page_title: Palito Ortega
section_title: Politics and retirement
hierarchical_section_title: Palito Ortega / Biography / Politics and retirement
caption_attribution_description: English: Un recital lleno de clásicos con homenaje a Elvis incluído. Palito demostró estar en muy buena forma y que no se olvidó cómo hacer suspirar a sus fans
context_page_description: Ramón Bautista Ortega is an Argentinian singer and actor, better known as Palito Ortega. Ortega is an icon of Argentinian popular music, and is considered one of the main representatives of the musical style called New wave that marked the Hispanic-American music between the years '60 and '70. He reached international fame, particularly in Latin America and Spain, during the 1960s, when the rock en español style of rock and roll music was popularised among teenagers in the region.
context_section_description: Ortega retired from show business for a while after that, focusing on his career as a businessman and eyeing a career as a con politician instead.  Two of his children (son Emanuel and daughter Julieta) followed in their father's footsteps as entertainers, and, with Emanuel moving to Mexico, Ortega decided to return to Argentina.  He was elected Governor of Tucumán Province in 1991, narrowly defeating former military Governor Antonio Domingo Bussi. One of his brothers, Juan, supported Bussi, though another brother, Luis, was elected Mayor of General Sarmiento (a suburb of Buenos Aires).
  Ortega governed as a close ally of President Carlos Menem. Aligned with Menem's free market policies, he privatized the Bank of Tucumán and the Provincial Water Authority, moves which cost him approval. The Vice-Governor, Julio Díaz, broke with Ortega, and in 1993 accused the governor of ordering politically motivated investigations of students and labor union officials; Ortega declined to run for re-election in 1995, and was instead elected to the Argentine Senate. The Justicialist Party nominated him for the Vice-Presidency in 1999, but his party lost the general elections that year.
  Ortega left politics, and in 2002, began to tour as a singer again.
caption: Ortega performing at a musical revival in 2009
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