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Anibal Ibarra
Anibal Ibarra is an Argentine lawyer and politician from Lomas de Zamora, a district located in the southern region of Gran Buenos Aires. He worked as a prosecutor in the Judiciary, but resigned this job to participate in politics with a center-left party that was in formation: the Front for a Country in Solidarity (FrePaSo).
Ibarra became first a councilman. In 2000 he was elected mayor of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires in the first round, beating Domingo Cavallo, former Economy Minister of the country. In 2003, he was re-elected mayor, winning the second round of the run-off election against the center-right businessman Mauricio Macri. He was supported by newly elected President Nestor Kirchner.
On December 30, 2004, the Republica Cromagnon nightclub fire killed 194 people and raised a wave of accusations against political officials of the city. Ibarra was accused of tolerating or ignoring a lack of safety checks, of conducting the rescue operations improperly, and other charges. On November 14, 2005 an impeachment jury formed by a commission of the Buenos Aires Legislature suspended him for four months. He accused the opposition of manipulating the families of Republica Cromagnon's victims in order to ruin his career, and upon being notified of the suspension, he announced did not resign but await for the investigation to be concluded. In the meantime, the Executive Branch of Buenos Aires was presided over by vice-mayor Jorge Telerman.
On March 7, 2006, the impeachment jury commission ruled the dismissal of Ibarra as mayor of Buenos Aires. Of the 15 members of the commission, 10 voted for Ibarra's dismissal, 4 against, and one abstained. The accusers had additionally asked for a 10-year ban from public office duties, but the members of the commission only asked for 6 years at most, and finally did not decide on any sort of ban.
In the City elections of June 2, 2007, Ibarra's list for the City Legislature gained second place and he and four other members of his coalition - the Popular Progressive Front - were elected for the term starting December 10, 2007, in support of President Kirchner's unsuccessful mayoral candidate, Daniel Filmus.
Ibarra's sister, Vilma Ibarra, is a national deputy and former senator.
References
Bloomberg, 7 March 2006. Buenos Aires Mayor Ibarra Removed on Deadly Night Club Fire.
La Nacion, 7 March 2006. Destituyeron a Ibarra.
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