José Luis Gioja

Who is José Luis Gioja?

José Luis Gioja is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician, current governor of San Juan Province and former President of the Argentine Senate.

Gioja was born in Rawson, a suburb of San Juan, Argentina, in 1949. He was raised in nearby San José de Jáchal, and earned a teaching diploma at the local normal school. He enrolled at the National University of Cuyo, and in his senior year, was elected President of the National University Student Association, graduating with a degree in agronomy in 1973.

He married the former Rosa Palacio, with whom he had four children. Governor Eloy Camus named Gioja his private secretary upon taking office in 1973, and the latter also served as San Juan chapter President of Juventud Peronista. In 1976, whilst working for the provincial government, Gioja was detained in a forced disappearance by the military authorities following the March 1976 coup. He was imprisoned for nine months, and has claimed that he was tortured by Major Jorge Olivera.

In 1991, Gioja was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies for San Juan for the Popular Justicialist Front.