Argentina: NEW PRESIDENT

usatoday.com reported… Argentina’s next president decided to pursue a career in politics under the most harrowing of circumstances: 24 years ago, he was kidnapped for nearly two weeks and released only after his family — among the nation’s wealthiest — paid the kidnappers a reported $2.5 million ransom.

Mauricio Macri entered politics about a decade later in a failed bid to become mayor of Buenos Aires. Two years later, he won a seat in Congress. In 2007, running again for the mayor’s office, he won a resounding victory with 61% of the vote.

The son of a wealthy, Italian-born industrialist — Macri’s father, Francesco “Franco” Macri, emigrated to Argentina from Italy after World War II — Macri had presidential aspirations during the country’s last election in 2011, but decided instead to run for re-election. He won with an even bigger margin, more than 64%. Read Article