Fernando Buesa Blanco (29 May 1946 – 22 February 2000) was a Spanish politician in the

Basque Christian Democracy Basque Christian Democracy ( es, Democracia Cristiana Vasca, DCV; eu, Euskal Kristau Demokrazia, EKD) was a Basque Country Christian-democratic party active during the Spanish transition to democracy - legalized in 1977. Although it was the on ...

and in the

Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left The Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left ( eu, Euskadiko Alderdi Sozialista – Euskadiko Ezkerra, es, Partido Socialista de Euskadi – Euskadiko Ezkerra, PSE-EE) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political ...

(PSE-EE) branch of the

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE). He was assassinated by

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

Biography

Born in 1946 in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

, Spain, Buesa studied law in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and practiced from 1970 to 1986 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 ...

. He served in the Vitoria-Gasteiz city council from 1983 to 1997, in the Basque Parliament from 1984 to 2000 and as

Deputy General of Álava Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italian Chamb ...

from 1987 to 1991. Buesa was also vice '' lehendakari'' (president of the Basque government) and minister of Education in a coalition PSE-

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party (, EAJ ; es, Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV; french: Parti Nationaliste Basque, PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially Basque National Party in English,) was rejected by party members in November 2011. Nonetheless, the party did ...

Basque government from 1991 to 1994. From this position, he steered the process that moved the Basque-language schools (''

ikastola An (, plural ) is a type of primary and secondary school in the Basque Autonomous Community, Navarre and (to a much lesser extent) the French Basque Country (see Basque Country) in which pupils are taught either entirely or predominantly in the ...

k'') into either the Basque public education network or the Basque chartered private education sector. Fernando Buesa was married and had three children.

Assassination

At the time of his death Buesa was the leader of the PSE-EE in Álava and the PSE-EE spokesman in the Basque Parliament. He was killed by the separatist group ETA while he was walking through the university campus in Vitoria-Gasteiz on 22 February 2000. The

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

ing also killed his bodyguard, the '' ertzaina'' (member of the Basque police) Jorge Díez Elorza.

Legacy

His assassination inspired a well received documentary by the Basque filmmaker titled '. The home arena of the Vitoria-Gasteiz

Baskonia Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, S.A.D., commonly known as Saski Baskonia (), also known as Cazoo Baskonia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team that is based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team, formerly known as ''Araba Arena'', was renamed Fernando Buesa Arena after his death.

Honours

Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, Grand Cross, 25 February 2005 (posthumous)

References

External links