Luis Uruñuela

Luis Uruñuela
Mayor of Seville
In office
21 April 1979 – 23 May 1983
Preceded byJosé Ramón Pérez de Lama
Succeeded byManuel del Valle
Personal details
Born(1937-04-02)2 April 1937
Seville, Spain
Died31 July 2026(2026-07-31) (aged 89)
PartyAndalusian Party

Luis Uruñuela Fernández (2 April 1937 – 31 July 2026) was a Spanish politician of the Andalusian Party (PA). He was the first democratically elected mayor of Seville, serving from 1979 to 1983.

Career

Uruñuela was born on 2 April 1937, in Seville.[1] He grew up on Calle Recaredo, in a family that supported Andalusian regionalism.[2] He was elected to the Congress of Deputies in 1979, serving for two months before leaving to be the first democratically elected mayor of his city.[1] He took the office due to a regional pact between his Andalusian Party, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), in which the eight provincial capitals of Andalusia were divided between them.[3]

Uruñuela defended the new powers given to city councils in the Spanish transition to democracy, and stopped the demolition of buildings and widening of streets that had been undertaken by the national government of Francoist Spain.[3] He was a proponent of the Seville Metro, which saw much construction during his mandate. From 1983, his successor Manuel del Valle and the President of the Junta of Andalusia José Rodríguez de la Borbolla – both of the PSOE – halted the project.[4][5] Under his government, the Sevilla Este neighbourhood near Seville Airport was developed, become the most populous of the city by the time of his death.[3] In 1982, he handed the keys to the city to Pope John Paul II.[2] From 1982 to 1990, he sat in the Parliament of Andalusia.[6]

In May 2009, Uruñuela, Del Valle and Soledad Becerril received Seville's medal for being the first three democratic mayors of the city. He used his speech to reiterate his support for expanding the Metro into the Casco Antiguo.[7] An avenue in Sevilla Este was named after him,[8] as was a planned station on line 2 of the Metro.[9]

Personal life and death

For 75 years, Uruñuela was a member of the Fraternity of Los Negritos. He was baptised in their chapel due to the damage to his local parish church in the Spanish Civil War, and he and his family took part in their Holy Week processions.[2]

Uruñuela had four daughters and a son. His first daughter, María José, died suddenly at the age of 46 in January 2012.[10] He died on 31 July 2026, at the age of 89.[3] The city council declared two days of mourning, and mayor José Luis Sanz remembered him as a "key driver of the growth of Seville".[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Correal, Francisco (12 February 2017). ""Empezamos a gobernar con una legislación franquista"" ["We began governing with Francoist legislation"]. Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Lamprea, Manuel (31 July 2026). "Luis Uruñuela: un imprescindible de Los Negritos" [Luis Uruñuela, an essential member of Los Negritos]. Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Benot, Stella (31 July 2026). "Muere Luis Uruñuela, el primer alcalde democrático de Sevilla" [Luis Uruñuela, first democratic mayor of Seville, dies]. Diario de Sevilla. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  4. ↑ Ameneiro, A. S. (4 April 2009). ""Sin el PA no habría Metro"" ["Without the PA there would be no Metro"]. Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  5. ↑ "Fallece Manuel del Valle, el alcalde que cambió Sevilla" [Manuel del Valle, the mayor who changed Seville, dies]. Estadio Deportivo (in Spanish). 27 March 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  6. ↑ Barroso Vargas, Fernando (31 July 2026). "Muere a los 89 años el exalcalde de Sevilla Luis Uruñuela" [Former mayor of Seville Luis Uruñuela dies aged 89]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  7. ↑ "De Uruñuela y su deseo de que el metro atravesase el centro a Del Valle y el diseño de la ciudad de la Expo" [From Uruñuela and his wish for the Metro to cross the centre to Del Valle and the design of the Expo site]. ABC (in Spanish). 31 May 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  8. ↑ "Sevilla Este clama por la línea 2 de Metro cortando la avenida Alcalde Luis Uruñuela" [Sevilla Este cuts off the Avenida Alcalde Luis Uruñuela demanding line 2 of the Metro]. Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). 3 October 2025. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  9. ↑ Pepe, Trashorras (22 February 2023). "Así será la línea 2 del Metro de Sevilla, necesaria para tener una auténtica red de metro en la ciudad" [How line 2 of Seville Metro will be, necessary for an authentic metro network in the city]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  10. ↑ Navarro Antolín, Carlos (15 January 2012). "Fallece María José Uruñuela, hija del ex alcalde de Sevilla" [María José Uruñuela, daughter of the former mayor of Seville, dies]. Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  11. ↑ Ruesga, Manuel (31 July 2026). "La despedida a un referente del diálogo y los servicios públicos" [Farewell to a model of dialogue and public services]. Diario de Sevilla. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
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