Freelance Spain Biography

Spaniards for the 21st century

José María Mendiluce Pereiro
Author and human rights expert
Mendiluce is a writer and political activist who sirivó as a member of the European parliament in the socialist group in the passed political phase. In 2003 he was candidate for the Spanish ecologist party (The Green) in the passed elections of the region of Madrid. He was very criticized by not withdrawing his candidacy of a few left-wing sectors , since according to these, they favored the victory of the Popular Party, therefore the votes that do not surpass the 5% end up going to the party more voted.
He is considered an authority on humanitarian programs. In December 1999, he was nominated as president of Greenpeace International, effective February 2000, although the environmental pressure group decided not to ratify him as they saw a conflict of interests due to his political post.
Mendiluce studied economics and political science at Madrid's Complutense University. As a youth he was a member of the radical Liga Comunista Revolucionaria, and was on the Franco police's wanted list. Following Spain's democratic transition in the mid-1970s he worked for the United Nations High Commission for Refugee Affairs, which took him to numerous hot spots from Angola to Nicaragua to the Balkans. In 1993 he was appointed regional representative of the High Comission for the Benelux Countries and European Union. He left the post when he was elected Euro-MP in 1994.
He is the author of five published books, including three novels: El Amor Armado, Pura Vida and Luanda 1936.
Mendiluce is Basque, although he born in Madrid in 1951. The place of birth was happenstance: his parents had traveled to the Spanish capital to watch their local football team, Athletic de Bilbao, play a match, when his mother went into labor.

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