Óscar Puente Santiago (pronounced [ˈoskaɾ ˈpwente]; born 15 November 1968) is a Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) politician who has served as Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility since 2023. He served as a city councillor in Valladolid from 2007 to 2023 and as the city's mayor from 2015 to 2023.
Óscar Puente | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 21 November 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | Felipe VI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Pedro Sánchez | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Raquel Sánchez Jiménez | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mayor of Valladolid | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 13 June 2015 – 17 June 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Francisco Javier León de la Riva | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jesús Julio Carnero | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Congress of Deputies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 17 August 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Valladolid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Óscar Puente Santiago 15 November 1968 Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Spanish Socialist Workers' Party | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Laura Soria Velasco | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Valladolid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Politician, lawyer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Biography
editBorn in Valladolid, Puente was the son and grandson of socialists. He achieved a master's degree in Political Management in 1992 and a Law degree from the University of Valladolid a year later. After two years of internship, he began practicing law in 1995.[1]
Active in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1990, he began working for the party as a General Vice Secretary in the provincial executive in 2004, having secretary-general four years earlier. Elected to Valladolid City Council in 2007, he replaced Soraya Rodríguez as party spokesperson in the city hall the following year, and in 2009 became secretary general of the PSOE in the city.[1]
In September 2010, Puente was endorsed by the PSOE at local and provincial level to be their mayoral candidate in Valladolid in the 2011 Spanish local elections.[2] In the elections in May, People's Party (PP) incumbent Francisco Javier León de la Riva took a majority and rose from 15 seats to 17, while the PSOE fell from 13 to 9.[3]
In the 2015 local elections, the PSOE had eight seats, and with the support of the seven seats held by local left-wing parties, they gained the majority to make him mayor and end the 20-year tenure of León de la Riva.[4]
In a municipal session in June 2018, Puente questioned the management skills of Citizens spokesperson Pilar Vicente by pointing out that she used to be a store assistant at the VallSur shopping centre. Albert Rivera, the national leader of Citizens, considered this to be a classist and male chauvinist insult and called for Puente to resign.[5] Puente said that he was referring to what he believed to be falsehoods in Vicente's curriculum vitae, and that Rivera had exaggerated the episode.[6]
In the 2023 local elections, Puente's party took 11 of 27 seats, the same as the PP of Jesús Julio Carnero, though the PSOE received marginally more votes. Carnero was able to form a majority government with the three councillors of Vox, becoming mayor.[7]
He was Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility during the 2024 Spain floods. A controversial minister for his blunt style of communication, he received substantial praise online for his clear and constant messaging on social media of repair works of destroyed highways and train lines.[8]
Personal life
editHe is married to judge Laura Soria Velasco and has two daughters. His daughter Carmen took part on the sixth season of La Voz Kids in 2021, reaching the semi-finals.[9][10]
References
edit- ^ a b "Óscar Puente". ABC (in Spanish). 9 May 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "Óscar Puente, propuesto por el PSOE para alcalde de Valladolid" [Óscar Puente, proposed by the PSOE for mayor of Valladolid]. ABC (in Spanish). 3 September 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "León de la Riva supera el 50% de los votos y gana dos concejales, el PSOE pierde cuatro e IU pasa de uno a tres" [León de la Riva surpasses 50% of the votes and gains two councillors, the pSOE loses four and IU goes from one to three] (in Spanish). Europa Press. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ Martínez Colodrón, Liliana (13 June 2015). "Óscar Puente ya es alcalde de Valladolid" [Óscar Puente is now mayor of Valladolid]. El Norte de Castilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "Rivera pide la dimisión de Óscar Puente como alcalde por sus "ataques clasistas y machistas" a una concejal de Cs" [Rivera asks for Óscar Puente to resign as mayor for his "classist and male chauvinist attacks" on a Cs councillor]. ABC (in Spanish). 19 June 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "Óscar Puente: "Soy tan machista como Rivera feminista"" [Óscar Puente: "I'm as much of a male chauvinist as Rivera is a feminist"]. ABC (in Spanish). 20 June 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "PP y Vox llegan a un acuerdo para gobernar el Ayuntamiento de Valladolid" [PP and Vox reach an agreement to govern Valladolid City Council]. elDiario.es (in Spanish). 15 June 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
- ^ "Aluvión de 'me gusta' y retuits a Óscar Puente por lo que está haciendo" [Flood of 'likes' and retweets to Óscar Puente for what he is doing]. Diario AS (in European Spanish). 3 November 2024.
- ^ Negro, Laura (10 May 2021). "Orgullo de padre y alcalde de Valladolid" [Pride of father and mayor of Valladolid]. El Norte de Castilla. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "Carmen Puente, la hija del alcalde de Valladolid, se queda a las puertas de la final de 'La Voz Kids'" [Carmen Puente, daughter of the mayor of Valladolid, stopped at the gates of the final of 'La Voz Kids']. El Norte de Castilla (in Spanish). 16 July 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
