Teodomiro Menéndez Fernández (

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

, 1879 –

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 1978) was a Spanish politician and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

syndicalist Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goal of gainin ...

Biography

Teodomiro Menéndez Fernández was born in

in 1879. He began to work at a very early age in the Weapons Factory of La Vega (Oviedo) obtaining his training attending to the classrooms of the University Extension ovetense. He started his career in politics by running for election to Oviedo City Hall in 1911. He was elected

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

. In 1919 he was elected deputy for the

Cortes Generales The (; ) are the Bicameralism, bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate of Spain, Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, ...

(''Spanish parliament''). In 1917, as head of the railroad union, he promoted a railway

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

in Asturias. After the strike was crushed by the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, he was arrested and jailed. In 1931, during the government of the second republic, Teodomiro was elected deputy for the Cortes Generales for Oviedo and held the office of Public Works between 1932 and 1933, projecting the future rail links of Madrid. In 1934, he participated in the

of October 1934 being captured by the Moroccan troops and sentenced to death. He was jailed in the prison of El Dueso, Cantabria, until the victory of the Popular Front in the elections of February 1936 date in which it is released. In the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

that followed the elections he fought on the republican side. Once the war finished, he went into exile in France in 1939 running away from prison. In 1940, following the

Nazi occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

he was imprisoned in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

and returned to Spain. Once in Spain, he was sentenced to death for the second time. In 1950, after ten years in prison, he was released since his death sentence had been commuted to 30 years in prison thanks to the efforts of Serrano Súñer. He died in Madrid in 1978 at the age of 99, after having been imprisoned sixteen times and sentenced to death twice, being buried in the civil cemetery of Madrid.Menéndez Fernández, Teodomiro
Pablo Iglesias Foundation (www.fpabloiglesias.es)

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Menéndez, Teodomiro 1879 births 1978 deaths Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Spanish prisoners sentenced to death Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic Prisoners sentenced to death by Spain