Ventura José Pérez Mariño (29 December 1948 – 14 February 2024) was a Spanish judge and

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) politician. He was a member of 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 ...

from 1993 to 1995, and a city councillor in

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...

from 2003 to 2005, serving as mayor for the first few weeks of his tenure.

Biography

Early life and education

Ventura José Pérez Mariño was born on 29 December 1948, in

. He studied with the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and then at

ICADE ICADE is the brand name by which two schools of the Comillas Pontifical University, located in Madrid (Spain), are known. It stands for '' Instituto Católico de Administración y Dirección de Empresas'' (''Catholic Institute of Business Administ ...

, graduating with a law and business administration degree from the University of Deusto.

Legal and political career

Pérez Mariño was a judge in the Audiencia Nacional 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 ...

. He oversaw such cases as those of the

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, ...

militant Josu Urrutikoetxea, and of Manuel Charlín, head of the

Los Charlines Los Charlines ( gl, Os Charlíns) is the name by which one of the most important drug trafficking clans in Galicia is known, together with the Oubiña and the Miñanco. The clan is made up of Manuel Charlín Gama, his wife and their children Man ...

drug trafficking family. In May 1993, he was voluntarily removed from the judiciary so that he could contest in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. He was elected as the

's (PSOE) list leader in

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

. He and fellow

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

Baltasar Garzón were persuaded into politics by PSOE prime minister

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a Spanish lawyer, professor, and politician, who was the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, and the 3rd Prime Minister of Spain since the ...

in order to give the party a moral image after scandals. Both became fiercely critical of González when it was revealed that his government had been covertly arming the anti-ETA paramilitary GAL in the 1980s. Garzón returned to his court to investigate the matter and in February 1995, Pérez Mariño resigned after publicly calling for González to do the same. Returning to the judiciary, Pérez Mariño sentenced the banker Mario Conde to six years in jail for his misappropriation of 600 million pesetas from the

Banesto Banco Español de Crédito, S.A. (), “Spanish Credit Bank”) better known as Banesto, was a Spanish multinational financial services company. Prior to the Spanish Government's historical intervention in 1993, the very first in the history of ...

bank. He then resigned from the court and opened a law firm in his home city. In April 2002, he returned to the PSOE to be their mayoral candidate in the following year's local elections. He was endorsed by party leader

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections ...

. While the People's Party (PP) took 10 seats and his party took 8, his party formed a coalition with the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) and he was installed as mayor of Vigo. In December, following disputes with the BNG leader , he was voted out in a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

that made PP leader

Corina Porro María Corina Porro Martínez (born 1 December 1953) is a Spanish politician. She was a member of the Vigo local government with the Galician People's Party between 1995 and 1999. She was Chief Director of Social Services between 1999 and 2001. ...

the new mayor. He quit his council seat and left politics for good in July 2005 for "strictly personal" reasons, returning to the judiciary; his party and the BNG then resumed their pact. Following his exit from local politics, Pérez Mariño returned to the judiciary again, for 18 months in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

and then in his hometown. He retired in 2013. He founded and led a charity that provided clean water to 200,000 people in the

Mayo-Rey Mayo-Rey is a department of North Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 36,529 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 242,441 . The capital of the department lies at Tcholliré. Spillover of CAR War According to the ...

department of northern

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Later life and death

His wife, Dolores Galovart, was also a judge. In August 2021, Pérez Mariño was hospitalised after nearly drowning at the beach in . He lived the final years of his life with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. He died on 14 February 2024, at the age of 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Marino, Ventura 1948 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Spanish judges Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Members of the 5th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Mayors of Vigo University of Deusto alumni Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Spain