Wikipedia

Andrés Ojeda

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ojeda and the second or maternal family name is Spitz.

Andrés Ojeda Spitz (born 5 January 1984) is a Uruguayan lawyer, television personality and politician of the Colorado Party.[1] He was the party's candidate for the 2024 general election in which he finished in third place.[2]

Andrés Ojeda
Ojeda in 2024
Senator of the Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 February 2025
Member of the Montevideo Legislature
In office
8 July 2010 – 9 July, 2015
Personal details
Born
Andrés Ojeda Spitz

(1984-01-05) 5 January 1984 (age 40)
Montevideo, Uruguay
Political partyColorado
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2017; div. 2023)​
EducationUniversity of the Republic
University of Montevideo
Austral University
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • politician
  • television personality

Ojeda was born in Montevideo and obtained a law degree from the University of the Republic. He specialized in criminal law, and gained wide public recognition as a criminal defense attorney and television pundit. He began his political career in 2010 and focused on Montevideo politics, as a member of the department's legislature from 2010 to 2015, and as a candidate for substitute departamental Intendant in 2020.[3]

Early life and education

edit

Ojeda was born in Montevideo, the son of Luis Enrique Ojeda and Patricia Spitz.[4] He is of Irish and German descent; his paternal great-great-grandfather was an Irish national who came to Uruguay to work on the railroad, while his maternal grandfather was a German lawyer.[5]

He attended La Mennais School in the Punta Gorda neighborhood. In his childhood he was part of the Scout Movement.[5] In 2002 he enrolled at the University of the Republic from which he graduated as a lawyer in 2011.[6] He subsequently obtained a postgraduate degree in Economic Criminal Law from the University of Montevideo and in 2018 a diploma in oral criminal litigation from the American University Washington College of Law.[7] In 2022 he completed a master's degree in criminal law from the Austral University in Buenos Aires.[8]

edit

While still at university, Ojeda began working as an assistant at a law firm in Montevideo, and upon graduating worked as a junior attorney.[9] He later worked in the legal area of an insurance company.[9] In 2015 he was the defense attorney of the prominent former tupamaro guerrilla fighter and deserter Héctor Amodio Pérez, which increased his public exposure.[10] Due to his growing popularity in the media, he was offered to venture into television as a legal columnist on Telenoche, Channel 4's prime-time news program.[11] Months later he joined the morning show Buen día Uruguay to present a weekly column on criminal law in which he analyzed real-life cases.[12]

In 2016, Ojeda joined the cable channel VTV's newscast, also as a television pundit.[12] Since then has been a legal columnist in El País newspaper and appeared on several television programs, which contributed to his increased notoriety.[13] He also serves as an attorney for the police union,[14] and runs his own law firm, Andres Ojeda Abogados, which has been rated "excellent" in the white-collar crime dispute resolution category by Paris-based consulting firm Leaders League.[6]

Political career

edit

While in college, Ojeda joined Foro Universitario, a student union with Batllist ideology.[15] In 2002, after attending an event that had former president Julio María Sanguinetti as the main speaker, he decided to join the Colorado Party.[16] In the 2009 presidential primaries he campaigned for the pre-candidacy of Luis Antonio Hierro López, and then for Pedro Bordaberry, who was the party's candidate in the general election.[17]

In the 2010 municipal election he was elected member of the Montevideo legislature for the period 2010–2015.[18] He later joined Ciudadanos, a faction led by Ernesto Talvi, and was his advisor on public security in the 2019 presidential campaign.[19][20] In the 2020 municipal election he was Laura Raffo's first substitute for the position of Intendant of Montevideo as representative of the Colorado Party in the Coalición Multicolor.[21] Raffo was the individual candidate with the most votes, but she was not elected due to the double simultaneous voting system.[22]

2024 presidential campaign

edit
 
Ojeda's billboard in Montevideo, reading "The new president"

Since 2021, Ojeda began to be considered as a possible candidate in the 2024 Colorado Party presidential primaries, as a figure of generational change for the party.[23][24] He finally announced his pre-candidacy on November 11, 2023.[25] In mid-November, he was polling at about 4% in national Colorado primary opinion polls, according to Equipo Consultores.[26]

He focused his campaign on issues such as mental health and the environment, and advocated for a renewal of the Uruguayan political scene.[27][28] He received the endorsement of the Open Cabildo parliamentarian Elsa Capillera and Gustavo Zubía, who on April 17, 2024 withdrew his candidacy.[29] In June, former soccer player and 1995 Copa América champion with the national football team Fernando Álvez announced that he would support Ojeda's candidacy and would be a candidate for the Chamber of Representatives.[30] Ojeda had disagreements with his party partner and also candidate Guzmán Acosta y Lara, who accused him of being "anti-colorado" and part of an "extra-party invasion".[31]

On June 30, 2024, Ojeda won the Colorado primary with 39.5% of the vote.[32] The following day, he announced Robert Silva, who came in second with 22,4%, as his running mate and vice presidential candidate.[33] This was Silva's second vice presidential bid, having been Ernesto Talvi's running mate in the 2019 general election.[34] On August 17, Ojeda and Silva were officially nominated at the Colorado Party Convention.[35]

On August 29, he presented the manifesto of his candidacy.[36] During the campaign, he pointed to mental health and animal welfare as two major issues of his political platform.[37] Regarding the constitutional referendums to be voted on in the general election, Ojeda has positioned himself in favor of the one that reforms the Constitution to allow nighttime raids by security forces, and against the one referring to social security and proposed by the PIT-CNT.[38][39]

In the general election, Ojeda finished in third place after obtaining 16.03% of the votes.[40] Compared to the 2019 election, the Colorado Party increased its parliamentary representation, gaining one more senator and four more representatives.[41] Ojeda himself was elected to the Senate for the first time.[42] After the results were announced, he expressed his support for Álvaro Delgado Ceretta for the second round, as a member of the Republican Coalition.[43]

Personal life

edit

Ojeda married model, actress and television personality Natalie Yoffe in October 2017 after two years of relationship.[44] Prominent personalities from politics and the entertainment scene were invited to the ceremony.[45][46] In April 2023, the couple divorced, after separating permanently the previous year.[47]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Partido Colorado se prepara para anunciar a Robert Silva como vice de Andrés Ojeda: por qué no lo definió hoy". El Observador (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  2. ^ "Pese a que Ojeda centró su campaña en Montevideo, es de los lugares en los que le fue peor". Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  3. ^ "Andrés Ojeda, el abogado que fue edil y ahora es candidato a presidente por el Partido Colorado | La Mañana" (in Spanish). 2024-07-03. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  4. ^ "La vida de Andrés Ojeda, los valores Scout y ser de los más colorados en las difíciles". El Espectador 810 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  5. ^ a b Colorado, Partido (2021-09-25). "La vida de Andrés Ojeda, los valores Scout y ser de "los más colorados" en las difíciles". Partido Colorado (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2021-11-24. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  6. ^ a b Redacción. "Andrés Ojeda Abogados: el estudio de abogados Sub 40 que fue reconocido internacionalmente por tercer año consecutivo". El Observador. Archived from the original on 2022-11-25. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  7. ^ https://twitter.com/andresojedaok/status/956617990203723776
  8. ^ "Andrés Ojeda se graduó y dio un discurso motivacional". EL PAIS. 2022-03-11. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  9. ^ a b "Andrés Ojeda: "No hay ninguno más colorado de convicción que nosotros, que nunca vimos una vaca gorda y nacimos a la intemperie". la diaria (in Spanish). 25 June 2024. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  10. ^ "Andrés Ojeda, el nuevo abogado mediático". EL PAIS. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  11. ^ "Andrés Ojeda y la soledad del candidato: "Tengo muchas ganas de volver a enamorarme"". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2024-06-22. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  12. ^ a b "Ojeda, el abogado que se convirtió en mediático por Amodio y ahora pide consejos a Lacalle". Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  13. ^ "Abogados con fama propia". 2022-12-03. Archived from the original on 2022-12-03. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  14. ^ Redacción. "Andrés Ojeda dijo que ya no se debería juzgar a militares por delitos de la dictadura". El Observador. Archived from the original on 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  15. ^ "Quién es Andrés Ojeda: pequeña biografía del precandidato del Partido Colorado en las elecciones internas 2024". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2024-06-14. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  16. ^ "Andrés Ojeda: "Mi principal referente de la política nacional es Luis Lacalle Pou"". la diaria (in Spanish). 2022-07-23. Archived from the original on 2022-07-23. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  17. ^ "Los blancos "no le ganan solos al FA"". EL PAIS. 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  18. ^ Soravilla, Santiago. "Andrés Ojeda, el abogado mediático que busca ser referente de seguridad de Sanguinetti". El Observador. Archived from the original on 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  19. ^ ""No sé si el sector Ciudadanos va a seguir existiendo con ese nombre", señala Andrés Ojeda". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2023-05-28. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  20. ^ "La llamada de Talvi que ayudó a Ojeda a definir su precandidatura en el Partido Colorado". El Observador (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  21. ^ "Andrés Ojeda será el primer suplente de Laura Raffo: 'los tiempos políticos van cambiando y las maneras de ir a las elecciones también'". Teledoce.com (in Spanish). 2020-02-05. Archived from the original on 2020-04-06. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  22. ^ "Elecciones departamentales: ¿Cómo votaron coalición y el FA frente a noviembre y a 2015?". EL PAIS. 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  23. ^ "Peña descartó malestar con Talvi y opinó sobre cuatro futuros líderes de los colorados". EL PAIS. 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  24. ^ "Andrés Ojeda podría "sumarse a la grilla" de posibles candidatos en la interna colorada, según dos diputados de Ciudadanos". la diaria (in Spanish). 2022-05-17. Archived from the original on 2023-06-04. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  25. ^ Redacción. "Partido Colorado: Andrés Ojeda lanzó su precandidatura presidencial". El Observador. Archived from the original on 2023-11-23. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  26. ^ Comunicación (2023-11-13). "ORSI, DELGADO Y BORDABERRY LIDERAN LAS INTERNAS DE SUS RESPECTIVOS PARTIDOS, EN UN ESCENARIO DE INCERTIDUMBRE". EQUIPOS (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  27. ^ "Andrés Ojeda: "Precisamos gente joven que se anime a desafiar la estadística"". El Observador (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  28. ^ "Propuestas de Andrés Ojeda de cara a la Presidencia: Importante foco en seguridad y salud mental" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  29. ^ "Ojeda dijo que el apoyo de Zubía es "un quiebre" en la interna del Partido Colorado". Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  30. ^ "El exarquero campeón de América con Uruguay que apoya a Andrés Ojeda y será candidato a diputado por Maldonado". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2024-06-20. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  31. ^ "Acosta y Lara dijo que desde el PN "se opera para que Ojeda gane la interna colorada"". Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  32. ^ "Andrés Ojeda gana, asume el liderazgo del Partido Colorado y marca sus diferencias con Álvaro Delgado". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2024-07-01. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  33. ^ "Se definió la fórmula del Partido Colorado: Andrés Ojeda lleva de vice a Robert Silva". subrayado.com.uy (in Spanish). 2024-07-01. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  34. ^ "Ojeda anunció a Silva como candidato a vice y dijo que el PC tiene la "responsabilidad" de hacer ganar a la coalición". la diaria (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2024-07-03. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  35. ^ "Convención del Partido Colorado ratificó fórmula presidencial". Portal Medios Públicos (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  36. ^ "Ojeda presentó su 'contrato con Uruguay', el programa de gobierno del Partido Colorado: esto dice el documento completo". Teledoce.com (in Spanish). 2024-08-30. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  37. ^ "Ojeda definió los "dos grandes temas" de su campaña: "La salud mental y el bienestar animal"". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2024-09-09. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  38. ^ "Andrés Ojeda explicó su postura sobre los allanamientos nocturnos, en comparación con la que tenía en 2019". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2024-08-13. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  39. ^ "Ojeda destacó la 'valentía' de los frenteamplistas que manifestaron estar en contra del plebiscito sobre seguridad social". Teledoce.com (in Spanish). 2024-08-31. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  40. ^ "El día después de las elecciones nacionales: con el 99,92% de los circuitos escrutados, esto dicen los números oficiales de la Corte Electoral". Teledoce.com (in Spanish). 2024-10-28. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
  41. ^ "Ojeda hizo crecer al Partido Colorado, quedó lejos del balotaje pero reclamó el "cogobierno" de la coalición". El Observador (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-10-29.
  42. ^ "Lista de Bordaberry ganó la interna partidaria, pero no tendrá más peso en Senado colorado". Montevideo Portal (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-10-29.
  43. ^ "Andrés Ojeda dijo que los socios del Gobierno unirán fuerzas una vez que se conozcan los resultados en Uruguay". infobae (in European Spanish). 2024-10-27. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
  44. ^ "Natalie Yoffe & Andrés Ojeda: Recién casados". EL PAIS. 2017-10-28. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  45. ^ "Natalie Yoffe y Andrés Ojeda: la boda del año". EL PAIS. 2017-02-04. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  46. ^ "La emotiva entrada de Natalie Yoffe a su boda con Andrés Ojeda". EL PAIS. 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  47. ^ "Separados: Natalie Yoffe y Andrés Ojeda ponen fin a su relación después de cinco años de casados". EL PAIS (in Spanish). 2023-04-28. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrés_Ojeda&oldid=1261846954"