Francisco Marhuenda

Francisco "Paco" Marhuenda García (Spanish pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko maˈɾwenda]; born 1961) is a Spanish journalist, professor and former politician.

Francisco Marhuenda
In May 2013
Member of the Parliament of Catalonia
In office 5 December 1995 – 23 May 1996
Personal details
Born	12 January 1961 Barcelona
Citizenship	Spanish
Political party	People's Party (1995–?)
Occupation	Journalist, politician, political advisor, professor

Member of the People's Party Parliamentary Group in the Parliament of Catalonia between 1995 and 1996, he later worked in the staff of Mariano Rajoy during the later's spell as minister. Since 2008, Marhuenda is the editor of La Razón, a conservative daily newspaper.

Biography

Marhuenda was born on 12 January 1961 in Barcelona.^[1] He graduated in Journalism and later obtained a PhD in Law.^[2]

He worked for the Barcelonian edition of the ABC daily newspaper.^[3]

A former member of the national executive of the UCD Youth Wing,^[4] Marhuenda joined the People's Party (PP) in 1995, and became a member of the Parliament of Catalonia after the 1995 Catalan regional election.^[5] He resigned to his seat in 1996, to become chief of staff of the Minister of Public Administrations, chief of Staff of the Minister of Education and Culture in 1999, and director general of Relation with the Cortes in 2000, always under the aegis of Mariano Rajoy.^[5]

Marhuenda, in company of Eugenio Nasarre, Ignacio Arsuaga, José Javier Esparza and Eduardo Verástegui during the reception of the 2009 HazteOir awards

Following the ousting of José María Aznar from the government, Marhuenda returned to journalism. In 2008, Marhuenda, until then working as delegate of La Razón in Barcelona, was chosen by Mauricio Casals to become the new editor of the newspaper in Madrid.^[6] Soon after becoming editor Marhuenda described the leaning of the conservative and confessional newspaper as "unabashedly right-wing".^[7]

A member of the Catholic Association of Propagandists, Marhuenda obtained a second PhD in 2015 reading a thesis dealing with press freedom in Spain at the CEU San Pablo University.^[8]

In April 2017, Marhuenda and Casals were criminally indicted accused of participating in a extorsion scheme against the President of the Community of Madrid Cristina Cifuentes, which would have the purpose of hindering the investigations on the corruption case around the Canal de Isabel II water company.^[9][2] Soon after charges against Marhuenda and Casals were dropped.^[10]

Works

• — (1984). Ramón Viñals. Cuatro años por libre. Barcelona: Editorial Acervo.^[3]

References

1. M.M (18 December 2011). "El director de La Razón gana el premio internacional de historia del Carlismo". Diario de Navarra.
2. Valle, Ramón (21 April 2017). "Superagente Marhuenda: el único capaz de estar en varios sitios a la vez, y de paso en el juzgado". El Español.
3. Culla i Clarà, Joan B. (27 April 2017). "Un Catón del periodismo". El País.
4. "Francisco Marhuenda, nuevo director de 'La Razón'". La Vanguardia. 11 February 2008.
5. Ribera, Xavier (13 May 2014). "Paco Marhuenda, el bufón de la corte". eldiario.es.
6. Lamelas, Marcos (30 June 2017). "Mauricio Casals, el Maquiavelo del Palace". El Confidencial.
7. Nogales Bocio, Antonia Isabel; Mancinas-Chávez, Rosalba (2014). "Los diarios de referencia en el mercado de la prensa española. Propiedad, grupos mediáticos y conexiones estructurales" (PDF). Correspondencias & Análisis (4): 317. ISSN 2224-235X.
8. "Marhuenda, cum laude per una tesi sobre la llibertat de premsa". Directe.cat. 30 June 2015.
9. A.V (19 April 2017). "El juez cita a Marhuenda por coacciones a Cifuentes para impedir la investigación del Canal de Isabel II". El Periódico.
10. Pérez, Fernando J. (25 April 2017). "El juez del caso Lezo desimputa a Casals y Marhuenda por las coacciones a Cifuentes". El País.