Gabriel Cisneros Laborda (14 August 1940 – 27 July 2007) was a Spanish attorney and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who is mostly known for being one of the Fathers of the

Spanish Constitution of 1978 The Spanish Constitution () is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted after its approval in 1978 in a constitutional referendum; it represents the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. The current version was a ...

He is also credited with collaborating in the writing the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

's Declaration of Human Rights.

Career

Cisneros was one of seven politicians charged with writing the

, Spain's first democratic

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, following the death of

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; , from Latin language, Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of Personalist dictatorship, personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise English translation for the term, though it ...

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 ...

in 1975. The constitution set the foundation for the

Spanish Government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

from the 1978 up to the present day. Cisneros is also the author of several other Spanish institutional

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

s. Additional, Cisneros also helped to write laws pertaining to the

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 ...

statute and autonomy. His work with Basque law made Cisneros a

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

target. Cisneros survived a 1979 kidnap attempt by the Basque separatist group,

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

. Cisneros managed to fight off and escape two ETA kidnappers, but suffered gunshot wounds to his

stomach The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the upper gastrointestinal tract of Human, humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The Ancient Greek name for the stomach is ''gaster'' which is used as ''gastric'' in medical t ...

and

leg A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element cap ...

. Cisneros was a member of the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) and in 1979 was elected to the

Spanish 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 ...

as member for

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populatio ...

. He retained his seat at the 1982 election however the UCD lost 156 of their 168 seats at that election and disbanded in February 1983 after which Cisneros sat as an independent. He did not stand at the 1986 election and temporarily retired from active politics. However he resumed his political activity in 1988 when he joined the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. In 1989 that party merged with others to form the current Partido Popular (PP), a Spanish conservative

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

. At the 1989 General Election he returned to the Spanish Congress as a PP deputy for

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

and was re-elected in that district in 1993 and 1996. At the 2000 election he was elected in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

and represented that district until his death in 2007. Cisneros held a number of key posts as an MP. Between 1981 and 1982 he was the Secretary of State for Relations with the Cortes after the position he was carrying out, Secretary General for Relations with the Cortes was elevated to the category of Secretariat of State. Cisneros made his last parliamentary appearance in 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, ...

in July 2007 for ceremonies marking the 30th anniversary of Spain's first democratic elections in 1977. King Juan Carlos honored Cisneros and other key figures of Spain's transition to democracy following Franco's death saying the reformers, "have allowed us to avoid harsh and sterile confrontations in the normal development of our political life."

Death

Cisneros died of complications from a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

on 27 July 2007, in

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

. His death was announced in Parliament that same day.

Accolades

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

, leader of the opposition PP party, called Cisneros "an extraordinary politician." Spain's governing

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 ...

also paid tribute to Cisneros: "He contributed in an important way to the consolidation of our democratic system."

References

External links