Gabriel Urralburu
4th President of the Government of Navarre
In office
15 May 1984 – 3 September 1991
Preceded byJuan Manuel Arza
Succeeded byJuan Cruz Alli
Secretary-General of the PSN-PSOE
In office
15 June 1982 – 20 June 1994
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byJavier Otano
Personal details
Born
Gabriel Urralburu Tainta

(1950-11-06) 6 November 1950
Ezcároz, Navarre, Spain
Political partySocialist Party of Navarre

Gabriel Urralburu Tainta (born 6 November 1950) is a Spanish politician who was President of Navarre between 1984 and 1991.[1][2]

Early life and education

Born in 1950 in the town of Ezkároz in the province of Navarre, he earned a baccalaureate in La Estella. Later he moved to Pamplona, where he studied philosophy, letters, and theology at the Higher Center for Theological Studies in Pamplona. He received a degree in Theological and Moral Sciences.

Career

In 1973, with the encouragement of politicians Enrique Múgica and G. Peces-Barba, he took part in the formation of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). A year later, he took part in the founding of the Socialist Federation of Navarre. In 1975 he was elected Secretary of Political Relations of the Socialist Association of the Province of Navarre and a member of the Federal Committee of the PSOE.

In 1976 he was ordained a priest of the Order of Missionaries of the Divine Word. In the same year he participated in the writing of the manifesto of the Democratic Convergence (Coordinacion Democratica, or Platajunta), which coordinated the opposition to the dictatorial regime after the death of Francisco Franco. One of his first public act was to represent Navarre at the Assembly of Basque Parliamentarians held in Gernika on June 16, 1977.

He was elected to the Congress of Deputies in 1977 and re-elected in 1979. Also in 1979, he was elected a parliamentary representative for the city of Pamplona, a post to which he was re-elected in 1983, 1987, and 1991, and served as spokesman for the Socialist Parliamentary Group and as secretary of the Basque Parliamentary Council. During his second term in the Congress of Deputies he was on the Agriculture, Economy, and Finance commissions.

He left the Congress of Deputies in 1982 to join the Navarre Parliament. Also in 1982, he sat on the commission that re-negotiated the Pact of Reintegration and Improvement of the Regional Regime with the Spanish government. In the same year, he was elected Secretary General of the Socialist Party of Navarre (PSN).

In 1984, he was named President of Navarre because he was the head of the party with the largest number of seats in the regional parliament, and took office on May 5 of that year. He was re-elected to the Navarre Parliament in 1985 and was re-appointed President of Navarre in 1987. During his second term, he opposed the incorporation of Navarre into the Basque Autonomous Community. He served as president until 1991, when the Navarrese People's Union (UPN), under Juan Cruz Alli, came to power.

In 1994, he left the position of Secretary General of the PSN when he was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for awarding public works contracts. After leaving politics, he lived in Pamplona and began studying law online.[3] On September 7, 1998, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and his wife was sentenced to three years for involvement in his crimes. On appeal, his sentence was reduced to four years, and he began serving it in 2001.[4][5][6][7][8]

As of 2013, he was practicing law in Madrid. It was reported in May 2017 that his name appeared on a list of 316 people in Navarre who owed over 250,000 euros to the government. In his case, the amount owed was 491,770 euros.[9][10]

Personal life

His wife is Olivia Balda.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Gabriel Urralburu, candidato socialista, será propuesto el martes al Rey como presidente del Gobierno de Navarra". El País (in Spanish). 15 April 1984. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  2. ↑ "El cuarto presidente condenado de la democracia". El País (in Spanish). 20 March 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  3. ↑ Olivia Balda visita a su marido en la cárcel; El Pais;
  4. ↑ Biografías de Gabriel Urralburu y Antonio Aragón; El Mundo;
  5. ↑ Gabriel Urralburu Tainta; Biografias y Vidas;
  6. ↑ Urralburu Tainta, Gabriel; Aunamendi Eusko-Ikaskuntza;
  7. ↑ Gabriel Urralburu, candidato socialista, será propuesto el martes al Rey como presidente del Gobierno de Navarra; El Pais;
  8. ↑ Urralburu ingresa en prisión tras confirmar el Supremo la pena de cuatro años por cohecho; El Mundo;
  9. ↑ La buena vida de nuestros corruptos; El Correo;
  10. ↑ El expresidente Gabriel Urralburu, en la lista de morosos de Navarra; El Diario;
  11. ↑ Urralburu ingresa en prisión tras confirmar el Supremo la pena de cuatro años por cohecho; El Mundo;
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