Ramón Espinar Gallego Explained

Ramón Espinar Gallego (born 1954)^[1] is a Spanish former politician. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) politician, he was the mayor of Leganés in the Community of Madrid, and a member of the Assembly of Madrid from 1983 to 1995, serving as its president from 1983 to 1987. He was the regional minister of culture (1987–1991) and finance (1991–1995). In 1995, he was named an advisor at Caja Madrid, and was sentenced to one year in prison in 2017 for his involvement in a credit card scandal.

Biography

Born in Úbeda in the Province of Jaén, Andalusia, Espinar moved to Leganés in the Community of Madrid at the age of 20 in 1975; the commuter town experienced a lot of inwards migration from Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla–La Mancha at the time. In 1978, he was told by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) that he would be the candidate for mayor in the first democratic elections the following year. He was elected as the youngest mayor in the country, holding 14 seats in the city council, ten more than the second-placed Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD).^[2]

Espinar's administration set aside space for a university, which was eventually filled by a campus of the Charles III University of Madrid, and built a hospital. After extending his absolute majority in 1983,^[2] he was elected to the new Assembly of Madrid in the same year, becoming its first president.^[3] In 1987 he was named the region's minister for culture, and four years later its minister of finance, in the governments of President of the Community of Madrid, Joaquín Leguina.^[4]

Espinar left politics in 1995, being named by the PSOE as an advisor to the Caja Madrid savings bank In February 2017, the Audiencia Nacional sentenced him to a year in prison for his part in the "black cards" scandal, in which he used company credit cards to spend €178,400 on personal spending from 1995 to 2010.^{[5] [6]}

Espinar's son, Ramón Espinar Merino (born 1986), served in the Assembly of Madrid and as a Senator for Podemos from 2015 to 2019.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ramón Espinar Gallego . . 27 February 2023 . Spanish.
2. News: 40 años de ayuntamientos democráticos (II): Entrevista exclusiva con Ramón Espinar Gallego, el primer alcalde de Leganés (1979). 40 years of democratic city councils (II): Exclusive interview with Ramón Espinar Gallego, first mayor of Leganés (1979). 27 February 2023 . Lega News . 11 April 2019 . Spanish.
3. News: de Otálora . Óscar B. . El otro Ramón Espinar, imputado en el 'caso Bankia' por gastar 178.000 euros con las 'black'. The other Ramón Espinar, accused in the 'Bankia case' for spending 178,000 euros with 'black cards'. 27 February 2023 . . 3 November 2016 . Spanish.
4. News: Esteban . Rocío . La nueva izquierda de los hijos de papá. The new left of the daddy's boys . 27 February 2023 . . 5 October 2019 . Spanish.
5. News: Castro-Villacañas . Javier . Los favorecidos por Blesa, de la A a la Z, que no estuvieron en su funeral. Blesa's benefactors, from A to Z, who weren't at his funeral . 27 February 2023 . . 22 July 2017 . Spanish.
6. News: Pozas . Alberto . Seis años de cárcel para Miguel Blesa y cuatro y medio para Rodrigo Rato por las 'tarjetas black' de Caja Madrid. Six years in prison for Miguel Blesa and four and a half for Rodrigo Rato for the Caja Madrid 'black cards' . 27 February 2023 . . 24 February 2017 . Spanish.
7. News: Bécares . Roberto . Ramón Espinar dimite en plena crisis de Podemos de todos sus cargos. Ramón Espinar resigns all his positions in midst of crisis in Podemos. 27 February 2023 . . 25 January 2019 . Spanish.