José Luis Centella Gómez (born 1958) is a

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving a ...

(PCE) politician. He served in the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members ele ...

from 1995 to 2004 and 2011 to 2015. He was his party's secretary general from 2009 to 2018, subsequently becoming its president.

Biography

Born in

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, 2nd largest city in the country and capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cordoba may ...

, Centella became a teacher and was elected to the town council in

Benalmádena Benalmádena () is a town in Andalusia in southern Spain, 12 km west of Málaga, on the Costa del Sol between Torremolinos and Fuengirola. Benalmádena is rich in attractive beaches and interesting places like the Colomares Castle, the 33-me ...

in 1987. In 1995, he became a member of the

representing Málaga, succeeding Antonio Romero Ruiz who was running for mayor. In October 1996, he sent 1,373 pesetas (less than €10) to prime minister

José María Aznar José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spain. A member of the F ...

in protest at government spending for the

province of Málaga The province of Málaga ( es, Provincia de Málaga ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to t ...

; the amount was what Centella estimated to be the government's spend per person in the province. During his time on congressional commissions, Centella spoke on issues such as the olive and fishing industries, recovering the works of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...

and

Cuba–Spain relations Cuba–Spain relations refer to the bilateral relations between the Republic of Cuba and the Kingdom of Spain. Relations date back more than five centuries. Cuba had been a colony from 1492 until 1898 when the United States took over the territory ...

. A critic of

Jesús Gil Gregorio Jesús Gil y Gil (12 March 1933 – 14 May 2004) was a Spanish businessman and politician. He served as Mayor of Marbella between 1991 and 2002, and presided for a 16-year tenure as president of the football club Atlético de Madri ...

, the right-wing mayor of

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the r ...

, he successfully campaigned for an audit of Gil's city council, as well as an investigation into the finances of

Seville Expo '92 The Seville Expo '92 was a universal exposition that took place from Monday, April 20 to Monday, October 12, 1992, on La Isla de La Cartuja (Charterhouse Island), Seville, Spain. The theme for the expo was "The Age of Discovery", celebrating th ...

. He succeeded

Felipe Alcaraz Luis Felipe Alcaraz Masats (born 1 March 1943 in Granada) is a Spanish politician. He is the current Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Spain. Alcaraz obtained a doctorate in philology and began as a university professo ...

as secretary general of the

Communist Party of Andalusia Communist Party of Andalusia (in Spanish: ''Partido Comunista de Andalucía'') is the federation of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) in Andalusia. History PCA was founded in 1979, as the Andalusian branch of PCE was converted into a regional par ...

in 2002, and lost his seat in congress in the 2004 election. In November 2009, he succeeded

Francisco Frutos Francisco "Paco" Frutos Gras (6 September 1939 – 26 July 2020) was a Spanish politician who served, from 1998 until 2009, as the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE). Biography He was born on 6 September 1939 in Calel ...

as secretary general of the PCE, by unanimous vote. Centella returned to the Congress of Deputies in the 2011 election, as the leader of the United Left (UI) in the Seville constituency. He did not stand for re-election in 2015, and in 2018 he was succeeded as secretary general of the PCE by

Enrique Santiago Enrique Fernando Santiago Romero (born 1964) is a Spanish lawyer and politician, who is the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) since April 2018. He has been as member of the 13th Congress of Deputies, representing Madrid, s ...

, moving into the party's new office of president.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Centella, Jose Luis 1958 births Living people People from Córdoba, Spain Politicians from Andalusia Municipal councillors in the province of Málaga Communist Party of Spain politicians Leaders of political parties in Spain Members of the 5th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 6th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 7th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 10th Congress of Deputies (Spain)