José Barrionuevo | |
---|---|
Minister of Interior | |
In office 3 December 1982 – 12 July 1988 | |
Prime Minister | Felipe González |
Preceded by | Juan José Rosón |
Succeeded by | José Luis Corcuera |
Personal details | |
Born | Berja, Spain | 13 March 1942
Political party | Socialist Workers' Party |
José Barrionuevo (born 13 March 1942) is a Spanish politician. He was the minister of interior from 1982 to 1988. He was jailed from 1998 to 2001 due to his involvement in a dirty war against ETA members.
Barrionuevo was born in Berja near Almería in 1942. [1] He obtained bachelor degrees in law and journalism. [2]
Barrionuevo was a member of the pro- Franco student union where he likely met Rodolfo Martín Villa, then interior minister. [3] Barrionuevo became a member of the Socialist Workers' Party. [4] He served as deputy mayor of Madrid and was in charge of the municipal police. [3]
Barrionuevo was a member of the Parliament representing Madrid for four terms in the legislatures of III, IV, V, and VI. [2] He was appointed interior minister on 3 December 1982 in the first government of Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez. [5] He succeeded Juan José Rosón in the post. [3] It was Rosón who advised Gonzalez to appoint Barrionuevo as interior minister. [3]
Barrionuevo followed the security policies set by his predecessor. [6] However, in early 1983 he and other security officials created a new operational strategy known as Plan Zona Especial Norte (Spanish: Plan ZEN, Plan Special Zone North) to reduce and eliminate the effects of the separatist group ETA in the Basque region. [6] Two former interior ministers, namely Rodolfo Martín Villa and Juan José Rosón, also involved in the development of the plan. [6] In addition, Barrionuevo consolidated the police forces forming a security secretariat. [6]
Barrionuevo was in office until 12 July 1988 when José Luis Corcuera replaced him as interior minister in a cabinet reshuffle. [7] Barrionuevo became the minister of transport, tourism and communications in the same reshuffle. [7] Barrionuevo was among the classical social democrats like José Maravall, Javier Solana and Joaquín Almunia who served as a minority group in the cabinets led by Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez. [4]
Barrionuevo was unpopular during his tenure as interior minister due to his harsh and violent policies against Basque separatists. [8] In May 1994, newly appointed interior minister Juan Alberto Belloch, who was also justice minister in the cabinet of Felipe González, began to reorganize the ministry of interior. [9] A network, later called GAL (Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación), was discovered as a result of his efforts. [9] Unnamed "authorities" subsequently identified the GAL as "a front for security forces and hired assassins paid with secret government funds." [10]
In addition, on 16 December 1994, two policemen met Judge Baltasar Garzón and told him that Barrionuevo and other senior officials had links to a dirty war against separatists. [11] Based on these statements Barrionuevo and other former security officials were tried in 1996 and "accused of funding and directing more than two dozen murders" of separatists during the 1980s. [12]
On 24 January 1996, he and his former deputy Rafael Vera were found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of their involvement in a "dirty war" against ETA. [13] [14] [15] They were imprisoned on 29 July 1998. [13] [15] [16] Therefore, their memberships to the GAL was legally established. [10] However, they have denied the charges, [16] but in 2022 admitted to having ordered the release of Segundo Marey, kidnapped by GAL police operatives under his command. [17]
Barrionuevo and Vera were accompanied and hugged by González on their way to prison, where they served a three-month term. [18] They were pardoned in 2001. [19] In September 2001 Barrionuevo was again tried for his misuse of the public funds which occurred in 1993. [19] [20] José Luis Corcuera, who succeeded him as interior minister, was also tried with him. [19] Both were found innocent of embezzlement charges in January 2002. [21]
Barrionuevo is married and has three children. [2]