Ventura Pérez Mariño

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pérez and the second or maternal family name is Mariño.

Ventura José Pérez Mariño (29 December 1948 – 14 February 2024) was a Spanish judge and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) politician. He was a member of the Congress of Deputies from 1993 to 1995, and a city councillor in Vigo from 2003 to 2005, serving as mayor for the first few weeks of his tenure.

Ventura Pérez Mariño
Pérez Mariño in 2004
Personal details
Born	(1948-12-29)29 December 1948 Vigo, Spain
Died	14 February 2024(2024-02-14) (aged 75) Vigo, Spain
Political party	PSOE
Occupation	Judge and politician

Biography

Early life and education

Ventura José Pérez Mariño was born on 29 December 1948, in Vigo.^[1] He studied with the Jesuits and then at ICADE, graduating with a law and business administration degree from the University of Deusto.^[1]

Legal and political career

Pérez Mariño was a judge in the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid. He oversaw such cases as those of the ETA militant Josu Urrutikoetxea, and of Manuel Charlín, head of the Los Charlines drug trafficking family.^[1] In May 1993, he was voluntarily removed from the judiciary so that he could contest in the general election.^[2] He was elected as the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party's (PSOE) list leader in Lugo. He and fellow magistrate Baltasar Garzón were persuaded into politics by PSOE prime minister Felipe González in order to give the party a moral image after scandals. Both became fiercely critical of González when it was revealed that his government had been covertly arming the anti-ETA paramilitary GAL in the 1980s. Garzón returned to his court to investigate the matter and in February 1995, Pérez Mariño resigned after publicly calling for González to do the same.^[3]

Returning to the judiciary, Pérez Mariño sentenced the banker Mario Conde to six years in jail for his misappropriation of 600 million pesetas from the Banesto bank. He then resigned from the court and opened a law firm in his home city.^[1] In April 2002, he returned to the PSOE to be their mayoral candidate in the following year's local elections. He was endorsed by party leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.^[4] While the People's Party (PP) took 10 seats and his party took 8, his party formed a coalition with the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) and he was installed as mayor of Vigo. In December, following disputes with the BNG leader Lois Pérez Castrillo [es], he was voted out in a motion of no confidence that made PP leader Corina Porro the new mayor. He quit his council seat and left politics for good in July 2005 for "strictly personal" reasons, returning to the judiciary; his party and the BNG then resumed their pact.^[5]

Following his exit from local politics, Pérez Mariño returned to the judiciary again, for 18 months in Catalonia and then in his hometown. He retired in 2013. He founded and led a charity that provided clean water to 200,000 people in the Mayo-Rey department of northern Cameroon.^[1]

Later life and death

His wife, Dolores Galovart, was also a judge.^[1] In August 2021, Pérez Mariño was hospitalised after nearly drowning at the beach in Aldán, Cangas [gl].^[6] He lived the final years of his life with Parkinson's disease.^[1] He died on 14 February 2024, at the age of 75.^[7]

References

1. Pérez, Diego (16 February 2024). "Fallece Ventura Pérez Mariño, el magistrado que condenó a Mario Conde y que solo pudo ser alcalde de Vigo unos meses" [Ventura Pérez Mariño, the magistrate who sentenced Mario Conde and who could only be mayor of Vigo for a few months]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
2. "REAL DECRETO 628/1993, de 2 de mayo, por el que se declara en la situación administrativa de excedencia voluntaria en la Carrera Judicial al Magistrado don Ventura Pérez Mariño" [ROYAL DECREE 628/1993, of 2 May, by which the voluntary leave from the Judicial Career of the Magistrate Don Ventura Pérez Mariño is declared] (PDF) (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial del Estado. (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
3. Tremlett, Giles (9 February 1995). "Socialist deputy asks Gonzalez to resign". United Press International. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
4. Díez, Anabel (15 April 2002). "El PSOE recupera a Pérez Mariño para luchar por la alcaldía de Vigo" [PSOE recover Pérez Mariño to fight for the mayoralty of Vigo]. El País (in Spanish). from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
5. "PSG [sic] y BNG se unen para recuperar Vigo" [PSdeG and BNG unite to recover Vigo]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 6 July 2005. from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
6. "Rescatan con síntomas de ahogamiento en la playa de Aldán al exalcalde de Vigo Ventura Pérez Mariño" [Former mayor of Vigo Ventura Pérez Mariño rescued with symptoms of drowning from Aldán beach]. Faro de Vigo (in Spanish). 5 August 2021. from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
7. Paz, A. (14 February 2024). "Ventura Pérez Mariño, ex alcalde de Vigo, fallece a los 75 años" [Ventura Pérez Mariño, former mayor of Vigo, dies at age 75] (in Spanish). Cadena SER. from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024.