Chief of the Army Staff

 The Chief of Staff of the Army was born in A Coruña on October 25, 1960. He joined the General Military Academy of Zaragoza in 1978 and in July 1983 he was promoted to the rank of Artillery Lieutenant, finishing first in the Academy’s 38th Class. Since 1996, he has been a Staff College Graduate of the Spanish Army, finishing first in his Class. In addition, he has completed the Advanced Command and Staff Course in the United Kingdom and the Course on Fire Direction Systems and Target Detection and Location.
 

Since January 17, 2020, he has been director of the Technical Cabinet of the Minister of Defense. Throughout his military career, he has alternated command of operational units of the Army (the most important, the 71st Antiaircraft Artillery Regiment in Madrid and the SAM Hawk II/74 Antiaircraft Missile Group in Seville) with assignments within the General Staff, such as the Spanish Verification Unit, the Headquarters of the Airborne Brigade, the Operations Division of the Defense General Staff, the Planning Division of the Army General Staff and the Division of Strategic Affairs and Security of the General Secretariat for Defense Policy of the Ministry (2009-2010). He has been Secretary General of the Army Training and Doctrine Command and Director of Teaching, Instruction, Training and Evaluation of the Army, both in Granada.

In addition, he has served in NATO, European Union and United Nations operations, participating in two missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Lebanon, where he was Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations at the United Nations International Headquarters in Naqoura.

He is in possession of numerous decorations and awards, civil and military, Spanish and foreign.
He has a degree in Political Science and Sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid, a Master’s degree in International Relations from the “Ortega y Gasset” University Institute, a Master’s degree in Security and Defense from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Diploma in Advanced International Studies from the International Studies Society.

He is a full member or the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.

He has published the book “Study of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe” (1995) and various contributions to collective works, articles and analyses on security and defense issues, and has been a lecturer at a large number of universities and educational and research centers, both civil and military.

He speaks English, French and Portuguese.