Marta Corbal

Updated Monday, February 19, 2024-13:10

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  • Careers Eva Cárdenas, wife of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, closes 2023 with a professional change

A new cycle begins in Galicia

, a cycle that moves without Núñez Feijóo. A cycle that is about Rueda, about

"a certain" Alfonso Rueda.

In Spain, practically unknown. In Galicia, the right hand that Feijóo took out of his pocket before leaving for Madrid and that has now proven to be the perfect asset to

win the elections to the Xunta.

Before achieving his comfortable victory in

the elections of February 18, 2024

, Rueda had been the strongest caryatid in the cabinet of the former president of Galicia for 13 years and

the most trusted person of the PP leaders

in the community. Vice President of the Xunta de Galicia since 2009, Alfonso Rueda Valenzuela (Pontevedra, 1968) has always maintained a discreet profile, but never inactive.

A member of the Popular Party since

the

Novas

Galicia. However, they did not really coincide until 2006. When Alberto Núñez Feijóo was looking for a person for the position of Secretary General of the PPdeG. According to the recent biography of Feijóo written by Fran Balado,

the president needed "someone with a determined life outside of politics" for this position

. After a series of searches, that lucky man from the PP turned out to be Alfonso Rueda, who, thanks to an

opposition for the local administration

, was then secretary of the town hall in Cambados and A Cañiza, in the province of Pontevedra.

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It was Jesús Palmou, who was Secretary General with Fraga, who recommended his profile for such responsibility. When interviewed by LOC, it is Palmou himself, now retired from politics, who lists the reasons why Alfonso Rueda has been chosen to succeed Feijóo.

"He is an absolutely responsible and hard-working person,"

he describes. "Surely he was chosen because of his own personality, training, experience and career," he reveals about who in the past was his chief of staff when he was councilor. "Now being the new president

is a logical consequence of his seriousness and ability,"

says the former Galician PPdeG politician. "He is a moderate and conciliatory man," he says.

Current president

of the

Xacobea Academy, created for the Holy Year

and Galician culture. As revealed, Feijóo's successor

made every effort at every stage of his political path

and has begun his pilgrimage to the Monte Pío Palace, a residence created in 2002 for the presidents of Galicia where Manuel Fraga, Emilio Pérez Touriño and, of course, lived. , Alberto Núñez Feijóo, before

he settled on Moncloa as his desired residence for the future.

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Father of two daughters and happily married to a bank employee whom he met at the beginning of his partisan activity,

Alfonso Rueda is a discreet person with his private life.

Like Feijóo and as seems customary in Galician politics, his public personality seems

to have been carved in the Cistercian monasteries of the Camino de Santiago.

With distance from the spotlight, meditation for work and dedication to the land without desire for notoriety. However, although he never offers photographs of his family, he is very open on social networks and shows any opportunity to define himself as a man close to his family.

"Pontevedrés, fan of my family and biker",

that is the description he uses (yes, in the Galician language) to show himself on social networks, in which he is as active as in his daily life.

Perhaps due to the demands of his last name,

Rueda is a fan of motorcycling

and he shows it with his publications. However, he is also very much in favor of using his body as a motor, whether walking or riding a bicycle. A week ago, he could be seen walking with former president Mariano Rajoy. Both dressed in

promotional sports material for Xacobeo 2022

, they were preparing to take the "da Pedra e da Auga" route, a complicated and beautiful Xacobean walk.

In addition to promoting hiking, Rueda is a great cycling route along the Camino de Santiago. At 54 years old,

he can be seen doing long stretches in a jersey and helmet.

Always close to youth, Rueda uses sports as a tool to nourish his office work. However, the presidency is a job that requires taking care of many aspects,

including creating one's own image in the media

so as not to be called "the new Feijóo."

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HIS FATHER AND HIS FAMILY

Although Alfonso Rueda has not lived in politics all his life, the Popular Party and Galician cultural values ​​were already at home. His father, Alfonso Antonio Rueda Crespo (Jaén, 1938-Pontevedra, 2012), was a delegate of Agriculture and senator for Pontevedra, as well as an agronomist by profession. Jesús Palmou remembers that he met Alfonso Rueda Padre outside of politics

and that he traveled with him to different countries spreading

knowledge about Green Week, an international fair in Galicia held in Silleda (Pontevedra). Married to Dolores de Valenzuela López-Montenegro, in addition to Alfonso he had three children:

María, Marta and José Antonio.

According to Palmou, Alfonso Rueda Jr. also loves to "travel and see the world" while spreading the Galicia brand. Although he also likes to travel for leisure and enjoy his family. Which he rarely shows publicly

. "His wife has never wanted to appear in photos or be visible

," he says.