The Most Excellent The Marquis of the Ría of Ribadeo GE |
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Prime Minister of Spain | |
In office 25 February 1981 – 1 December 1982 |
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Monarch | Juan Carlos I |
Deputy |
Rodolfo Martín Villa Juan Antonio García Díez |
Preceded by | Adolfo Suárez |
Succeeded by | Felipe González |
Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain | |
In office 9 September 1980 – 25 February 1981 |
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Prime Minister | Adolfo Suárez |
Preceded by | Fernando Abril Martorell |
Succeeded by | Juan Antonio García Díez |
Minister of Economy | |
In office 9 September 1980 – 25 February 1981 |
|
Prime Minister | Adolfo Suárez |
Preceded by | Fernando Abril Martorell |
Succeeded by | José Luis Leal Maldonado |
Minister for Relations with the European Communities | |
In office 25 February 1978 – 9 September 1980 |
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Prime Minister | Adolfo Suárez |
Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Eduardo Punset |
Minister of Public Works | |
In office 4 July 1976 – April 1977 |
|
Prime Minister | Adolfo Suárez |
Preceded by | Antonio Valdés |
Succeeded by | Luis Ortiz González |
Minister of Commerce | |
In office 13 December 1975 – 6 July 1976 |
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Prime Minister | Carlos Arias Navarro |
Preceded by | José Luis Cerón Ayuso |
Succeeded by | José Lladó |
Personal details | |
Born |
Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo 14 April 1926 Madrid, Spain |
Died | 3 May 2008 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain |
(aged 82)
Resting place | Ribadeo Cemetery, Galicia, Spain |
Nationality | Spanish |
Political party |
Union of the Democratic Centre (1977-1983) |
Spouse(s) | María del Pilar Ibáñez-Martín Mellado |
Children | Leopoldo (b. 1957) Juan (b. 1958) María del Pilar (b. 1959) Pedro (b. 1960) Víctor María (b. 1961) José María (b. 1964) Andrés (b. 1965) Pablo (b. 1965) |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquis of the Ría of Ribadeo, GE (Spanish pronunciation: [leoˈpoldo ˈkalβosoˈtelo i βusˈtelo]; 14 April 1926 – 3 May 2008), known as Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo was Prime Minister of Spain between 1981 and 1982.
Calvo-Sotelo was born into a prominent political family in Madrid on 14 April 1926 with his father, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, as the writer and his mother, Mercedes Bustelo Márquez. His uncle, José Calvo Sotelo, was the finance minister under Miguel Primo de Rivera. Calvo-Sotelo graduated as a civil engineer from the School of Civil Engineers of Madrid now part of the Technical University of Madrid, working in the area of applications of chemistry to the industry.
He was the president of RENFE (the Spanish national railroad network) between 1967 and 1968. Calvo-Sotelo was elected solicitor (Deputy) of Franco's Cortes, representing industrialists in the Union of Chemical Industries, in 1971. A monarchist, Sotelo was one of the founders of an association of politicians, mostly of Rightists and Center Rightists, which disguised as the Fedisa publishing firm helped Spain's peaceful transition into democracy.
Calvo-Sotelo was designated Minister of Commerce by Carlos Arias Navarro to be in the first government of the Monarchy (December 1975 – July 1976). He advocated total destruction of Franco's ideals instead of mere superficial changes that politicians like Navarro planned. Calvo-Sotelo was kept in the cabinet of Adolfo Suárez upon his succession to premiership in 1976 and directed several centre-right and centre-left political associations into one party, the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD). The UCD won in both the June 1977 and the March 1979 elections and Calvo-Sotelo was elected MP for Madrid.