Argentine businessman Carlos Pedro Blaquier, owner of one of the largest sugar mills in the country, died yesterday at the age of 95.
Blaquier, whose nephew, Andrés Blaquier, was assassinated during an assault on the Pan-American highway in 2022, was for 43 years – from 1970 to 2013 – at the head of the Ledesma group, one of the largest agro-industrial conglomerates in Argentina, which he joined after getting married with Nelly Arrieta in 1952.
The Ledesma group has 100 years of history and, located in Jujuy (north of the country), it produces sugar and has businesses in paper, alcohol and bioethanol, citrus fruits and juices, beef, soybeans, corn and wheat.
Blaquier was born on August 28, 1927, the son of María Esther Estrugamou Guillón and Carlos Félix Miguel Blaquier Álzaga.
At the age of 25, he married Nelly Arrieta, whose parents, Herminio Arrieta and Paulette Wollman, decided that Blaquier would take over the family business, Ingenio Ledesma.
Blaquier was prosecuted for alleged crimes against humanity in the so-called “Jujuy Megacause”, whose cases, including the kidnapping, torture and disappearance of workers from the El Aguilar mine and the Ledesma sugar mill, have been the subject of trial since on June 21, 2018.
In the case of Blaquier, his civil liability as a manager was being investigated, but he did not participate in the last trial, held at the end of 2022, due to his advanced age and state of health.
In 2020, the Blaquier family ranked 24th among the largest fortunes in Argentina, with assets close to 490 million dollars, according to Forbes magazine.
Blaquier had five children: María Elena, Carlos Herminio –current president of the company–, Alejandro, Santiago and Ignacio Blaquier Arrieta, all members of the agro-industrial company’s board of directors.
In 2020, the Blaquier family ranked 24th among the richest in Argentina
