Mariano ARANA

Architect, Professor, Politician. Former Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment of Uruguay (2005-2008) and Former Mayor of Montevideo (1994-2005). Montevideo, Uruguay.

Son and grandson of Spanish immigrants, Arana attended the Lycée Français de Montevideo and is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of the Republic. He was also teacher and Director of the Institute of History of Architecture, among the many other activities during college. He was founder of the Banda Oriental Editions and was chairman of the Comisión de Patrimonio Histórico, Artístico y Cultural de la Nación between 1985 and 1989. He has written numerous books, ranging from architecture to politics. He is founder and leader of the Vertiente Artiguista (Artiguista Movement), in whose list he was elected senator in 1989, a position he held until 1994. Arana was chairman of the Plenario Departamental de Montevideo of the Frente Amplio and was a candidate for the Frente Amplio in the Municipality of Montevideo in 1984 and again in 1994, an occasion on which he was elected Mayor; subsequently he was re-elected in the municipal elections of May 2000. During his performance as mayor, he implemented the Strategic Plan Montevideo, a plan to renovate the facades of edifices and reorder urban areas of the city. When Tabaré Vázquez assumed the presidency in 2005, Arana was appointed Minister of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment and he served until March 1, 2008.