José María "Txiki" Benegas Haddad (25 July 1948 – 25 August 2015) was a Spanish politician for the

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). His nickname "Txiki" is Basque for "small".

Early life

Benegas 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 ...

, Venezleua. His father, José María Benegas Echeverría, was an exiled Basque Nationalist politician, who fled Spain in 1939 following the victory of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

in 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 ...

. While his mother, Doris Haddad, was a Lebanese Jew who immigrated from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Benegas moved to Spain in 1955 and studied in the Jesuit College before qualifying as a lawyer at the University of Valladolid in 1971. He then briefly moved to London to study English and Economics.

Entering politics

On his return, he joined the PSOE and the affiliated Trade Union, the Unión General de Trabajadores. In 1974 he was elected Secretary of the PSOE's youth wing and also became Vice-Secretary of the International Socialist Youth movement. In 1977 he entered national politics when he was elected to the Spanish national parliament as a deputy for Biscay Province and was re-elected at the 1979 election.

Basque regional politics

However, in February 1980, he resigned from Congress in order to head the PSOE list for Guipuzcoa in the elections to the Basque parliament and was elected to that legislature. He returned to the Spanish Congress at the 1982 General Election representing

Álava Province Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see. Its ca ...

. However he resigned in February 1984 after being chosen to head the PSOE list in the Basque parliamentary elections. Despite the PSOE increasing their vote and more than doubling their number of seats from 9 to 19, he was unsuccessful in his bid to become Lehendakari or President of the autonomous government of the Basque Country. That office was retained by the

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 ...

(PNV), which formed the government after those elections. However, after one year the PNV entered into an agreement with the PSOE for legislative support and in 1986 a split in the PNV led to the formation of Eusko Alkartasuna. As a result, the PNV lacked sufficient support to govern and was forced to call early elections in 1986 at which Benegas was again the candidate for Basque President. Although the PSOE managed to overtake the PNV as the largest party in the new legislature, the PNV candidate

José Antonio Ardanza José Antonio Ardanza Garro (born 10 June 1941) is a former Spanish politician that became the second elected ''Lehendakari'' (President of the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain after the approval of the Statute of Autonomy. He was in office b ...

was re-elected President of the Basque autonomous community. In 1989 Benegas returned to national politics when he was elected to the Congress, representing Biscay. He was re-elected at every subsequent General Election until 2011 and was one of the few members of the Constituent Cortes (1977-1979) in the 2011 legislature.

Personal life

Benegas was married to Maite Urabayen and was the father of two children. His son is the Spanish musician and songwriter Pablo Benegas guitarist in the group

La Oreja de Van Gogh La Oreja de Van Gogh (; English: "Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh's Ear") is a Spanish Pop music, pop band from San Sebastián, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. The band's lyrics and compositions are written primarily by Xabi San Martín, and addition ...

. His sister,

Doris Benegas Doris Benegas Haddad (1951 – 29 July 2016) was a Spanish political lawyer specialising in criminal law, particularly causes related to women and left-wing politics. She was also a political leader, leading a regional branch of the communist mov ...

, was the President of the

Castilian Left The Castilian Left ( es, Izquierda Castellana, IzCa) is a leftist nationalist political movement active in the Spanish autonomous communities of Castile-La Mancha, Castile and Leon and Community of Madrid. It strives to advocate for the nationa ...

party. On 25 August 2015, Benegas died 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 ...

of cancer, which he had suffered from for several months.Muere Txiki Benegas, figura clave del socialismo vasco
El Mundo, 25 August 2015

References