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History of Mexico
This article is part of a series
Pre-Columbian Mexico
Spanish conquest
Colonial period
War of Independence
First Empire
First Republic
War with Texas
Pastry War
Mexican–American War
Second Federal Republic
The Reform
Reform War
French intervention
Second Empire
Restored Republic
The Porfiriato
Revolution
La decena trágica
Plan of Guadalupe
Tampico Affair
Occupation of Veracruz
Cristero War
The Maximato
Petroleum nationalization
Mexican miracle
Students of 1968
La Década Perdida
1982 economic crisis
Zapatista Insurgency
1994 economic crisis
Downfall of the PRI
Mexican Drug War
Mexico Portal v t e

La Reforma (English: The Reform) was a period halfway through the 19th century in the history of Mexico that was characterized by liberal reforms and the transformation of Mexico into a nation state. The major goals in this movement were: Land reform—redistribution of land, separation of church and state, and increased educational opportunities for the poor, the majority of the country's population.

History[link]

Notable liberal politicians in the reform period include Benito Juárez, Juan Álvarez, Ignacio Comonfort, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Melchor Ocampo, José María Iglesias and Santos Degollado.

The Reforma is usually considered to have begun with the overthrowing and removal of Antonio López de Santa Anna in the Revolution of Ayutla in 1855. There is less consensus about the ending point of the Reforma. Common dates are 1861, after the liberal victory in the Reform War, 1867, after the republican victory of the French intervention in Mexico and 1876 after the Rebellion of Tuxtepec in which Porfirio Díaz overthrew president Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada.

Reforms[link]

The most noteworthy reforms of the Reforma were:

1. the Ley Lerdo, abolishing clerical and communal properties.
2. the Ley Juárez, abolishing separate military and religious courts
3. the Mexican Constitution of 1857, guaranteeing many civil and political liberties including freedom of religion
4. the 'Reform Laws' in which the liberal government of Veracruz during the civil war against the conservatives proclaimed complete separation of church and state.

Paseo de la Reforma[link]

Mexico City's main avenue is the Paseo de la Reforma which received its current name after the Reforma.

It was originally known as the Paseo de la Emperatriz after Empress Carlota, the consort of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico who created the avenue for her.

See also[link]

• Reform War – 1857–1861
• French intervention in Mexico – 1861–1867

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Agustín Rossi
National Deputy for Santa Fe Province
Incumbent
Assumed office December 10, 2005
Personal details
Born	(1959-10-18) 18 October 1959 (age 52) Vera, Santa Fe,  Argentina
Political party	Front for Victory
Profession	Civil engineer

Agustín Oscar Rossi (born October 18, 1959), also known by his nickname El Chivo Rossi, is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician from the province of Santa Fe. Since 2005 he has been a National Deputy in the Argentine Congress and is leader of the majority Front for Victory block in the Chamber of Deputies.

Rossi was born in Vera, a small city in the north of Santa Fe Province, where he spent his early youth. He moved to Rosario when he was 17 years old, and graduated as a civil engineer at the National University of Rosario. ^[1]

Rossi was a member of the Peronist University Youth in the 1970s, and joined the Justicialist Party in the 1980s. He was a member of the legislative body of Rosario (the Deliberative Council) at that time, but turned to his private practice in the 1990s. He returned to politics in 2001, and presided the Deliberative Council of Rosario until 2005.

In the 2005 legislative elections he ran for a seat in the lower house of Congress for the Front for Victory, the largest faction of the Justicialist Party, formed by supporters of President Néstor Kirchner. His campaign capitalized on, and was centered on gaining support for, the successful policies implemented by Kirchner on the national level; Rossi presented himself as "Kirchner's candidate". ^[2]

Rossi's candidate list came second (with 33% of votes) after the one headed by Hermes Binner (43%), which was considered a relative defeat, since Rossi was not well known in the province. He then became the head of the Front for Victory block in the lower house of Congress.^{[3] [4]} Since then, he has taken on the task of imposing party discipline and rally for legislative support of Kirchner's policies. He has stated that "the block [belonging to the ruling party] has the fundamental role of being the legislative arm of the government... I cannot conceive a [government party] block that has doubts or criticism for the government's projects... Society tells us: 'I choose you to strengthen the course of action initiated by the President." ^[5]

Rossi was one of the pre-candidates for the governorship of Santa Fe for the 2007 elections. Rossi's rival within the party was Rosario-born National Deputy and former Foreign Relations Minister Rafael Bielsa. The Mayor of Rafaela, Omar Perotti, campaigned for some time as well, but finally gave up and turned to support Bielsa. Although some in the party, including Bielsa, would have rather negotiated on a consensus candidacy, Rossi insisted on conducting a primary election. Rossi also stated that he wanted Bielsa's sister María Eugenia (then vice-governor of Santa Fe) to be on his list, though he finally chose Jorge Fernández, former Minister of Education during the governorship of Víctor Reviglio. ^{[6] [7] [8]} Bielsa was eventually chosen as the party's candidate in primary elections on July 1, 2007, but subsequently lost the election to Socialist Hermes Binner.

Rossi continued in his role as Deputy and was elected as head of the Front for Victory caucus, which has a majority in the Chamber, in 2007.

In what many believe to be a "dictatorial attitude" of Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the government unilaterally revoked the license of an ISP, called Fibertel which has been previously legally dissolved as a company, owned by Grupo Clarín (a group that is not aligned with the government). Argentine congress quickly reacted to this by presenting a bill to revert the president's decision, and Mr. Rossi alleged that those who tried to modify the president's decision are acting as "lawyers" for Grupo Clarin.^[9]

References[link]

Diana Beatriz Conti (born March 29, 1956 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine lawyer and politician. She is a member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and a former national senator.

Early years[link]

Conti was born to Horacio Conti, a travelling salesman, and Martha Bascuas, a housewife who later qualified as a teacher. Bascuas was 17 when she gave birth to Diana, and the young Conti spent her early years at her grandparents' house. She was known in high school for her high grades. On December 16, 1980, she obtained her law degree from the University of Buenos Aires. Having graduated as a lawyer, she continued studying, while working at the same time. From 1981 to 198], she worked at her own law firm, and in 1982, she joined the social assistance team for prisoners in Ravignaggi-Garriga, and the judicial assistance department of the center for legal and social studies in Argentina. Politically, meanwhile, she was active for many years in the Revolutionary Communist Party. In 1983, she became chairman of a company named Corsetti S.A., a job from which she stepped down in 1985.

Years in the Justice[link]

She was also a member of the contradictory cases legal assistance team from 1982 to 1985, and a public helper of problem youth from 1984 to 1985. On September 10, 1985, Conti formed part of an advisory council on human rights in Argentina.

1985 was a very productive year for Conti, who graduated with a degree in psychology that year. She tried to become secretary of first and second instance criminal forums in 1985 and in June 1989, losing narrowly both times in voting. In 1986, she became national secretary of first instance, on the correctional and criminal jury for first instance. Conti held that job until January 31, 1989. She had become a founding member of the citizen's correctional justice participation system organization's commission, and from February 1, 1989, she was secretary of the national appeals chamber, a job which she held until April 1, 1991.

Conti became the justice minister's cabinet helper in 1991. She held various administrative positions in Buenos Aires until 1994, when she left for Santa Fe, where she worked as Eugenio Raul Zaffaroni's legal helper for one month. She got a job on March 16 of that year as the University of Buenos Aires' penal rights and criminology department's secretary, so traveling between Buenos Aires and Santa Fe daily became a burden to Conti, who decided to quit her job in Santa Fe after only one month working there.

Politician[link]

Conti became Argentina's human rights subsecretary on December 12, 1997, and she left her job at Buenos Aires University to concentrate on her new job. On December 26, 2001, she stepped down from that position, aiming to become a subsecretary for institutional reform and national strengthening of democracy in Argentina, a job that she obtained on January 23, 2002.

Conti had to step down from her new position however on July 2, when she was appointed as a national senator representing Buenos Aires Province for the FrePaSo party to complete the term of Raúl Alfonsín, having been number two on his list at the 2001 election. She was a senator from July 3, 2002 until December 10, 2005. As senator, she was known for championing human rights causes. Although a member of FrePaSo, she was already seen as close to the Peronists, who she had served as a minister. Eventually she joined President Néstor Kirchner's Front for Victory bloc in her time in the Senate. In December 2005, she was elected a deputy for Buenos Aires Province for the Front for Victory.is also known for several corruption acts as a member of the government.

On February 4, 2010, while she was defending Cristina Kirchner presidency a journalist—Jose Eliaschev—told her that the argument she was using remember the ones used by Russian dictator Josef Stalin, and she said "yes, I have no problem to be a stalinist", and the journalist insisted "you are a supporter of one of the biggest murderers of 20th century, 20 million of people murdered? I am an stalinist, signed Diana Conti, can I record that?" the journalist said, and Diana Conti anwsered "Yes, I have no problem to be stalinist, maybe it is your problem, not mine".^[1]

Corruption scandal: "You can keep the change"[link]

While she was a senator, she was accused by former Congress employee Bruno Bimbi of forcing him to give up a large part of his salary to her under the threat of losing his position. The case was initially dismissed by Judge José Codino at the end of August 2005, but the court of appeal reopened it some time later. The investigation is still in process and according to Bimbi, a lot of employees that appeared as Conti's staff in the official records during the investigation were completely unknown to him and to other real employees under Diana Conti's direction (in fact, one of these employees is Conti's son).^[2][3] These "fake employees" are a common practice among corrupt politicians in Argentina (see Ñoqui), and according to many, also the practice of forcing employees to give part of their salary in order for the senator to take either more employees or more money. One of the most ironic details of the case, according to Bimbi's words, is that the first time she forced him to give her the money he had just taken from the bank, given his stunned face she said: "You can keep the change".

Recent years[link]

During April 2006, Conti returned to the public light when she began a campaign in favour of laws for harsher punishment to those found guilty of sexual harassment at work, regardless of sexual gender. A divorced woman, Conti has participated in several seminars and law clinics in Argentina.

In August 2009, the corruption accusations mentioned above transcended on the news since former Press Advisor Bruno Bimbi started to tell his story to Critica de la Argentina. The charges are being handled by the judge Canicoba Corral, part of the "Juzgado Nacional en lo Criminal de Instrucción N° 29".^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• senado.gov.ar Senate profile
• Interview, Diario Judicial, 2006-05-22
• Profile, La Nación, 2007-05-06
• [1], Parlamentario.com, 2009-08-02