Chesús Gregorio Bernal Bernal (8 January 1960 – 22 March 2019) was a Spanish academic and politician. He was a professor at the

University of Zaragoza The University of Zaragoza, sometimes referred to as Saragossa University () is a public university with teaching campuses and research centres spread over the three provinces of Aragon (Spain). Founded in 1542, it is one of the List of oldest u ...

, specialising in Romance languages. In 1986, he co-founded the

Chunta Aragonesista The Chunta Aragonesista (CHA; )Rendering the party's name has created some confusions due to the similarity with the Spanish word ''junta''. The right translation of Aragonese ''chunta'' is ''unión'' in Spanish and '' union'' in English. This is ...

(CHA), and served in the

Cortes of Aragon The Cortes of Aragon (, , ) is the regional parliament for the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon. The Cortes traces its history back to meetings summoned by the Kings of Aragon which began in 1162. Abolished in 1707, the Cortes was revived ...

from 1995 to 2011.

Biography

Bernal was born in Valtorres in the

Province of Zaragoza Zaragoza (), also called Saragossa in English,''Encyclopædia Britannica''Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)/ref> is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon. Its capital is the city of Zaragoza, whic ...

. He began his studies in Romance Philology at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

but finished it at the

. He specialised in the French language, though his doctoral thesis was on

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

. He and

Francho Nagore Francho Serrano Gracía (born 17 October 2001) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Real Zaragoza and Spain national U21 team. Club career Born in Zaragoza, Aragon, and joined Real Zaragoza's youth setup in 2015, aged ...

edited a 1999 dictionary of the

Aragonese language Aragonese ( ; in Aragonese) is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken in several dialects by about 12,000 people as of 2011, in the Pyrenees valleys of Aragon, Spain, primarily in the Comarca#Spain, comarcas of Somontano de Barbastro, Ja ...

. He taught French at his alma mater, where he was a professor. On holiday in Galicia in 1986, he studied left-wing

Galician nationalism Galician nationalism is a form of nationalism found mostly in Galicia, which asserts that Galicians are a nation and that promotes the cultural unity of Galicians. The political movement referred to as modern Galician nationalism was born at ...

, meeting with Camilo Nogueira of the Galician Left. Inspired by this research, later that year he was a founding member of the

(CHA), and was their leader as they entered the

in the 1995 elections, staying in office until 2011. In the 2003 elections, CHA had their best results, coming third with nine deputies, but regional president

Marcelino Iglesias Marcelino Iglesias Ricou (born 16 April 1951) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE ...

(

PSOE 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 ...

) preferred a coalition with the eight deputies of the

Aragonese Party The Aragonese Party (, PAR) is a political party which advocates the interests of Aragon within Spain. The party was founded in 1978 under the name Aragonese Regionalist Party, but changed its name in 1990, keeping the initials ''PAR''. The founde ...

(PAR). Bernal was married to journalist Elena Bandrés, who was also a professor at the University of Zaragoza; they had three sons. He was a fan of

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

, and went to watch the team in the last week of his illness. Bernal died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

in Zaragoza at the age of 59. He lay in rest at the

Aljafería The Aljafería Palace (; , Romanization of Arabic, tr. ''Qaṣr al-Jaʿfariyah'') is a fortified medieval palace built during the second half of the 11th century in the Taifa of Zaragoza in Al-Andalus, present day Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. It was ...

, the seat of the Cortes of Aragon. Tributes were paid by local and regional politicians of all parties. In May 2021, a sociocultural centre in Valtorres was named after him.

References

1960 births 2019 deaths People from Comunidad de Calatayud University of Salamanca alumni University of Zaragoza alumni Academic staff of the University of Zaragoza Chunta Aragonesista politicians Leaders of political parties in Spain Members of the Cortes of Aragon Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Spain {{Aragon-politician-stub