Gregorio Jesús Gil y Gil (12 March 1933 – 14 May 2004) was a Spanish businessman and politician. He served as Mayor of

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the r ...

between 1991 and 2002, and presided for a 16-year tenure as president of the football club

Atlético de Madrid Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

. 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 Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and dealings with international

mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

s, among other crimes.

Career

Business

In the 1960s Gil ran a construction firm building

gated communities A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. ...

. A complex he had built in San Rafael, near

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau (''Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of th ...

, 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

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

surveyors Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

, or plans. Gil was sentenced to five years in prison, but was pardoned after 18 months by General

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 ...

Football

In 1987, Gil was elected president at

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

side

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

(his first signing was that of 21-year-old Portuguese winger

Paulo Futre Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre (; born 28 February 1966) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mostly as a left winger. He is one of the greatest natural talents of the Portugal. After starting playing for Sporting, he moved to Porto – ...

), 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 Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

switch to crosstown rivals

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. 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 In medicine, prolapse is a condition in which organs fall down or slip out of place. It is used for organs protruding through the vagina, rectum, or for the misalignment of the valves of the heart. A spinal disc herniation is also sometimes call ...

released a song called "Surreal Madrid" on their album ''

Pointless Walks to Dismal Places __NOTOC__ ''Pointless Walks to Dismal Places'' is the debut album by the band Prolapse. It was released in October 1994 on Cherry Red Records. The album was recorded at Bang Bang Studios, London London is the capital and List of urban a ...

'', 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

the same year. He installed a bust of

in the town hall and was known for walking the streets of the town shouting abuse at prostitutes and

homeless people Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

. 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 Tele 5 is a German free-to-air television channel that broadcasts classic American films, series, cartoons and Japanese anime. On 3 July 2020, Discovery, Inc. agreed to acquire the channel from Leonine Holding, completing the purchase on 1 Se ...

'' explaining the highlights of his life and career.

Death

On 9 May 2004, he suffered a

cerebral venous sinus thrombosis Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis or cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), is the presence of a blood clot in the dural venous sinuses (which drain blood from the brain), the cerebral veins, or both. Symp ...

in his

finca In English usage, a ''finca'' (; ) refers to a piece of rural or agricultural land, typically with a cottage, farmhouse or estate building present, and often adjacent to a woodland or plantation. Overview Especially in tourism, the term has ...

Valdeolivas Valdeolivas is a municipality located in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given p ...

. He 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 ...

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 The ''Cementerio de Nuestra Señora de La Almudena'' ( en, Our Lady of Almudena Cemetery), former ''Necrópolis del Este'' (East cemetery) is a cemetery in Madrid, Spain. It is the largest in Madrid and one of the largest in Western Europe. The nu ...

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 Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

punctuated by self-aggrandizing,

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

, racist,

xenophobic Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

and otherwise derogatory remarks and, occasionally, by pre-democratic nostalgia. He publicly referred to former

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) town councilor Isabel García Marcos as a "

whore Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

" during town council meetings and, on one occasion, dubbed journalist Carmen Rigalt as "''la

jinetera Prostitution in Cuba is not officially illegal; however, there is legislation against pimps, sexual exploitation of minors, and pornography. Sex tourism has existed in the country, both before and after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Many Cubans do not ...

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 Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

gangsters while he was mayor, as well as a haven for former

national socialists Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

either awaiting or shirking extradition, such as

Otto Remer Otto Ernst Remer (18 August 1912 – 4 October 1997) was a German ''Wehrmacht'' officer in World War II who played a major role in stopping the 20 July plot in 1944 against Adolf Hitler. In his later years he became a politician and far right act ...

and

Léon Degrelle Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupatio ...

. 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

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.

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