Mario Alberto Ishii | |
---|---|
Mayor of José C. Paz | |
Assumed office 10 December 2015 | |
Preceded by | Carlos Urquiaga |
In office 10 December 1999 – 10 December 2013 | |
Preceded by | Rubén Oscar Glaria |
Succeeded by | Carlos Urquiaga |
Provincial Senator of Buenos Aires | |
In office 10 December 2013 – 10 December 2015 | |
Constituency | First Electoral Section |
Personal details | |
Born | Buenos Aires, Argentina | June 22, 1951
Political party | Justicialist Party |
Mario Alberto Ishii (born 22 June 1951) is an Argentine politician of the Justicialist Party, currently serving as intendente (mayor) of José C. Paz, a partido in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. He is popularly known as El Japonés ("the Japanese") due to his Japanese heritage.[1]
He was first elected mayor in 1999, and continued to be so until 2013, when he was elected to the as Buenos Aires Province Senate.[2] In 2015, he was once again elected mayor.[3]
In August 2020 a video was leaked, showing him accusing city workers of selling drugs in municipal ambulances and saying he had to cover for them, causing major national media attention and a legal case to be opened.[1][2][4] He then claimed that when he said "drugs" he had meant "medicines".[5]