La Rioja is located on the foot of the Velasco Sierras, 543 meters above sea level, 1,167 km from Buenos Aires, and 430 km from Córdoba. The Capitán Vicente Almonacid Airport (IATA IRJ) at coordinates 29°23′21″S, 66°48′09″W is 7 kilometres away from La Rioja, and serves regular flights to Buenos Aires and Catamarca.
The weather is dry and semi-desertic with average temperatures of 5°C to 20°C in winter and 21°C to 35°C in summer, but with maximum temperatures of more that 40°C. The sun is also very strong, and landscape arid.
The economy of the entire province is historically tied to the cattle and agriculture, as well as wine production. But the beginning of the 1970s brought to the city an industrialisation thrust that makes La Rioja today an important centre in Argentina's pharmacological industry (e.g. Bagó laboratories).
Former president Isabel Martínez de Perón was born in La Rioja.
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