Fernando Martínez Castellano (1942 – 20 May 2024) was a Spanish politician who was a member of the

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). He was the first democratically elected mayor of

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

after the

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

, serving from April to October 1979. He was removed from office by his party after taking a position critical of its leadership. He did not run in any election again until 2007.

Biography

Tenure as mayor

Born in

, Martínez Castellano joined the

(PSOE) in 1976. He was the first democratically elected mayor of his home city in the

1979 Spanish local elections Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. He was sworn into office with the support of the 13 city councillors from his party and the six from the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

(PCE), thus outvoting the 13 members of the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD). Martínez Castellano reflected in 2019 that when he arrived at the mayor's office, it only had a table with no drawers, an

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

pennant and a red sofa kept for sentimental reasons as

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

had once sat there. The city council had a deficit of 3 billion pesetas (€18 million) and outstanding bills since 1972. The new administration took possession of landmarks such as the , and halted building projects in favour of green spaces. Martínez Castellano faced an attempted bombing of his home in his first week in office. Days after taking office, Martínez Castellano was able to pass a two-thirds majority with support from the UCD to ask for a loan of 1.528 billion pesetas. On 11 June 1979, he hosted a meeting of the mayors of the 20 biggest cities, in which

Narcís Serra Narcís Serra i Serra (born 30 May 1943) is a Spanish economist and politician, serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain from 1991 to 1995. Born in Barcelona in 1943, he was one of the leading figures of Catalan socialism during the Spanish tr ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

advocated for financial reform to combat a shared debt that was forecast to reach 400 billion pesetas by the end of the year. The mayors met the

prime minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government (), is the head of government of Spain. The prime minister nominates the Spanish government departments, ministers and chairs the Council of Ministers (Spain), Council of Mini ...

Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected Prime Minister of Spain, prime minister since the Second Spanish Republi ...

the next day.

Expulsion from the PSOE

In September 1979, Martínez Castellano attended the 28th PSOE congress, where he was part of the "critical" sector against leader

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a retired Spanish politician who was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest-serving democratically- ...

's proposal to remove

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

from the party's ideology; González resigned as a result. Due to this position, Martínez Castellano was expelled from the

Socialist Party of the Valencian Country The Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (; , PSPV–PSOE) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in the Valencian Community, and is a regional branch of the national Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). The PSPV was orig ...

(PSPV), resigned from office, and was replaced by the second name on the PSOE list for the election, Ricard Pérez Casado. The PSOE attempted to dismiss Martínez Castellano from his seat on the city council. The matter went to the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

, which found in Martínez Castellano's favour. The case set the

precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...

that political mandates belong to the elected individuals, and not to political parties.

Later life and death

Martínez Castellano returned to politics for the 2007 Valencia City Council election with the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

. Initially the lead candidate, he was finally listed as second. He was also a columnist for the local newspaper ''

Las Provincias ''Las Provincias'' is a regional newspaper published in Valencia, Spain. Founded in 1866, it is one of the oldest publications in the country. History and profile ''Las Provincias'' was first published in Valencia in January 1866.Miguel Lorenci ...

''. Martínez Castellano died on 20 May 2024, aged 82. Valencia City Council declared three days of mourning.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez Castellano, Fernando 1942 births 2024 deaths Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Mayors of Valencia 20th-century Spanish politicians 21st-century Spanish politicians Politicians affected by a party expulsion process