Argentina Has Jewish President — for a Day
For the first time, Argentina will have a Jewish president, at least temporarily.
Beatriz Rojkés, the provisional president of the Argentinean Senate, will be in charge of the government for slightly more than a day beginning Wednesday, due to the travels of the Argentinean president and vice president.
On Wednesday, President Cristina Fernandez will fly to Angola on a business trip. Tuesday night, the vice president traveled to Switzerland to accept a prize for Argentina at the International Telecommunication Union.
The provisional president of the Senate is the number three position in the government, and second in the line of succession.
Rojkés was elected to the Senate to represent the northern Argentinean province of Tucuman in 2009. Two years later, she was designed by Fernandez as provisional president of the Senate. She became the first Jew and the first woman to hold the position.
Rojkes is married to Jose Alperovich, the current governor of Tucuman, a northern Argentinean province. He was the first Jewish man in Argentina to be elected a governor, and the first governor to be sworn in on a Jewish Bible.
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