Gustavo Melella

Gustavo Adrián Melella
Governor of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and Southern Atlantic Islands
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 December 2019
Vice Governor	Mónica Urquiza
Preceded by	Juan Carlos Arcando
Mayor of Río Grande
In office 14 December 2011 – 17 December 2019
Preceded by	Jorge Martín
Succeeded by	Martín Pérez
Personal details
Born	Gustavo Adrián Melella (1970-12-02) 2 December 1970 (age 54) San Justo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Political party	FORJA Concertation Party (2010–present)

Gustavo Adrián Melella (born 2 December 1970) is an Argentine politician who has been the governor of Tierra del Fuego Province since December 2019. He was previously mayor of Río Grande from 2011 to 2019. He is the first openly gay governor of an Argentine province.^[1]

He belongs to the FORJA Concertation Party.^[2]

Early life

Melella was born in San Justo, Buenos Aires Province, in 1970 and attended a Salesian school in Almagro. When he was 26 years old, he moved to Río Grande in Tierra del Fuego Province, becoming a philosophy lecturer at a Salesian School. In 2002, he was made rector.^[3]

Political career

From 2004 to 2005, Melella worked as the director of local development in the Río Grande municipal government and from 2005 to 2011, he was secretary of production. In 2011, he was elected mayor of the city of Río Grande and was re-elected in 2015.^[4]

Melella was elected governor of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and Southern Atlantic Islands on 16 June 2019, defeating the incumbent Rosana Bertone in the first round.^[5] His "Let's All Live Better" coalition included his own FORJA party as well as the regionalist Fueguian People's Movement (MOPOF), to which vice-gubernatorial candidate Mónica Urquiza belongs. Melella and Urquiza were both sworn in on 17 December 2019.

In the 14 May 2023 provincial elections, Melella was re-elected to a second term with 51.26% of the votes.^[6]

Personal life

Melella is openly gay. In a radio interview on 18 June 2019, he revealed he has been in a same-sex relationship for 16 years.^[7]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Gustavo Melella

Election	Office	List		Votes			Result	Ref.
				Total	%	P.
2011	Mayor of Río Grande		Radical Civic Union	13,248	33.62%	1st	Elected	[8]
2015			Front for Victory	26,253	53.28%	1st	Elected	[9]
2019	Governor of Tierra del Fuego		Fuegian Concertation	50,329	55.03%	1st	Elected	[10]
2023			United, We Make Future	52,438	65.37%	1st	Elected	[11]

References

1. "Gustavo Melella será el primer gobernador abiertamente gay de Argentina" [Gustavo Melella will be the first openly gay governor of Argentina]. El Diario 24 (in Spanish). 18 June 2019. Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
2. Arias, Mariela (17 June 2019). "Tierra del Fuego: Melella se impuso a Bertone en primera vuelta" [Tierra del Fuego: Melella beats Bertone in the first round]. La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 November 2020.
3. Pizzi, Nicolás (14 October 2018). "Un ex seminarista que saltó de la UCR al kirchnerismo y aspira a la gobernación" [A former seminarian who jumped from the UCR to Kirchnerism and aspires to the governorship]. Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 July 2019.
4. "El intendente Gustavo Melella se impuso con el 53 por ciento de los votos y logró su reelección" [Mayor Gustavo Melella prevailed with 53 percent of the votes and achieved his re-election]. El Sureño (in Spanish). 22 June 2015.
5. "June 16th-23rd: What We Learned This Week". Buenos Aires Times. 23 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
6. "Melella fue reelecto en primera vuelta y el voto en blanco salió segundo". Letra P (in Spanish). 14 May 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
7. "Gustavo Melella: "Soy gay y usaron mi condición para denunciarme por abuso"" [Gustavo Melella: "I am gay and they used my condition to denounce me for abuse"]. Perfil (in Spanish). 18 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
8. "Tierra del Fuego 2011". fiscaldemesa.com.ar (in Spanish). Juzgado Electoral de la Provincia de Tierra del Fuego. Archived from the original on 6 September 2011.
9. "Tierra del Fuego 2015". latdf.com.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2024.
10. "Escrutinio 100% de Mesas Escrutadas". justierradelfuego.gov.ar (in Spanish). Juzgado Electoral de la Provincia de Tierra del Fuego. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
11. "Elecciones Provinciales y Municipales 2023". justierradelfuego.gov.ar (in Spanish). Juzgado Electoral de la Provincia de Tierra del Fuego. Retrieved 3 January 2024.

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)

Political offices
Preceded by Juan Carlos Arcando	Governor of Tierra del Fuego 2019–present	Incumbent