Chesús_Bernal_en_la_noche_electoral_de_1995

Chesús Gregorio Bernal Bernal (8 January 1960 – 22 March 2019) was a Spanish academic and politician. He was a professor at the University of Zaragoza, specialising in Romance languages. In 1986, he co-founded the

Chunta Aragonesista The Chunta Aragonesista (CHA; en, Aragonese Union)Rendering the party's name has created some confusions due to the similarity with the Spanish word ''junta''. The right translation of Aragonese ''chunta'' is ''unión'' in Spanish and '' union'' ...

(CHA), and served in the

Cortes of Aragon The Cortes of Aragon ( es, Cortes de Aragón, an, Cortz d'Aragón, ca, Corts d'Aragó) is the regional parliament for the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon. The Cortes traces its history back to meetings summoned by the Kings of Aragon whi ...

from 1995 to 2011.

Biography

Bernal was born in Valtorres in the Province of Zaragoza. He began his studies in Romance Philology at the University of Salamanca but finished it at the University of Zaragoza. He specialised in the French language, though his doctoral thesis was on Occitan. He and Francho Nagore edited a 1999 dictionary of the Aragonese language. He taught French at his alma mater, where he was a professor. On holiday in Galicia in 1986, he studied left-wing Galician nationalism, meeting with

Camilo Nogueira Camilo is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Camilo Albornoz (born 2000), Argentine footballer * Camilo Cascolan (born 1964), Filipino law enforcement officer * Camilo Castelo Branco, Portuguese writ ...

of the

Galician Left Galician Left (EG, ''Esquerda Galega'' in Galician language) was a Galician nationalist and leftist political party of Galicia. History It was founded in December 1980 as a refoundation of the Galician Workers Party, integrating the majority o ...

. Inspired by this research, later that year he was a founding member of the

(CHA), and was their leader as they entered the

in the

1995 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1995. Africa * 1995 Algerian presidential election * 1995 Beninese parliamentary election * 1995 Cape Verdean parliamentary election * 1995 Ethiopian general election * 1995 Guinean legislative elec ...

, staying in office until 2011. In the 2003 elections, CHA had their best results, coming third with nine deputies, but regional president

Marcelino Iglesias Marcelino Iglesias Ricou (born 16 April 1951) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. He was the President of the Government of Aragon The president of the Government of Aragon ( es, Presidente del Gobiern ...

( PSOE) preferred a coalition with the eight deputies of the Aragonese Party (PAR). Bernal was married to journalist Elena Bandrés, who was also a professor at the University of Zaragoza; they had three sons. He was a fan of Real Zaragoza, and went to watch the team in the last week of his illness. Bernal died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

in Zaragoza at the age of 59. He lay in rest at the Aljafería, the seat of the Cortes of Aragon. Tributes were paid by local and regional politicians of all parties. In May 2021, a sociocultural centre in Valtorres was named after him.

References

1960 births 2019 deaths People from Comunidad de Calatayud University of Salamanca alumni University of Zaragoza alumni Academic staff of the University of Zaragoza Chunta Aragonesista politicians Leaders of political parties in Spain Members of the Cortes of Aragon Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Spain {{Aragon-politician-stub