Licinio de la Fuente

Licinio de la Fuente y de la Fuente (7 August 1923 – 26 February 2015) was a Spanish Francoist politician who served as Minister of Labour from 1969 to 1975. Promoter of the Democracia Social party during the Spanish Transition, he was one of the "Magnificent Seven", the seven political leaders who founded the federation of People's Alliance (AP) in 1976.

Biography Licinio de la Fuente was born on 7 August 1923 in Noez, a small village of the province of Toledo, as the son to a staunchly Conservative family of farmers. In the midst of the Spanish Civil War, the family fled to the Francoist zone.

He earned a licentiate degree in Law from the University of Madrid, later becoming a member of the State Lawyers Corps.

Following a spell as responsible for the National Service for Cereals and as National Delegate of Wheat, he was appointed as Minister of Labour in October 1969.

During the Spanish Transition, he promoted Democracia Social (DS), a proto-party that espoused an "evolutionary neofalangist" brand of Francoism. In 1976, he joined other politicians united around the idea of limited political reform to create the coalition of People's Alliance (AP). It was together with the Spanish People's Union (UDPE) the component party that provided AP with some demands of "social justice" linked to the joseantonian falangist tradition. De la Fuente stood as AP candidate to the Congress of Deputies in the electoral list in Toledo vis-à-vis the June 1977 general election. He was elected as legislator but, weeks after, in August 1977, he announced his exit from the parliamentary group and his posts at AP, amid disagreements with the collegiate direction. Following the end of the legislative term in 1979, de la Fuente left politics and switched to the business sector.

He was member of the Boards of Directors of Dragados y Construcciones, Banco Central Hispano Hipotecario, Banco Gallego, Banco de Granada, Banco Internacional del Comercio, Española del Zinc and Ibermutua.

He was awarded with the Knight of Honour title bestowed by the Francisco Franco National Foundation (FNFF) on 18 July 2012.

He died on 26 February 2015 in Madrid.

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