Born in 1954, his political career was linked to the Euskadi-Euskadiko Ezkerra Socialist Party from a very young age. He was a councilor in the Bilbao City Council, a deputy in the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and in the Basque Parliament and Minister of the Interior.
The Basque politician Rodolfo Ares (1954-2023), was born in Orense and arrived with his family as a child in the Otxarkoaga district of Bilbao. Married and father of two children, Ares joined UGT and the PSOE In his youth. He studied industrial master’s degree and his political career started in 1983 when he was elected councillor in Bilbao City Hall.
Between 1983 and 1990, and the same year, he held the position of first lieutenant of deputy general and deputy of the province of Urban Planning and Environment in the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, as he left a year later to present his candidacy for mayor of Bilbao for the PSE-EE in the municipal elections. During his period as municipal socialist spokesman (1991-1994) he was one of the initiators of the establishment of the Bilbao Ría 2000 Association.
In 1994 he was elected deputy of the basque parliamentwhere between 2000 and 2005 he was spokesperson for the Basque Socialist parliamentary group. In 2008, the PSOE Congress elected him a member of the Federal Executive Commission.
In 2007, the Supreme Court of the Basque Country opened an oral trial against him, along with Patxi López and Juan José Ibarretxe, charged with a crime of disobedience for a meeting with the forbidden Batasuna. The case was filed because there was no question of a private charge or the prosecution.
In the 2009 elections, the PSE-EE got Lehendakaritza and named Ares interior consultant. In those years he had to face the end of ETA’s armed struggle. Shortly after ETA announced the final cessation of armed actions, Ares announced the withdrawal of numerous escorts, causing great discomfort to many victims or former ETA targets.
On the other hand, the first years of the legislature were marked by the removal of photos and posters in favor of Basque prisoners of the streets. This measure by the Basque government caused numerous incidents throughout the Basque Country and Ares was in the eye of the hurricane.
In the last months of the legislature, Ares also had to deal with the collapse of the Gaztetxe Kukutza of Bilbao, and was widely criticized for the way the Ertzaintza acted in closing the premises and in the subsequent demonstrations.
In 2012 announced that he is stepping down to focus on the CAV election campaign. At that point the The death of Athletic Bilbao fan Iñigo Cabacas after being hit by a ball by the Ertzaintza during a match placed him at the center of controversy as he was the CEO of the Ertzaintza.
From 2012 to 2016 he remained a member of the Basque Parliament and worked internally at the PSE-EE. In 2016 he was part of the negotiating team of Pedro Sánchez in Madrid, in talks with other parties in the effort to form a government. In May of the same year he left his activity in the Basque Parliament.
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/es_ES/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.8”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
Source: EITB
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
