{{Short description|Argentine politician}} {{Other uses|Saadi (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Vicente Saadi | honorific_suffix = | image = Vicente Saadi.jpg | image_size = | caption = | office = [[Governor of Catamarca Province|Governor of Catamarca]] | term = June 4, 1949 – June 3, 1952<br />December 10, 1987 – July 10, 1988 | office2 = [[Argentine Senate|National Senator]] | term2 = 1946 – 1949<br />1973 – 1976<br />1983 – 1987 | constituency2 = [[Catamarca Province|Catamarca]] | birth_date = {{birth date|1913|7|19}} | birth_place = [[Belén, Catamarca]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1988|7|10|1913|7|19}} | spouse = Alicia Cubas de Saadi | party = [[Justicialist Party]] }} '''Vicente Leonidas Saadi''' (19 July 1913<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?q=Vicente+Saadi+19+de+julio+de+1913&client=ms-android-samsung&prmd=niv&sxsrf=AJOqlzWHMHR1kxLD6t9-zKhkTIo88a062g:1675875894497&source=lnms&tbm=bks&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQ5IObtIb9AhW5gf0HHTZRABgQ_AUoBHoECAEQBA&biw=412&bih=652&dpr=2.63#ip=1 Google search page]</ref> – 10 July 1988) was an Argentine [[Justicialist Party]] politician. He was a [[Argentine Senate|senator]] and governor for [[Catamarca Province]], and became the patriarch of a family that has dominated Catamarca politics since the 1940s.
Born in [[Belén, Catamarca|Belén]], his family were prosperous [[Syria]]n immigrants who became prominent in local [[commerce]]. He allied himself with the centrist [[Radical Civic Union]] (UCR) early on, though after the rise of populist leader [[Juan Perón]] in 1945, he switched allegiances for the latter.<ref name=cat>[http://www.eldiariodecatamarca.com.ar/07-10-06/catamarca/politica/Recordar%E1n%20la%20figura%20de%20Vicente%20Saadi.htm They remember Vicente Saadi]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[El Diario de Catamarca]]'', 10 July 2006 {{in lang|es}}</ref> Saadi was elected Senator in 1946, serving until 1949 when he was elected on the [[Peronist]] ticket as Governor of Catamarca. The party's leader, President Perón, ordered Saadi removed from his post after four months, however, amid allegations of "[[nepotism]] and despotism" in his administration of the remote province. Saadi was subsequently expelled from the party, and served time in prison.<ref name=pais>[http://www.elpais.com/articulo/agenda/ARGENTINA/Vicente/Saadi/caudillo/Catamarca/elpepigen/19880712elpepiage_1/Tes ''El País'': Vicente Saadi, caudillo de Catamarca {{in lang|es}}]</ref>
He was married to Alicia Cubas de Saadi, and a number of their children went on to become leading Catamarca Province figures, as well. [[Ramón Saadi]] was elected governor of Catamarca in 1987, [[Alicia Saadi]] was elected to the Senate in 1999, and [[Vicente Saadi (younger)|Vicente Saadi]] (jr) and his daughter-in-law.<ref name=cat/>
He was ultimately re-elected to the Senate in 1973 on behalf of the Peronist-led [[Justicialist Party|Frejuli]] alliance, serving until the dissolution of the [[Argentine Senate]] in the [[March 1976 coup]]. In the 1970s Saadi had been a leading supporter of the far-left [[Montoneros]], and set up the ''Intransigencia y Movilización'' faction; he was a patron of future Defense Minister [[Nilda Garré]].<ref name=cat/>
[[1983 Argentine general election|Re-elected in 1983]] at the return of democracy, Saadi led the Justicialists in the Senate, where the party obtained a majority of 21 seats to 18 for the UCR. Saadi abandoned his earlier support for left-wing Peronists, and endorsed [[Herminio Iglesias]] as candidate in the race for [[Governor of Buenos Aires]] (the nation's largest province). Iglesias, a right-wing Peronist, lost the race, and despite the miscalculation, Saadi was elected vice-president of the party.<ref name=pais/> In that capacity, he worked closely with the leader of the UCR, President-elect [[Raul Alfonsín]], during the transition to democracy.<ref name=cat/>
Saadi later took part in a famous television debate with [[Dante Caputo]] on November 14, 1984, arguing against the [[Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina]]. In 1987 he swapped jobs with his son, Ramón, becoming governor once again whilst his son became a Senator. He remained powerful in the party, and that year, decided that the Justicialist Party would not pay the $8 million ransom demanded for the return of the [[Hands of Perón|hands of Juan Perón]], which had been stolen in June or July of that year. Vicente died in office.<ref name=cat/>
Saadi was a leading figure in the politics of his province and the left wing of his party, serving as vice-president of the [[Peronist]]s and considered a ''[[caudillo]]'' for his manner of control. He was one of the first prominent [[Syrian]]-Argentines and his name is recorded in streets, squares and other institutions around the country.<ref name=cat/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saadi, Vicente}} [[Category:1913 births]] [[Category:1988 deaths]] [[Category:People from Catamarca Province]] [[Category:Argentine people of Syrian descent]] [[Category:Argentine people of Lebanese descent]] [[Category:Members of the Argentine Senate for Catamarca]] [[Category:Governors of Catamarca Province]] [[Category:Justicialist Party politicians]]