Maria Isabel Pozueta Fernández (born 21 September 1965) is a

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

sexologist, activist, politician and a member of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Early life

Pozueta was born on 21 September 1965 in Altsasu,

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

. She has a degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

from the

University of Deusto The University of Deusto ( es, Universidad de Deusto; eu, Deustuko Unibertsitatea) is a Spanish private university owned by the Society of Jesus, with campuses in Bilbao and San Sebastián, and the Deusto Business School branch in Madrid. The Un ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

sexology Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...

from the

University of Alcalá The University of Alcalá ( es, Universidad de Alcalá) is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Madrid in Spain and also the third-largest city of the region. It was founded in 1293 as a ...

's Institute of Sexological Sciences.

Career

Pozueta is an expert in sexology and

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

. Between 1994 and 2006 she taught

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

at the Center for Women's Care in

Etxarri-Aranatz Etxarri-Aranatz ( es, Echarri-Aranaz) is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado ...

, teaching individuals and groups and training professionals. Later she taught at various education centres in

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

and Navarre. She has also worked for the municipal youth service in

Vitoria-Gasteiz es, vitoriano, vitoriana, , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and was director of Biok Tú y Yo, a

couples therapy Couples therapy (also couples' counseling, marriage counseling, or marriage therapy) attempts to improve romantic relationships and resolve interpersonal conflicts. History Marriage counseling originated in Germany in the 1920s as part of the eu ...

centre in Burlata. At the 1999 regional election Pozueta was placed 31st on

Euskal Herritarrok Euskal Herritarrok ( en, Basque Citizens, EH) was a Basque nationalism, Basque independentist and Socialism, socialist political party in the Euskal Herria, Basque Country. EH was banned in 2003 by the Supreme Court of Spain on the grounds that it ...

's list of candidates in Navarre but the alliance only won eight seats in the region and as a result she failed to get elected. At the 2003 local elections in Altsasu she was placed 11th on the Altsasuko Indarra (AI) electoral alliance's list of the candidates but the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

annulled the list as it considered AI to be a successor to

Batasuna Batasuna (; en, Unity) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. The party is included in the "European Unio ...

which had been banned in March 2003. She was one of the founders of the Altsasu branch of the Gure Esku Dago which campaigns for

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

for the Basque Country. Pozueta came to national prominences as the mother of Adur Ramirez de Alda Pozueta, one of eight youths imprisoned for the Altsasu incident in 2016. She was the spokesperson for the Altsasu Gurasoak group which represented the mothers of the prisoners. She resigned as spokesperson in March 2019, though she remained a member, in order to contest the general election as the group had stated that it would not support any candidate. At the April 2019 general election Pozueta was placed first on

EH Bildu EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu ( en, link=yes, Basque Country Gather or Basque Country Unite) is a left-wing, Basque nationalist, pro-independence political coalition active in the Spanish autonomous communities of Basque Country, Navar ...

's list of candidates in

but the alliance failed to win any seats in the region. She contested the 2019 November general election as a EH Bildu candidate in Navarre and was elected to the

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pozueta, Bel 1965 births EH Bildu politicians Euskal Herritarrok politicians Living people Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Politicians from Navarre People from Barranca (comarca) Spanish sociologists Spanish sexologists University of Alcalá alumni University of Deusto alumni Women members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Women sexologists