José Rivas Fontán, (San Martín de Verducido, España on August 31, 1941), is a Spanish politician and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

who was the Mayor of

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the '' Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality wh ...

between 1979 and 1991. He withdrew from public activity in 2004 and is currently retired.

Biography

Family

José Rivas Fontán was born on 31 August 1941 in San Martín de Verducido - Xeve, in the municipality and province of

. He is the son of Paulino Rivas Maquieira and Elvira Fontán Fontán and was the youngest of three brothers. In 1965, he married Mª Gloria Lis Corral. The couple had four children.

Education and early political career

Rivas Fontán grew up in a parish near the town of Pontevedra, where he attended a state primary school, starting at age six. He bicycled to secondary school, and later commuted eight kilometers by bicycle to a Teacher Training college in Pontevedra. He was stationed at the military headquarters in the capital during his compulsory military service. In 1963, he passed the state teachers' entry exam for adult education. He sat a special exam, set up by the Ministry of Education, for the Organisation of School Services for education inspectors in Pontevedra. There, he launched one of the first applied audiovisual media teaching centres in Spain. In Pontevedra, he met Federico Cifuentes Pérez. Pérez became his boss and friend and, years later, would turn out to be an essential collaborator in the Pontevedra Teachers Movement (MMS). In Pontevedra towards the end of the 60s and beginning of the 70s, the educational community began to question the educational system which, as much as was possible at that time, had a labour movement, the Spanish Teaching Service (SEM). The new tendency strove to change it, from within, into democratic unionism. This movement would later spread to all the Spanish provinces. This democratic organisation clashed with the political regime ( Francisco Franco's dictatorship), and after many difficulties and risks, culminated in the “1st EGB Congress of Pontevedra” in 1977. The Congres was attended by representatives from the whole of Spain as well as by the French “ Fédération de l’éducation nationale” (FEN). Because of his work in the Education Inspectors Corps, José Rivas Fontán was familiar with the educational structure in his province and, together with other colleagues, organized this movement organically and territorially into democratically elected cells, with himself as the first Provincial Secretary of the Association. At that time, the Pontevedra Teachers Association published the only issue of the newspaper TEUCRO. After the newspaper had already been sent to all the provinces, it was censored.

Political life

Constituent process

On June 15, 1977, there was a free general election in Spain for the first time since 1931. José Rivas was elected to the

Spanish Parliament The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meet ...

as Deputy for Pontevedra, as a member of the UCD Party. He became a member of the UCD Political Council. In 1978, he was General Secretary of the Galician Junta's pre-autonomous government under the presidency of Antonio Rosón Pérez. He was Secretary of the Galician Parliamentary Assembly which comprised all elected MPs as well as the senators chosen by the Crown, the Nobel Prize winner

Camilo José Cela Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquess of Iria Flavia (; 11 May 1916 – 17 January 2002) was a Spanish novelist, poet, story writer and essayist associated with the Generation of '36 movement. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Litera ...

and Domingo García Sabell. He was constituent Secretary of the 16 Commissions created to draw up the Galician Statutes.

Mayor of Pontevedra

In 1979, he was elected Mayor of Pontevedra for UCD for a 4-year term, then re-elected as an independent candidate for AP and, finally, in 1987, a member of the Independent Galician Party until 1991. Due to a prolonged persecution by the Head Judge of Number 3 Court in Pontevedra (Luciano Varela), Rivas Fontán left politics, and did not run again in 1991. Rivas denounced the Head Judge to the General Judicial Council and the Ombudsman. After having been tried and judged for anonymous allegations on various occasions, Rivas was acquitted on all counts by the Provincial Court of Pontevedra and the Supreme Court in Madrid.

Latter activities

Rivas Fontán was the spokesperson for the Provincial Museum of Pontevedra Trust from 1979 to 1983. In 1980, he was elected vice-president of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP). He was spokesperson for the Executive Commission of the Supreme Sports Council representing town councils and for their Board of Directors. In 1983, he was a member of the Directive Committee of the European Council of Municipalities based in Paris. He was in the Spanish Delegation at the European Council's Regional Powers Conference in Strasbourg, France. In 1985, the Ministry of Public Administration (Ministry and FEMP) set up a National Commission to study the upcoming Local Regimen Law, of which he was vice-president. In 1986, he was appointed a trustee of the Alfredo Brañas Cultural Foundation in

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

. He withdrew from political activity between 1991 and 1996.

Return to politics

In 1996 and 2000, he was re-elected as an MP in the 6th and 7th legislatures, acting as a member of Commissions for Education, Public Administration, Infrastructure and Defence. As a member of the latter, he was in the Security Commission of the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Gerald E. Connolly from the United States, elected in 2019. Its curre ...

, attending meetings held in various countries around the world (USA, Germany, Russia, Norway, Slovakia, Macedonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, etc.).

Public appearances and positions

* Spoke at the Caracas Galician Brotherhood on the theme of the poet Luis Amado Carballo, from Pontevedra * Formed part of the Commission on Self-Government in the Spanish Senate, studying the upcoming Local Regimen Law * Lectured on the new Local Regimen Law for summer courses held at the International University Menéndez Pelayo in

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

* Appeared on the TV programme La Clave, hosted by José Luis Balbín, along with other Spanish mayors * Advocated for the abolition of the death penalty during the drafting of the Spanish constitution (1978) * Presented a book talk, �
Just Rivas Fontán. Memoirs of a politician far from the flock
�� at the Municipal Theatre in Pontevedra

Recognitions and awards

* Member of the Constitutional Order of Merit, with the honours, distinctions and use of insignia corresponding to the Order's regulations, for his relevant activities serving the Constitution * Gold Medal and member of the Order of Diego de Losada,

Republic of Venezuela The Republic of Venezuela was a democratic republic first established in 1958, and replaced in 1999 by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Venezuela saw ten years of military dictatorship from 1948 to 1958. After the 1948 Venezuelan coup ...

15 de octubre de 1982 * Gold Medal from the town council of Lepanto,

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Other qualifications

* Expert in National Defence from Rey Juan Carlos University.Expedido el 15 de enero de 2002 * Honours graduate in Latin American military co-operation, Rey Juan Carlos University.