Vitoria_-_Monumento_a_las_Victimas_de_ETA_01

Gregorio Ordóñez Fenollar (21 July 1958 – 23 January 1995) was a Spanish People's Party (PP) politician in the

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

. He was elected to the City Council in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

in 1983 and the

Basque Parliament The Basque Parliament (Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible. The Parliament mee ...

in 1990. He became deputy mayor of the city in 1991 and was running for mayor in the 1995 election when 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

Ordóñez was born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, Venezuela, to Spanish parents who had emigrated in the late 1940s. His paternal grandfather was killed by communists in 1936 during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, and his parents met when his 13-year-old orphan father was moved from

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with a ...

to Terrateig in the

Province of Valencia Valencia ( ca-valencia, València) is a province of Spain, in the central part of the autonomous Valencian Community. Of the province's over 2.5 million people (2018), one-third live in the capital, Valencia, which is also the capital of the au ...

. When he was six, his family moved back to Spain, first to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

and then settling in

in the Basque Country. Ordóñez was admitted into

Opus Dei Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei ( la, Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek personal Christian holiness and strive to imbue their work an ...

during his baccalaureate. After graduating in journalism from the

University of Navarra , image = UNAV.svg , latin_name = Universitas Studiorum Navarrensis , established = 17 October 1952 , type = Private, Roman Catholic , chancellor = Fernando Ocáriz Braña , president = María Iraburu Eliz ...

, he began writing for ''Norte Exprés'', a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

newspaper in San Sebastián, and received threats from

. After his friend's father was murdered by the group in 1982, he joined the People's Alliance (AP) and its New Generations (NNGG) youth sector. In the

1983 Spanish local elections The 1983 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect all 67,505 councillors in the 7,781 municipalities of Spain and all 1,024 seats in 38 provincial deputations. The elections were held simultaneously with regional elect ...

, Ordóñez was one of three AP members voted onto San Sebastián's city council, the party's first representatives 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 ...

. In

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, with his party now rebranded as the People's Party (PP), he stood unsuccessfully for 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 ...

in his home constituency, but was elected to the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, his party was the most voted for the city council, and he became deputy mayor. Ordóñez was running for mayor in the

1995 Spanish local elections The 1995 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect all 65,869 councillors in the 8,067 municipalities of Spain and all 1,034 seats in 38 provincial deputations. The elections were held simultaneously with regional elec ...

when he was fatally shot in the head. His wife since 1990, Ana Iríbar, had given birth to their son Javier months earlier. She set up the Fundación Gregorio Ordóñez in December 1995. His grave at the

Polloe Cemetery The Polloe Cemetery (Spanish: ''Cementerio de Polloe'') is in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. Designed by architect José de Goikoa, it was inaugurated in 1878, and the first burial took place on August 12, 1878. Its pantheons have classical com ...

has been vandalised several times, and his family have left the region due to intimidation. Assassins Valentín Lasarte and Francisco Javier García Gaztelu were convicted in 2006. The latter, known as "Txapote" and also responsible for killing

Miguel Ángel Blanco Miguel Ángel Blanco Garrido (13 May 1968 – 13 July 1997) was a Spanish politician who was a councillor in Ermua in the Basque Country for the People's Party (PP). He was kidnapped and subsequently murdered by the separatist group ETA. Biog ...

and Fernando Múgica, received 30 years in prison and a €500,000 fine to the family of the deceased.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ordonez, Gregorio 1958 births 1995 deaths Politicians from Caracas Politicians from San Sebastián Opus Dei members University of Navarra alumni 20th-century Spanish journalists People's Alliance (Spain) politicians People's Party (Spain) politicians Municipal councillors in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Members of the 4th Basque Parliament Members of the 5th Basque Parliament People killed by ETA (separatist group)