Jorge Zorreguieta
Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta Stefanini was an Argentine politician who served as Secretary of Agriculture in the regime of General Jorge Rafael Videla. Zorreguieta was the father of Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
Early life
Jorge Zorreguieta was born in 1928 in Buenos Aires, the son of Cesina María Stefanini Borella and Juan Antonio Zorreguieta Bonorino. He is of Spanish-Basque and Italian ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Amadeo Zorreguieta Hernández, was mayor of the city of Mendoza. He became secretary of the Sociedad Rural Argentina, a conservative interest group of landowners and ranchers. He was also president of the association Juan de Garay, a cultural institution of the Basque community.Secretary of Agriculture
After the 1976 Argentine coup d'état of General Videla, Zorreguieta became Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. From March 1979 until March 1981 he was Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock. He was preceded by Mario Cadenas Madariaga, and succeeded by Jorge Aguado as Minister of Agriculture and Livestock.The INTA, a research institute associated with Zorreguieta's ministry was put under the control of the Argentine Navy after the Videla-Coup. Employees from this institute disappeared during Zorreguieta's tenure.
Advisor and director
In 1981, Zorreguieta stepped down as minister. He became president of the Centro Argentino Azucarero, an advisory body for sugar producers in Argentina. In April 1982 Argentina went to war with the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands. Argentina was defeated, and the military government, now headed by Leopoldo Galtieri, collapsed. People who had been ministers under the military government were prosecuted for violations of human rights; Zorreguieta, who had left political office before the end, was not affected.He also became chairman of the supervisory organization for food Coordinadora de la Industria de Productos Alimenticios.
Personal life
Marriages and children
Zorreguieta married Marta López Gil in 1956. They later divorced. They had three daughters: María, Dolores, and.He married again, to María del Carmen Cerruti Carricart, daughter of Dr. Jorge Horacio Cerruti de Sautu and María del Carmen Carricart Cieza, on 27 May 1970 in Paraguay. They had four children, including Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, married in 2002 to King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, and Inés Zorreguieta Cerruti, who died by suicide.