Carmina Belmonte

Carmen "Carmina" Belmonte Useros (born 1950) is a Spanish academic and former politician. As a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), she was the mayor of Albacete from 1991 to 1995, the first democratically elected woman mayor of a provincial capital in Spain.

Biography

Belmonte was born in Albacete in Castilla–La Mancha. Her mother was the ethnologist Carmina Useros and her sister was the soprano Elisa Belmonte.[1] She studied philosophy at the University of Valencia and gained a doctorate in pedagogy. She taught in Hellín and Albacete, and in 1988 was given the office of professor at the Facultad de Educación de Albacete within the University of Castilla–La Mancha.[2] As of 2025, she was professor of French philology.[3] She has two daughters.[4]

During the Spanish transition to democracy, Belmonte had been a member of the People's Socialist Party (PSP).[2] In the 1991 Spanish local elections, she stood as an independent candidate at the top of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) list for Albacete, winning with 14 seats against the 10 from the People's Party.[2] For the first time, the PSOE held the mayor's office in all five provincial capitals in Castilla–La Mancha.[5] During her mandate, Belmonte introduced a councillor responsible for women's affairs.[2]

Numerous sources describe Belmonte as the first woman elected as mayor of a provincial capital: prior to democratic elections, Eloína Suárez became mayor of Oviedo in 1978 due to a resignation, and Clementina Ródenas became mayor of Valencia in 1989 due to the resignation of Ricard Pérez Casado.[6] In the same 1991 elections, Rita Barberá became mayor of Valencia and Blanca Calvo Alonso-Cortés mayor of Guadalajara, but their inaugurations were delayed by the need to form coalition governments in those city halls.[2]

References

  1. ^ "La desconocida gastrónoma que situó Albacete en el mapa" [The unknown culinary expert who put Albacete on the map]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 26 March 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Las primeras mujeres albaceteñas en las instituciones" [The first Albacete women in the institutions] (in Spanish). Mapa de la Memoria Democrática de Albacete. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  3. ^ Díaz, Antonio (1 April 2025). "«Todavía falta por conseguir la igualdad real»" ["True equality has not yet been reached"]. La Tribuna de Albacete (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  4. ^ "Emotivo homenaje a Carmina Belmonte en el colegio La Paz de Albacete" [Emotional homage to Carmina Belmonte at La Paz school in Albacete] (in Spanish). Más que Alba. 18 March 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  5. ^ Fernández, José Luis (27 May 1991). "Los socialistas controlaran las cinco capitales" [Socialists will control the five capitals]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  6. ^ "Más de un 70% de los alcaldes de capitales de provincia son hombres" [More than 70% of mayors of provincial capitals are men] (in Spanish). Europa Press. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
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