The former historical leader died today at the age of 79 in Madrid, where he had fixed his residence
The former secretary of Finance of the PSOE and former deputy for Cordoba, Guillermo Galeote, has died in Madrid where he had fixed his residence since he left the front line of politics after being designated as the code name of the Filesa case, the network of irregular commissions with which the party was financed as a result of the development of public works in the stage of Felipe Gonzalez in the presidency of the Government.
PSOE sources, all of the exalted positions with decades of experience in training, have confirmed the death of Guillermo Galeote, who was 79 years old and whose reason was the coronavirus. A doctor by profession, he was part of the Sevillian group of socialists who, during the underground, carried out the renewal of the party during the dictatorship. Galeote was active since the early sixties in the organization under the code name of Ernesto.
Born in the Basque Country, he moved to live in Seville where he studied Medicine. A specialty internist, he worked at the General Hospital (today Reina Sofía) and was a senior official at the College of Physicians before dedicating himself fully to politics. Andalusian representative in the clandestine directions of the party and the UGT, he entered the executive branch in the Toulouse congress of ’72. In the Suresnes congress of ’74, where Gonzalez took power, he became press and propaganda secretary of the new leadership.
Once democracy arrived, Galeote always appeared in the province of Cordoba, where he was considered a high-ranking nursery. He was a deputy for Cordoba between 1977 and 1993, at which time he was at the head of the powerful administration and finance secretariat in command of an apparatus controlled by Alfonso Guerra and Txiki Benegas: the guerristas .
The Filesa scandal caught him completely, although the Supreme Court ended up exonerating him, which was celebrated by the guerrillas, the internal group where he was a personality, as a political success. It was the first great corruption scandal of democracy, it was a system of collecting commissions for large public works that end up in the accounts of countries like Switzerland. Galeote was a defendant throughout the process until the Supreme Court decided together with thirteen more people on July 21, 1997. In 1993, he had already left office.
Galeote was separated from politics in the wake of the scandal, and it was very rare to see him at party events. He did not participate in the homage of the Cordovan PSOE to all its deputies and senators. A year ago, he was one of the people who signed the manifesto that Alfonso Guerra signed, demanding that Pedro Sánchez not agree with pro-independence supporters.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
