Background
Belloch, Juan Alberto was born on February 3, 1950 in Mora de Rubielos, Teruel, Spain.
activist jurist mayor politician
Belloch, Juan Alberto was born on February 3, 1950 in Mora de Rubielos, Teruel, Spain.
He graduated from the University of Barcelona with a law degree.
He has been the mayor of Zaragoza since June 2003. Belloch worked as a judge in the Basque county. He also established the association for human rights in 1984.
He served as the president of the provincial court of Vizcaya.
On 14 July 1993 he was appointed justice minister in a cabinet reshuffle and became part of the cabinet led by the prime minister Felipe Gonzalez. He served in the post until 6 May 1996.
He was also appointed interior minister on 5 May 1994, replacing Antoni Asunción Hernández in the post, who resigned from office in the late April 1994. Therefore, both justice ministry and interior ministry were headed by Belloch.
His attempts to clean the ministry of interior led to the discovery of the GAL affair which triggered the trial and arrest of the former interior minister José Barrionuevo.
The affair then was searched by an inquiry committee in the Spanish senate and following the inquiry it was dissolved. Belloch was in office until 6 May 1996 and was succeeded by Jaime Mayor Oreja in the post. and served there until 2000. Next he became a senator for Zaragoza and held the post from 2000 to 2004.
After leaving office, he became a Zaragoza councilman.
He ran for the mayor of Zaragoza and was elected to the post in June 2003. He was reelected for office in 2007 and in 2011.
In 2008, he was appointed the chairman of the association of cities and regions hosting an international exposition (Agile Virtual Enterprise). He attempted to make Zaragoza the European Capital of Culture for 2016.
His other significant activity as mayor is to make the city the host of the Winter Olympics in 2022.
Member Democratic Justice. Founder Association Judges for Democracy, Association Magistrates Européens pour la démocratie et les libertés. Founder, president Association for Human Rights of the Basque Country.
Congressman Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol, since 1996.
Married; 1 child.