Emilio Guevara Saleta (born 14 September 1941) is a Spanish politician. He served as

Deputy General of Álava The deputy general of Álava (, ) is the head of the of Álava, a province of the Basque Country, Spain. The current incumbent is Ramiro González of the Basque Nationalist Party, who has held the office since 2015. The post has existed since ...

from 1979 to 1983, the first officeholder since the abolition of the post in 1877. Originally a member 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 expelled from the party in 2002. Since then, he has been an

independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

linked to the

Socialist Party of the Basque Country Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and social ...

Biography

He was born in

Vitoria Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória ( ...

in 1941. His siblings

Juan Ramón Juan Ramón may refer to: * Juan Ramón (singer) (1940–2020), Argentine singer and actor * Juan Ramón (footballer, born 1912) (1912–1999), Spanish footballer * Juan Ramón (footballer, born 1987), Spanish footballer See also

* {{hnd ...

and Javier have also been active in politics. He studied law, graduating in 1964, and joined the

in the 1970s. In

1979 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 elected a member of the

General Assembly of Álava The General Assemblies of Álava (in Basque: ''Arabako Batzar Nagusiak'', in Spanish: ''Juntas Generales de Álava'') are the parliament of Álava, a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country. The General Assemblies are ...

and subsequently as Deputy General, an office he held until 1983. In 1980 he was elected to the first

Basque Parliament The Basque Parliament (Basque language, Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish language, Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected ...

for

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 ...

, due to the law preventing him from running in

Álava Álava () or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álava, Lordship ...

. He served as the spokesman of the party in the Basque Parliament during its first term, due to him being considered one of the key figures behind the Statute of Autonomy. He didn't stand for reelection neither for Deputy General nor for member of the Basque Parliament in 1983 and 1984 respectively. He was elected to the Basque Parliament again in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, but resigned after less than a year. In the year 2000, he wrote an opinion piece in Deia criticizing

Xabier Arzalluz Xabier Arzalluz Antia (24 August 1932 – 28 February 2019) was a Basque politician, leader of the Basque Nationalist Party from 1979 until 2004. He was a nationalist and a Christian Democrat, considered during the period one of the most power ...

and the

sovereigntist Sovereigntism, sovereignism or souverainism (from , , meaning "the ideology of sovereignty") is the notion of having control over one's conditions of existence, whether at the level of the self, social group, region, nation or globe. Typically ...

strategy of the

, which caused some members to ask for his expulsion. One of the most prominent party members to support him was longtime mayor of

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 ...

José Ángel Cuerda José Ángel Cuerda Montoya (born 17 March 1934) is a Spanish politician of the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV). He was the first democratically elected mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ; also historically spelled Vittoria in E ...

. He was finally expelled from the party in early 2002. Later that year he announced he would stand for election to the

. Despite running in the PSE-EE list, he refused to become a party member. During the campaign of the 2003 election and afterwards, he strongly criticized ''

Lehendakari The President of the Basque Government (, ), usually known in the Basque language as the Lehendakari (, ), is the head of government of the Basque Autonomous Community. The lehendakari leads the executive branch of the regional government. T ...

Juan José Ibarretxe Juan José Ibarretxe Markuartu (born 15 March 1957) is a former president of the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain. Also a leading member of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) during the period, he held office from 2 January 1999 to 7 May 20 ...

and his

plan A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an Goal, objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a modal logic, temporal set (mathematics), set of intended actions through wh ...

towards political sovereignty. In 2005, he was named as the leading candidate of 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 ...

for

in that year's election to the Basque Parliament, while remaining an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. He resigned from the Basque Parliament in early 2006 and left political life.

Honours

* Medal of the Order of Constitutional Merit, 5 December 2003:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guevara, Emilio 1941 births Living people Politicians from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Basque Nationalist Party politicians Independent politicians in Spain 20th-century Spanish lawyers 21st-century Spanish lawyers People from Vitoria-Gasteiz Deputies general of Álava Members of the 1st Basque Parliament Members of the 3rd Basque Parliament Members of the 8th Basque Parliament Politicians affected by a party expulsion process Recipients of the Order of Constitutional Merit