Francisco José Alcaraz

Francisco José Alcaraz Martos (born 1 November 1968) is a Spanish politician, member of the Vox party, and activist, who served as president and spokesman for the Asociación de Víctimas del Terrorismo (AVT, "Association of Victims of Terrorism") between 2004 and 2008. He is the founder and president of the association Voces contra el Terrorismo (VcT, "Voices Against Terrorism").

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Alcaraz and the second or maternal family name is Martos.
Francisco José Alcaraz
Alcaraz in an event organized by HazteOir.org in 2011
Senator of Spain
Assumed office
19 February 2019
Appointed byParliament of Andalusia
President of Voices Against Terrorism
In office
2004–2008
Preceded byLuis Portero de la Torre
Succeeded byJuan Antonio García Casquero
Personal details
Born
Francisco José Alcaraz Martos

(1968-11-01) 1 November 1968
Torredonjimeno, Jaén, Spain
Political partyVox

Career

Hairdresser by profession, when he was 19 years old, on 11 December 1987, his brother and two three-year-old nieces were killed by the explosion of an ETA car bomb placed in the barracks of the Civil Guard in Zaragoza.[1] Before joining the AVT, he did it to the Asociación de Víctimas del Terrorismo "Esperanza Verde" ("Association of Victims of Terrorism 'Green Hope'"). Later he joined the AVT, where he held various positions until reaching the position of president. He was one of the leading promoters of the conspiracy theories vis-à-vis the authorship of the 11-M train bombings.[2][3][4]

On 13 May 2006 he was reelected president of the association with 86% of the votes cast, after the withdrawal of the candidacy of Pablo Broseta, son of Manuel Broseta, in the elections to the Board of Directors of the AVT.[5] On 6 March 2008, he announced his retirement as president of the association by April of that year, alleging "personal reasons". In July 2009 he left militancy in the AVT after a harsh confrontation with the succeeding leadership,[6] and after criticizing the widow of the last victim of ETA, Eduardo Puelles, accusing her of having fallen "in the language of nationalists and terrorists".[7]

In 2010 seven associations of victims accused Alcaraz of breaking the unity against ETA for calling a demonstration against the government's policy on incarcerated ETA members which he considered too soft – a call with which they did not agree.[8] In spite of this, tens of thousands of people attended the event summoned alone by the platform presided over by Alcaraz.[9]

He is currently the president of the Voces contra el Terrorismo ("Voices Against Terrorism") platform, of which he was founder.[10]

Senator

On 31 January 2019, it was announced that Alcaraz would be appointed Senator by regional designation by the Vox party, following the results of the 2018 Andalusian regional election.[11] He officially took office on February 19 as a member of the Mixed Group (Grupo mixto), of which Bildu is also a member. He left office after nine months. He was elected deputy for Vox in the Congress for Jaén in November 2019.

Personal life

Born into a Catholic family, Alcaraz became an active Jehovah's Witness in the 1980s (avoiding conscription on the basis of those beliefs) before joining Evangelical Christianity, a group that he too later distanced himself from.[12][13]

References
  1. "Cuando la bestia etarra se hizo aún más brutal" [When the ETA beast became even more brutal]. ABC (in Spanish). 9 December 2007.
  2. "Vox entra al Parlamento con Alcaraz, el peluquero que radicalizó la AVT". Noticias de Navarra. 1 February 2019. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
  3. Saiz, Eva (31 January 2019). "Francisco José Alcaraz, antiguo presidente de la AVT, será el primer senador de Vox". El País.
  4. "Vox ficha como senador a Juan José Alcaraz, el expresidente de la AVT que puso a la asociación al servicio del PP". InfoLibre. 31 January 2019.
  5. "Alcaraz es reelegido presidente de la AVT después de que Broseta retirara su candidatura" [Alcaraz is re-elected president of the AVT after Broseta withdrew his candidacy]. El Mundo (in Spanish). 13 May 2006.
  6. "Alcaraz pide su baja de la Asociación de Víctimas del Terrorismo" [Alcaraz asks to leave the Association of Victims of Terrorism]. Público (in Spanish). 2 July 2009. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009.
  7. "Alcaraz descalifica a la viuda de Puelles" [Alcaraz disqualifies Puelles's widow]. Público (in Spanish). 3 July 2009. Archived from the original on 5 July 2009.
  8. "Siete asociaciones de víctimas acusan a Alcaraz de romper la unidad contra ETA" [Seven associations of victims accuse Alcaraz of breaking the unity against ETA]. ABC (in Spanish). 3 November 2010.
  9. "Las víctimas desbordan Colón pese al boicot de prensa y partidos" [Victims overflow Colón despite the boycott of press and parties]. Libertad Digital (in Spanish). 6 November 2010.
  10. "Conócenos" [About us]. Voces contra el Terrorismo (in Spanish).
  11. López Pavón, Teresa (31 January 2019). "Francisco José Alcaraz, presidente de Voces contra el Terrorismo, primer senador de Vox por Andalucía" [Francisco José Alcaraz, president of Voces contra el Terrorismo, first senator of Vox for Andalucía]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  12. Garrido, José María (15 February 2019). "Insumiso, testigo de Jehová, evangelista, peluquero… y ahora senador por Vox" [Unsubmissive, Jehovah's Witness, Evangelist, hairdresser... and now senator for Vox] (in Spanish). El Plural. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  13. Olmedo, Ildefonso; Rego, Paco (10 July 2015). "La hazaña del peluquero" [The hairdresser's feat]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 February 2019.
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