A long illness has taken the life of Leocadio Marín, who was everything in Andalusian socialism and who at the end of the eighties modernized the Red Cross. Born in Baeza (Jaén) on November 10, 1942, he died this May 21 in his town, to which he felt so close. Although his political career led him to different destinations, he always maintained that bond with his land that Antonio Machado immortalized: “Campo de Baeza / I will dream of you / When I don’t see you!”
Something about Machado had his personality. Kindness, respect, listening and good words and feelings for everyone. Her life was divided between the poison of politics and her vocation for teaching and speech therapy. He graduated in Philosophy and Letters in 1976 from the University of Granada, after having obtained the position of national teacher by competitive examination in 1963.
From a very young age he felt the call of socialism. Despite his status as an Andalusian and a contemporary of Felipe González and Alfonso Guerra, he did not join the ranks of the PSOE, but was seduced by the humanist discourse of the old professor Enrique Tierno Galván and his Popular Socialist Party (PSP). There may have been something Machadian in his choice. But after the integration of the PSP into the PSOE in 1978, he embraced with loyalty and enthusiasm a militancy that would never falter, despite the distance that he observed at times. The following year, in 1979, when he was 37 years old, he was elected president of the Jaén Provincial Council. Next, in 1982, with the victory of Felipe González, the government appointed her as his delegate in Andalusia, a key stage in his career in which he emerged as one of the most promising young socialists. It is a time in which Leocadio Marín relates to the most prominent members of the PSOE and to the economic and social fabric of his autonomous community.
Madrid was his next stop. The Red Cross was one of the few entities that had not experienced the winds of change that blew through Spanish life. The Government appointed him its president in 1986 with the mission of updating it. Despite its crucial role in society, the organization had become somewhat stale. In the four years that he directed it, Leocadio Marín modernized, democratized and rejuvenated the institution, and turned it into the organization it is today. That time allowed him to earn the respect of the main institutions, starting with the Royal House.
On two occasions – whoever writes this well knows this – he was waiting for the call to take on a ministry. In 1990, by his own decision, he abandoned the presidency of the Red Cross to be named PSOE candidate for the Andalusian Government. But something happened, which is irrelevant to comment on so many years later, that he dismantled the plan. He was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, and carried out enormous work for the benefit of the countryside and fishing, always attentive to meeting the needs of the most needy. He made his institutional position compatible with the presidency of the PSOE of Andalusia. Those were the years of differences between innovators and warring people. He aligned himself with the latter to the extent of preferring to resign from his position on the Board to defend his ideas in the party. That made; He grabbed his gear and returned to teaching. He left his many years of official offices to return to the classrooms as a speech therapist.
After occupying the presidency of the School Council of Andalusia, Leocadio Marín won the mayorship of Baeza by an absolute majority in 2007, a leadership role that he carried until 2015. He left an indelible memory among his neighbors. The city has declared a day of mourning in his memory. His disappearance has been followed by expressions of heartfelt condolence among politicians from all sides, evidence of the respect and affection that his figure arouses. His wife, Fela, his lifelong companion, and his two daughters will never forget him. Just like those of us who had the fortune of dealing with him and knowing him.
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