Óscar Puente Santiago (; born 15 November 1968) is a

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE) politician who has served as Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility since 2023. He served as a city councillor in

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

from 2007 to 2023 and as the city's mayor from 2015 to 2023.

Biography

Born in

, Puente was the son and grandson of socialists. He achieved a master's degree in Political Management in 1992 and a Law degree from the

University of Valladolid The University of Valladolid is a public university located in the city of Valladolid, Valladolid province, autonomous region of Castile and Leon, Spain. Established in the 13th century, it is one of the oldest universities in the world. The ...

a year later. After two years of internship, he began practicing law in 1995. Active in the

(PSOE) from 1990, he began working for the party as a General Vice Secretary in the provincial executive in 2004, having secretary-general four years earlier. Elected to Valladolid City Council in 2007, he replaced

Soraya Rodríguez María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (; born 1 December 1963) is a Spanish lawyer and politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament for Ciudadanos since 2019. She previously was a Deputy of the PSOE in the Congress of Deputi ...

as party spokesperson in the city hall the following year, and in 2009 became secretary general of the PSOE in the city. In September 2010, Puente was endorsed by the PSOE at local and provincial level to be their mayoral candidate in Valladolid in the 2011 Spanish local elections. In the elections in May, People's Party (PP) incumbent Francisco Javier León de la Riva took a majority and rose from 15 seats to 17, while the PSOE fell from 13 to 9. In the 2015 local elections, the PSOE had eight seats, and with the support of the seven seats held by local left-wing parties, they gained the majority to make him mayor and end the 20-year tenure of León de la Riva. In a municipal session in June 2018, Puente questioned the management skills of

Citizens Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality; ...

spokesperson Pilar Vicente by pointing out that she used to be a store assistant at the VallSur shopping centre. Albert Rivera, the national leader of Citizens, considered this to be a classist and male chauvinist insult and called for Puente to resign. Puente said that he was referring to what he believed to be falsehoods in Vicente's

curriculum vitae In English, a curriculum vitae (,

, and that Rivera had exaggerated the episode. In the 2023 local elections, Puente's party took 11 of 27 seats, the same as the PP of Jesús Julio Carnero, though the PSOE received marginally more votes. Carnero was able to form a majority government with the three councillors of Vox, becoming mayor. He was Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility during the 2024 Spain floods. A controversial minister for his blunt style of communication, he received substantial praise online for his clear and constant messaging on social media of repair works of destroyed highways and train lines.

Personal life

He is married to judge Laura Soria Velasco and has two daughters. His daughter Carmen took part on the sixth season of ''La Voz Kids'' in 2021, reaching the semi-finals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puente, Óscar 1968 births Living people 20th-century Spanish politicians 21st-century Spanish politicians 20th-century Spanish lawyers 21st-century Spanish lawyers Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians University of Valladolid alumni Valladolid city councillors Mayors of Valladolid