Juan José Rosón

Juan José Rosón (25 September 1932 – 19 August 1986) was a Spanish politician and a member of the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD). He served as the minister of interior from 1980 to 1982.

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

Juan José Rosón
Minister of Interior
In office
2 May 1980 – 3 December 1982
Prime Minister
Preceded byAntonio Ibáñez Freire
Succeeded byJosé Barrionuevo
Personal details
Born
Juan José Rosón Pérez

25 September 1932
Becerreá, Lugo Province
Died19 August 1986(1986-08-19) (aged 53)
Madrid
Resting placeMingorrubio Cemetery, Madrid
NationalitySpanish
Political partyUnion of the Democratic Centre
Alma materUniversidad Complutense de Madrid

Early life and education

Rosón was born in Becerreá, Lugo Province, on 25 September 1932.[1] His family were of Galician origin.[2] His brother, Antonio (died 1986), served as the president of the Parliament of Galicia and another, General Luis Rosón, survived an assassination attempt perpetrated by ETA in November 1984.[3]

Juan held a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.[1] He also studied at the Military School Intervention and obtained the title of military comptroller.[1]

Career

Rosón taught at the school attached to the Spanish radio television directorate (RTVE).[1] Under the Franco administration he served as national director of education, secretary general of the Union of University Studies (SEU), director of the EFE and the president of the National Union.[1] Later he became the general director of the RTVE in the 1960s.[2][4] Then he was made governor of Madrid in the late 1970s when Rodolfo Martín Villa was interior minister.[5] Both were the members of the UCD.[3]

Rosón was appointed interior minister on 2 May 1980, replacing Antonio Ibáñez Freire in the post.[6] His major initiative was to improve the role of the intelligence services and of the police and security forces in fighting against terrorist attacks under the unified command for the counter-terrorist effort.[7] To this end he established a coordination unit for antiterrorist logistics, operations and intelligence, Mando Único para la Lucha Contraterrorista (Spanish: Single Command for the Counterterrorist Fight), in March 1981.[8]

As a result of this effort, the number of the people died in the ETA attacks was reduced to 38 in 1981 and 44 in 1982 following the peak in 1980 with 124 dead.[9] On the night of 1 October 1982, head of the Superior Center of Defense Information Emilio Alonso Manglano summoned Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Minister of Defence Alberto Oliart and Juan José Rosón to a meeting. At that meeting, which lasted several hours, Manglano unveiled a coup d'état conspiracy that several military officials were preparing that was going to be especially bloody, and that was going to be executed on 27 October 1982, the day before the general election. After the meeting, the immediate arrest of the leaders was ordered and they were able to dismantle them on 2 October 1982.[10]

Rosón was in office until 3 December 1982 after serving in the cabinet of two Prime Ministers, Adolfo Suarez and Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo.[3] José Barrionuevo succeeded him as interior minister.[8] Rosón advised Felipe Gonzales to appoint Barrionuevo as interior minister.[11]

Later years and death

Following the defeat of the UCD by the PSOE in the legislative elections of October 1982 Rosón retired from politics and dealt with business.[3] He lived in Alicante, and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1982.[3] Along with other prominent former leaders of UCD he founded the Political Studies Club in November 1984.[3]

He died of a heart attack in a Madrid clinic on 19 August 1986.[3] He was buried at the cemetery of El Pardo in Madrid on 20 August.[3]

References
  1. "Juan José Rosón Pérez" (PDF). Fundacion Transicion (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  2. Javier Cercas (2012). The Anatomy of a Moment. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-4088-2210-4.
  3. "Fallece el ex Ministro del Interior Juan José Roson tras combatir cuatro años contra una enfermedad incurable". El Pais (in Spanish). 19 August 1986. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  4. Josep Maria Baget Herms. "The Legacy of Franco's Television". Formats. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  5. Jesus Duva (8 February 2012). "The week democracy nearly fell". El País. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  6. José María Maravall; Adam Przeworski (2003). Democracy and the Rule of Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-5215-3266-2.
  7. Diego Muro (2010). "Counter-terrorist strategies in Western Europe" (Working Paper). European University Institute. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  8. Michiel de Jong (2016). "Spanish Security Forces, Anti-terrorism and the Internal and External Security of Spain, 1959–1992". In R. Beeres; et al. (eds.). NL ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2016. Nl Arms. The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press. pp. 325–349. doi:10.1007/978-94-6265-135-7_17. ISBN 978-94-6265-135-7.
  9. Javier Tusell (2008). Spain: From Dictatorship to Democracy, 1939 to the Present. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. p. 487. ISBN 978-0-470-76648-4.
  10. "Oliart confirma: La documentación revela un intento de golpe de Estado". La Vanguardia. 4 October 1982.
  11. Paddy Woodworth (2001). Dirty War, Clean Hands: ETA, the GAL and Spanish Democracy. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-85918-276-5.
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