Maria Isabel Pozueta Fernández (born 21 September 1965) is a

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

sexologist, activist, politician and a member of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Early life

Pozueta was born on 21 September 1965 in Altsasu,

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

. She has a degree in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

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 ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

sexology Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, Human sexual activity, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social crit ...

from the

University of Alcalá The University of Alcalá () is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Madrid in Spain and also the third-largest city of the region. It was founded in 1293 as a ''Studium Generale'' for t ...

's Institute of Sexological Sciences.

Career

Pozueta is an expert in sexology and

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

. Between 1994 and 2006 she taught

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

at the Center for Women's Care in Etxarri-Aranatz, teaching individuals and groups and training professionals. Later she taught at various education centres in

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

and Navarre. She has also worked for the municipal youth service in

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ; also historically spelled Vittoria in English) is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country and of the provinces of Spain, province of Álava in northern Spain. I ...

and was director of Biok Tú y Yo, a

couples therapy Couples therapy (also known as couples' counseling, marriage counseling, or marriage therapy) is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to improve intimate relationships, resolve interpersonal conflicts and repair broken bonds of love. History Marri ...

centre in Burlata. At the 1999 regional election Pozueta was placed 31st on

Euskal Herritarrok Euskal Herritarrok (, EH) was a Basque nationalism, Basque independentist and Socialism, socialist political party in the Euskal Herria, Basque Country. EH was banned in 2003 by the Supreme Court of Spain on the grounds that it sympathized with Eu ...

's list of candidates in Navarre but the alliance only won eight seats in the region and as a result she failed to get elected. At the 2003 local elections in Altsasu she was placed 11th on the Altsasuko Indarra (AI) electoral alliance's list of the candidates but the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

annulled the list as it considered AI to be a successor to

Batasuna Batasuna (; ) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. The party is included in the "European Union list of ...

which had been banned in March 2003. She was one of the founders of the Altsasu branch of the Gure Esku Dago which campaigns for

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

for the Basque Country. Pozueta came to national prominences as the mother of Adur Ramirez de Alda Pozueta, one of eight youths imprisoned for the Altsasu incident in 2016. She was the spokesperson for the Altsasu Gurasoak group which represented the mothers of the prisoners. She resigned as spokesperson in March 2019, though she remained a member, in order to contest the general election as the group had stated that it would not support any candidate. At the

April 2019 general election A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 28 April 2019, to elect the members of the 13th . All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate. Following the 2016 election, the Peop ...

Pozueta was placed first on

EH Bildu EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu (English language, English: 'Basque Country Gather' or 'Basque Country Unite'), is a Left-wing politics, left-wing, Basque nationalism, Basque nationalist and Separatism, pro-independence federation of poli ...

's list of candidates in

but the alliance failed to win any seats in the region. She contested the 2019 November general election as a EH Bildu candidate in Navarre and was elected to the

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pozueta, Bel 1965 births EH Bildu politicians Euskal Herritarrok politicians Living people Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Politicians from Navarre People from Barranca (comarca) Spanish sociologists Sexologists Spanish health professionals University of Alcalá alumni University of Deusto alumni Women members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Women sexologists Members of the 15th Congress of Deputies (Spain)