Ignacio Garriga
MP
Garriga in July 2019
Secretary-General of Vox
Assumed office
6 October 2022
PresidentSantiago Abascal
Preceded byJavier Ortega Smith
Member of the Parliament of Catalonia
Assumed office
12 March 2021
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office
21 May 2019 – 11 March 2021
Personal details
Born
Ignacio Garriga Vaz de Conceição

(1987-02-04) 4 February 1987
Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain
Political partyVox (2014–present)
Other political
affiliations		People's Party (2005–2010)
Children4
Alma materInternational University of Catalonia

Ignacio Garriga Vaz de Conceição (born 4 February 1987) is a Spanish politician as well as a former dentist and professor. He is known in the Spanish media for being the first notable Afro-Spaniard elected politician within the Vox party.[1] In October 2022 he became Secretary General of Vox.[2]

Personal life

Garriga was born in Sant Cugat del Vallès to a Catalan father named Rafael of maternal Belgian descent and an Equatoguinean mother named Clotilde.[1] His mother is also of Portuguese descent through her father. Clotilde's parents, Mercedes and Pablo, owned a supermarket in Malabo, but after the death of Pablo, Mercedes sent Clotilde and her seven brothers to live in Barcelona.[3] His father, Rafael Garriga Kuijpers, comes from a political family where both his father and brother (Ignacio's grandfather and uncle) were both involved in nationalist organizations. Garriga's cousin is Juan Garriga Domenech who has also since become active in Vox.[4]

Garriga is one of five children and grew up speaking Catalan as his first language. He considers himself 100% Spanish.[3] Before becoming a politician Garriga worked as a dentist.[5] He is married and has one daughter and three sons.[6] He has worked as a professor at the Faculty of Dentistry of the International University of Catalonia.[7]

Political career

Garriga was previously a member of the People's Party, but left in 2010 after disagreements on the party's stance on gay marriage, abortion, Spanish unity, and immigration.[7]

Garriga joined Vox in 2014. Due to being the only black politician in the party he is sometimes described as the "Black Catalan of Vox" although Garriga rejects this label, arguing that he is Spanish, and that the name is racist.[1][6] He supports mandatory deportation of illegal immigrants.[6] Garriga has stated that Vox is Christian humanist,[6] and the most accepting political party in Spain.[1] Garriga identifies as Catalan but is strongly opposed to the Catalan independence movement.[4]

Garriga was elected to the 13th Congress of Deputies in the April 2019 Spanish general election.[8] He was re-elected to the 14th Congress of Deputies in the November 2019 Spanish general election.[9][10] In 2020, he resigned his seat in the Congress after becoming a representative in the Catalan Parliament and was replaced by Carlos Segura.

He is the leader of Vox in Barcelona.[5] In October 2022 he was promoted to secretary general of Vox.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gonzalez, David (15 December 2018). "Así es Ignacio Garriga Vaz de Concicao, el polémico "Negro de Vox"" (in Spanish). El Cierre Digital. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  2. ↑ "Abascal es desempallega d'Ortega Smith i promociona Ignacio Garriga". VilaWeb (in Catalan). Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 Ballesteros, Roberto (24 August 2018). "Negro, catalán y directivo de VOX: "Hay una caridad mal entendida en inmigración"" (in Spanish). El Confidencial. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  4. 1 2 Cantarero, Joan (6 November 2019). "Els orígens d'Ignacio Garriga, el diputat català de Vox" (in Catalan). El Critic. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Ignacio Garriga, el dentista de origen guineano que lidera la lista de Vox por Barcelona" (in Spanish). 20minutos. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 López Frías, David (8 December 2018). "Ignacio, "harto" de ser el negro catalán de Vox: "Soy español. Eso es racismo"" (in Spanish). El Español. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  7. 1 2 C. Lorca (17 March 2019). "¿Quién es Ignacio Garriga, el "número uno" de Vox por Barcelona para asaltar el 28A?" (in Spanish). La Razón. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  8. ↑ Bosch, Conrad (12 December 2018). "Abascal i la seva "tropa"". directa.cat (in Catalan).
  9. ↑ Mas, Cristina (10 November 2019). "Qui són els dos diputats de Vox per Catalunya?". ara.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  10. ↑ "Vox, únic partit amb representació santcugatenca al Congrés". totsantcugat.cat (in Catalan). 11 November 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  11. ↑ "Abascal es desempallega d'Ortega Smith i promociona Ignacio Garriga". VilaWeb (in Catalan). Retrieved 8 October 2022.
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