano?|url=https://chequeado.com/el-explicador/como-queda-el-mapa-de-los-intendentes-tras-la-salida-de-la-mayoria-de-los-barones-del-conurbano/|website=Chequeado}}</ref>
In August 2020 a video was leaked, showing him accusing city workers of selling drugs in municipal ambulances and saying he had to cover for them, causing major national media attention and a legal case to be opened.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=26 July 2020|title=Mario Ishii y una polémica frase sobre ambulancias que venden droga|language=es-AR|trans-title=Mario Ishii and a polemic phrase on ambulances selling drugs|work=Página 12|url=https://www.pagina12.com.ar/280801-mario-ishii-y-una-polemica-frase-sobre-ambulancias-que-vende}}</ref> He then claimed that when he said "drugs" he had meant "medicines".<ref>{{Cite news|date=27 July 2020|title=Sigue el escándalo con Ishii: ahora dice que "la falopa" eran medicamentos|language=es-AR|work=El Cronista|url=https://www.cronista.com/economiapolitica/Sigue-el-escandalo-con-Ishii-ahora-dice-que-la-falopa-eran-medicamentos-20200727-0007.html}}</ref>
== References == <references />
==External links== *[https://ideasclarasradio.blogspot.com/2011/07/mario-el-japones-ishii-biografia.html]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishii, Mario Alberto}} Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Argentine politicians of Japanese descent Category:Mayors of José C. Paz, Buenos Aires Category:Members of the Buenos Aires Province Senate Category:People from José C. Paz Partido Category:21st-century Argentine politicians
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