This Monday, Carlos Garaikoetxea Urriza, who was the first Basque lehendakari after the approval of the Statute of Gernika in 1979, died at the age of 87. Garaikoetxea presided over the PNV from 1977 to 1980, when he was elected lehendakari of the first Executive to emerge from the polls after the recovery of democratic freedoms and Basque autonomy. Previously he had directed the Basque General Council, the pre-autonomous entity, in which he succeeded the socialist Ramón Rubial.
Continue reading
