Jesús Gil facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jesús Gil
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| Mayor of Marbella | |
| In office 15 June 1991 – 24 April 2002 |
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| Deputy | Pedro Román |
| Preceded by | Francisco Parra Medina |
| Succeeded by | Julián Muñoz |
| 28th President of Atlético Madrid | |
| In office 26 June 1987 – 28 May 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Francisco Javier Castedo |
| Succeeded by | Enrique Cerezo |
| President of the Liberal Independent Group | |
| In office 14 February 1992 – 14 May 2004 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Gregorio Jesús Gil y Gil
12 March 1933 El Burgo de Osma, Castile and León, Spain |
| Died | 14 May 2004 (aged 71) Madrid, Spain |
| Resting place | Cementerio de la Almudena |
| Political party | GIL |
| Children | 4, including Miguel Ángel |
| Occupation | Businessman |
Gregorio Jesús Gil y Gil (12 March 1933 – 14 May 2004) was a Spanish businessman and politician. He served as Mayor of Marbella between 1991 and 2002, and presided for a 16-year tenure as president of the football club Atlético de Madrid. The Marbella city council had to be dissolved soon after his death, a legal but unprecedented movement in Spanish politics, to put an end to extreme corruption and dealings with international mafias, among other crimes.
Career
Business
In the 1960s Gil ran a construction firm building gated communities. A complex he had built in San Rafael, near Segovia, collapsed in 1969, killing 58 people and injuring many others. A subsequent investigation showed that the cement in the new building had not yet set, and the whole project had been completed without use of architects, surveyors, or plans. Gil was sentenced to five years in prison, but was pardoned after 18 months by General Francisco Franco.
Football
In 1987, Gil was elected president at football side Atlético Madrid (his first signing was that of 21-year-old Portuguese winger Paulo Futre), where he initiated a volatile relationship with fans, reporters, players and head coaches. In 1992, he shut down Atlético's youth academy, which saw talented 15-year-old Raúl switch to crosstown rivals Real Madrid.
Most of Marbella's local police were recruited indirectly by Gil among legionnaires and members of other elite military forces throughout southern Spain and Northern Africa during the 1980s / 1990s, and some of these officers comprised Gil's own private garde de corps.
In a March 1997 incident, as the two teams met in the 1996–97 Champions League quarterfinals, Gil referred to Ajax Amsterdam, due to its many players of Surinamese origin, as FC Congo.
The English band Prolapse released a song called "Surreal Madrid" on their album Pointless Walks to Dismal Places, which lyrics detailing Gil's controversial tenure as Atlético Madrid's president.
Politics
In 1991, he founded and led the Grupo Independiente Liberal (GIL) as his political vehicle, and was elected as mayor of Marbella the same year. ..... His mayorship was popular enough for him to be re-elected three times.
In April 2002, he was banned for 28 years from holding public office, forced to stand down as mayor and briefly imprisoned.
In early 2008, a full, two-episode documentary appeared in Tele 5 explaining the highlights of his life and career.
Death
On 9 May 2004, he suffered a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in his finca in Valdeolivas. He died in Madrid on 14 May at the age of 71. The funeral was attended by 20,000 people. He was cremated and his ashes were interred in the family mausoleum at the Cementerio de la Almudena.
Political reputation
Gil was infamous and controversial for his extreme social and political views, summed up in a unique brand of foulmouthed, low-brow populism punctuated by self-aggrandizing, homophobic, racist, xenophobic and otherwise derogatory remarks and, occasionally, by pre-democratic nostalgia.
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The Málaga coastline, effectively under the area of economic and political influence of the Gil family, became a popular residence for British, Italian, and Russian gangsters while he was mayor, as well as a haven for former national socialists either awaiting or shirking extradition, such as Otto Remer and Léon Degrelle. ..... He was involved in several criminal cases, including the so-called Caso de las camisetas and Caso Atlético.
Crime rates and open manifestations of poverty decreased dramatically during the first years of his administration. ..... The subsequent improvement in the lifestyle of a segment of the population was cited as a major reason for his re-election.
See also
In Spanish: Jesús Gil para niños
- Marbella City Council dissolution
