José Antonio Alonso Suárez
Encyclopedia
León, Spain
León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...
) is a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
(PSOE) politician.
A judge Alonso was elected to the Spanish Congress in 2004, representing León Province
León (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
León is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Congress of Deputies, the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...
and was re-elected in 2008. He later served as spokesman for the PSOE Parliamentary Group. From 18 April 2004 to 7 April 2006 he was the Minister of the Interior in the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...
. Described by his ministerial colleagues as a man "driven by his strong ideological beliefs and professionalism", Zapatero is said to have chosen Alonso on the grounds that the latter would fight terrorism without compromising human rights. Alonso served as Defence Minister until 11 April 2008. Prior to his election he had been a critic of the People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
's support for George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and their alleged politicisation of judicial bodies.