Santiago Carrillo

Santiago José Carrillo Solares (18 January 1915 – 18 September 2012) was a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) from 1960 to 1982.

During the Civil War, he was placed at the head of a Republican militia and was in charge of maintaining public order in Madrid. Some hold him responsible for the massacres of Franco's prisoners that took place at the end of 1936.

He was exiled during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, becoming a leader of the democratic opposition to the regime. His role as leader of the PCE would later make him a key figure in the transition to democracy. He later embraced Eurocommunism and democratic socialism, and was a member of the Congress of Deputies from 1977 to 1986.