Jose Bono

On Thursday, January 20th, 2005, we were honored to have as guest speaker Mr. José Bono Martínez, Minister of Defense of the Kingdom of Spain. It was an incredibly successful event with approximately 100 guests, including NL members. Spain’s Minister of Defense was born in Salobre, province of Albacete, on December 14th 1950. A lawyer by profession, he practised law until 1979, and since 1972 he lectured in Political Law at the Complutense University in Madrid. In 1976, he received a commission from the UN to report on the Human Violations perpetrated at the time in Chile. For doing so, he was asked to leave-expelled-by General Pinochet’s government... In 1977 he was the private prosecutor in the famous trial about the murders of the labor law attorneys in the ATOCHA street in Madrid. His involvement with politics began at the end of the turbulent 60’s... In 1970, he joined the Popular Socialist Party, holding full membership until 1979, date in which his Party merged with the Spanish Workers’ Socialist Party (PSOE). From 1979- 1983 he was Member of Parliamant for the District of Albacete and served as Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee. In 1983, after the PSOE won its first regional election Mr. Bono was elected President of Castilla-La Mancha by the Regional Parliament, a position he would hold for five consecutive terms... and elected by absolute majority... From 1988-1990 he also held the position of Secretary General for the PSOE in Castilla-La Mancha. He authored a book entitled “A vueltas con el Futuro,” which deals with the role of socialism in a permanently changing society. It was at a recent conference in Madrid on the Military Relations between the US and Spain on June 21st, 2005 that the Minister adamantly expressed that he could see no vestige of anti-americanism and that the relations between Spain and the USA “are clear, hiding no secret protocol.” In fact, he stressed that “since the end of the 18th century, the citizens of the USA should know that Spain was there to defend them...” (1776) and... “that it is its oldest ally.” “The frigate Álvaro de Bazán has been integrated into the Combat Group of the aircraft carrier Roosevelt, marking the first time that a Spanish ship has fully participated in joint maneuvers with the USA and proving that its high technology in the F100 Aegis systems is compatible with that of their American counterparts!”