Oscar Castillo

{{Short description|Argentine politician (born 1954)}} {{BLP sources|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Oscar Castillo.png | office = [[Argentine Senate|National Senator]] | term_start = 10 December 2003 | term_end = | constituency = [[Catamarca Province|Catamarca]] | office1 = [[Governor of Catamarca Province|Governor of Catamarca]] | term_start1 = 10 December 1999 | term_end1 = 10 December 2003 | vice_governor1 = Hernán Colombo | predecessor1 = [[Arnaldo Castillo]] | successor1 = [[Eduardo Brizuela del Moral]] | office2 = [[Argentine Chamber of Deputies|National Deputy]] | term_start2 = 10 December 1989 | term_end2 = 10 December 1997 | constituency2 = [[Catamarca Province|Catamarca]] | office3 = [[Legislature of Catamarca|Provincial Deputy of Catamarca]] | term_start3 = 10 December 1985 | term_end3 = 10 December 1989 | party = [[Radical Civic Union]] | birth_name = Oscar Anibal Castillo | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|01|18|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca]], [[Argentina]] }}

'''Oscar Aníbal Castillo''' (born 18 January 1954) is an [[Argentina|Argentine]] [[Radical Civic Union]] (UCR) politician, currently a [[Argentine Senate|Senator]] for the [[Civic and Social Front of Catamarca]] and a former governor of that province. He is the son of the late [[Arnoldo Castillo]], a leading figure in the Catamarca UCR.

==Biography== Castillo was born in [[San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca]]. He studied at the [[Universidad Nacional del Litoral]] becoming a lawyer. He was active in student politics, serving as secretary of his faculty's [[Students' union|student union]] and representing his university at the [[Argentine University Federation|Buenos Aires University Federation]] in 1980. He married the former Silvia Brocal, an accountant, and had two children.

Castillo has held high office in the UCR. He was President of the UCR youth wing in [[Catamarca Province]] (1981–83), and represented his province on the UCR national committee, in 1990-96 and 2001–04, and was vice-president and treasurer of the party.

Castillo served as a provincial deputy (legislator) in Catamarca (1985–89), and was UCR-MPC caucus leader. He was elected to the [[Argentine Chamber of Deputies]] in 1989 and reelected, serving until 1997. Castillo ran for and was elected governor of Catamarca in 1999, serving until 2003. His tenure was marked by debates regarding the [[separation of church and state]]. Castillo, who had taken his oath as a legislator without mentioning [[God]] in two previous occasions, imposed mandatory [[religious education]] of a [[Roman Catholic]] nature in Catamarca schools; protest from the province's sizable [[Argentine Jew|Jewish]] community and others led to the policy's rescission in 2001, however.<ref>[http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2001/04/25/s-05001.htm ''Clarín'' {{in lang|es}}] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174247/http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2001/04/25/s-05001.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}</ref> Catamarca voters returned him to the Senate upon completion of his term as governor. His reelection campaign, however, was followed by a challenge of the results amid accusations of [[electoral fraud|vote buying]] and collusion with Governor [[Eduardo Brizuela del Moral]] to that effect; his personal estate, which includes at least a dozen properties in the province, has also come under scrutiny.<ref>[http://www.catamarcactual.com.ar/notas_actual.php?id_nota=49713 ''Catamarca Actual'' {{in lang|es}}]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://castillo.senado.gov.ar/ Senate profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218191937/http://castillo.senado.gov.ar/ |date=2008-02-18 }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Oscar}} [[Category:1954 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People from Catamarca Province]] [[Category:Argentine people of Spanish descent]] [[Category:National University of the Littoral alumni]] [[Category:20th-century Argentine lawyers]] [[Category:Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Catamarca]] [[Category:Members of the Argentine Senate for Catamarca]] [[Category:Governors of Catamarca Province]] [[Category:Radical Civic Union politicians]]