Cecilia Nahón presented her credentials as Argentina’s Ambassador to the United States on February 19, 2013. It’s Nahón’s first ambassadorial post.
Mary Cecilia Nahón was born May 17, 1974. She received bachelor’s degrees in social sciences and economics from the University of Buenos Aires. While there, she was friends with Axel Kicillof, now the economy minister of Argentina. Later, both were leading members of La Cámpora, a youth movement strongly supportive of former Argentinian President Néstor Kirchner, and after his 2010 death, his widow and now President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Nahón attended the London School of Economics, earning an M.S. in Development Studies in 2000. She later earned a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the Latin American School of Social Sciences. Her thesis was on “External financing and economic development in Latin America: the cases of Argentina and Mexico in the nineties.”
Nahón’s first professional position, in 2008, was as manager of strategy and investment environment for Argentina’s national investment and development agency.
In January 2011, Nahón was named assistant secretary for Investment Development in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship. She moved on to Argentina’s secretary of International Economic Relations in December 2011. She held that post until her posting in Washington.
Nahón’s appointment was seen by many Argentinean observers as more evidence that the La Cámpora movement, which grew out of Perónist values and espouses policies of social justice and state intervention, is gaining ground, as some of the old guard are being pushed out in favor of younger La Cámpora members.
Nahón is married with two children, Gabriel and Julia. Her husband, Sergio García Gómez, is a vice president at Aerolinas Argentinas, a government-controlled airline now run by another La Cámpora appointee.
-Steve Straehley
To Learn More:
Ms Nahón Confirmed as Argentine Ambassador in the US; Takes Office in February (Merco Press)
