Juan María Aburto Rike (born 28 March 1961) is a Spanish politician of the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party ( , EAJ; , PNV; , PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially the Basque National Party in English, is a Basque nationalist and regionalist political party. The party is located in the centre of the political spectrum. It has been de ...

. He was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

in 2015.

Biography

Born in

, Aburto graduated in law from the

University of Deusto The University of Deusto (; ) is a Spanish private university owned by the Society of Jesus, with campuses in Bilbao and San Sebastián, and the Deusto Business School branch in Madrid. The University of Deusto is the oldest private university ...

in 1984, and became a civil servant for the Provincial Deputation of

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

in 1986. In the early 1990s, he worked in the

Basque Government The Basque Government (, ; ) is the governing body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain. The head of the Basque government is known as the '' Lehendakari''. The Lehendakari is appointed by the Basque Parliament every four years, after a re ...

under Interior Minister Juan María Atutxa. Returning to provincial politics, he was a deputy to provincial leader from 2011 to 2012. In December that year he went back to the regional government, to be Minister of Employment and Social Policy. In October 2014, he was chosen as the PNV candidate for Bilbao's mayoral election in 2015. He resigned from his ministry in February. His party won 13 out of 29 seats and achieved a majority by forming a coalition with the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PSE-EE). Aburto won re-election in June 2019, forming the same coalition with 14 and 5 seats respectively and delegating four specific areas to the PSE. In April 2021, Aburto announced that he had cancer of the

duodenum The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine in most vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In mammals, it may be the principal site for iron absorption. The duodenum precedes the jejunum and ileum and is the shortest p ...

in the

small intestine The small intestine or small bowel is an organ (anatomy), organ in the human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract where most of the #Absorption, absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intes ...

, having twice previously had the same diagnosis 13 and seven years earlier.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aburto, Juan Mari 1961 births Living people Politicians from Bilbao Basque Nationalist Party politicians University of Deusto alumni Government ministers of the Basque Country (autonomous community) Mayors of Bilbao 21st-century Spanish politicians