Jesús Gil

Gregorio Jesús Gil y Gil (12 March 1933 – 14 May 2004) was a Spanish businessman and politician. He served as Mayor of Marbella between 1991 and 2002, and presided for a 16-year tenure as president of the football club Atlético de Madrid. The Marbella city council had to be dissolved soon after his death, a legal but unprecedented movement in Spanish politics, to put an end to extreme corruption and dealings with international mafias, among other crimes.

Career

Business

In the 1960s Gil ran a construction firm building gated communities. A complex he had built in San Rafael, near Segovia, collapsed in 1969, killing 58 people and injuring many others. A subsequent investigation showed that the cement in the new building had not yet set, and the whole project had been completed without use of architects, surveyors, or plans. Gil was sentenced to five years in prison, but was pardoned after 18 months by General Francisco Franco.

Football

In 1987, Gil was elected president at football side Atlético Madrid (his first signing was that of 21-year-old Portuguese winger Paulo Futre), where he initiated a volatile relationship with fans, reporters, players and head coaches. In 1992, he shut down Atlético's youth academy, which saw talented 15-year-old Raúl switch to crosstown rivals Real Madrid.

Most of Marbella's local police were recruited indirectly by Gil among legionnaires and members of other elite military forces throughout southern Spain and Northern Africa during the 1980s / 1990s, and some of these officers comprised Gil's own private ''garde de corps''.

In a March 1997 incident, as the two teams met in the 1996–97 Champions League quarterfinals, Gil referred to Ajax Amsterdam, due to its many players of Surinamese origin, as ''FC Congo''.

The English band Prolapse released a song called "Surreal Madrid" on their album ''Pointless Walks to Dismal Places'', which lyrics detailing Gil's controversial tenure as Atlético Madrid's president.

Politics

In 1991, he founded and led the '' Grupo Independiente Liberal'' (GIL) as his political vehicle, and was elected as mayor of Marbella the same year. He installed a bust of Francisco Franco in the town hall and was known for walking the streets of the town shouting abuse at prostitutes and homeless people. His mayorship was popular enough for him to be re-elected three times.

In April 2002, he was banned for 28 years from holding public office, forced to stand down as mayor and briefly imprisoned.

In early 2008, a full, two-episode documentary appeared in ''Tele 5'' explaining the highlights of his life and career.

Death

On 9 May 2004, he suffered a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in his finca in Valdeolivas. He died in Madrid on 14 May at the age of 71. The funeral was attended by 20,000 people. He was cremated and his ashes were interred in the family mausoleum at the Cementerio de la Almudena.

Political reputation

Gil was infamous and controversial for his extreme social and political views, summed up in a unique brand of foulmouthed, low-brow populism punctuated by self-aggrandizing, homophobic, racist, xenophobic and otherwise derogatory remarks and, occasionally, by pre-democratic nostalgia.

He publicly referred to former Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) town councilor Isabel García Marcos as a "whore" during town council meetings and, on one occasion, dubbed journalist Carmen Rigalt as "''la jinetera del periodismo''" ('prostitute of journalism').

The Málaga coastline, effectively under the area of economic and political influence of the Gil family, became a popular residence for British, Italian, and Russian gangsters while he was mayor, as well as a haven for former national socialists either awaiting or shirking extradition, such as Otto Remer and Léon Degrelle. At the same time, however, Gil instigated several crackdowns on drug users and prostitutes. He was involved in several criminal cases, including the so-called ''Caso de las camisetas''. and ''Caso Atlético''.

Crime rates and open manifestations of poverty decreased dramatically during the first years of his administration. The improvements included the beatings of delinquents and prostitutes, relocation of foreigners with low incomes, and handouts of money to homeless people in exchange for leaving town. The subsequent improvement in the lifestyle of a segment of the population was cited as a major reason for his re-election.

See also

*Marbella City Council dissolution

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gil, Jesus
1933 births
2004 deaths
People from the Province of Soria
Atlético Madrid presidents
Liberal Independent Group politicians
Mayors of places in Andalusia
Spanish politicians convicted of crimes
Scandals in Spain
Municipal councillors in the province of Málaga
Neurological disease deaths in Spain
Deaths from cerebral thrombosis