Xosé Manuel Beiras, historic leader of Galician nationalism, dies at 90

The historic leader of Galician nationalism Xosé Manuel Beiras Torrado, former leader of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) and founder of Anova, has died at the age of 90, according to sources from his circle who confirmed it to the Efe agency. Although he had already retired from political life, in recent times he still participated in some events and in the spring he presented a book about the history of the Galician Socialist Party (PSG), a party he helped to create.

Born in Santiago de Compostela on April 7, 1936, Beiras graduated in law from the University of Santiago in 1957 and studied economic sciences in Paris between 1957 and 1960. His political activity, in parallel with his career as a teacher, began in 1963, the year in which he participated precisely in the founding of the PSG. After fourteen years of militancy in the party, of which he was general secretary between 1971 and 1977, that year he left the organization. Shortly before, in June 1977, he headed the PSG candidacy for A Coruña in the constituent elections, but did not win the seat.

From the spring of 1982, he actively participated in the process of forming the BNG and was on several occasions a candidate for the presidency, between the nineties and the early 2000s. Finally, in 2012 he left the party and founded Anova. With this organization, he promoted an electoral coalition with Esquerda Unida and Alternativa Gallega de Esquerda, which he led together with Yolanda Díaz and which would end up resulting in the En Marea alliance, also integrated by Podemos. He also played a decisive role in ensuring that Anova supported the BNG's candidacy in the 2024 elections, participating in several events for the candidate Ana Pontón and staging the reconciliation of Galician nationalism.

Historical duels in Galician parliamentarism are remembered of Beiras. As Efe recalls, at the end of the eighties, in protest of an intervention by the then-deputy Mariano Rajoy in Spanish, his reaction was to respond in French. Perhaps his most remembered anecdote, however, is when in March 1993 he took off a shoe and hit his seat to protest the electoral reform promoted by the PP, which raised from 3% to 5% the threshold of votes necessary in each provincial constituency to be eligible for the distribution of seats in Parliament. His political and personal animosity with the current Popular Party leader and former Galician president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, was well known.

"He made the best of Galicia and the best of humanity germinate"

Representatives of different political colors recalled his figure this Thursday as "a benchmark" for nationalism and for the political life of Galicia. "He leaves a great mark on several generations of Galician men and women," highlighted Pontón, as spokesperson for the BNG. The leader of the Galician socialists, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, remembered Beiras as a "committed intellectual, with a voice of his own, critical and always nonconformist." The president of the Xunta and leader of the Galician PP, Alfonso Rueda, also had words of remembrance: "He tried to contribute the best of himself without leaving anyone indifferent," he wrote on X.

The vice president and minister Yolanda Díaz, also Galician, wanted to say goodbye to Beiras with a message in which she attributes to him having made "the best of Galicia and the best of humanity germinate." "Beiras is intellectual lucidity and commitment to all emancipatory causes," she stated in a publication in Galician on social media. The farewell also included a brief allusion to Albert Camus, one of Beiras' favorite authors, in which she says that, like him, the Galician politician made of life "an act of rebellion." "Rest, Xosé Manuel, we will continue," they said goodbye from Anova.