Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo
Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquis of the Ría of Ribadeo, GE (Spanish pronunciation: [leoˈpoldo ˈkalβosoˈtelo i βusˈtelo]; 14 April 1926 – 3 May 2008), known as Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo was Prime Minister of Spain between 1981 and 1982.
Biography
Childhood
Calvo-Sotelo was born into a prominent political family in Madrid on 14 April 1926 with his father Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo as the writer and his mother Mercedes Bustelo Márquez. His uncle José Calvo Sotelo was the finance minister under Miguel Primo de Rivera. Calvo-Sotelo graduated as a civil engineer from the School of Civil Engineers of Madrid now part of the Technical University of Madrid, working in the area of applications of chemistry to the industry.
He was the president of RENFE (Spanish national railroad network) between 1967 and 1968. Calvo-Sotelo was elected solicitor (Deputy) of Franco's Cortes, representing industrialists in the Union of Chemical Industries, in 1971. A monarchist, Sotelo was one of the founders of an association of politicians, mostly of Rightists and Center Rightists, which disguised as the Fedisa publishing firm helped Spain's peaceful transition into democracy.