List of Famous people born in La Rioja, Spain
Pedro J. Ramírez
Pedro José Ramírez Codina, widely known as Pedro J. Ramírez, is a Spanish journalist. When he was appointed to manage Diario 16 at the age of 28, he became Spain's youngest editor of a national newspaper. In 1989 he founded the newspaper El Mundo, managing it continuously until 2014, making him the longest-serving editor of any Spanish national newspaper. He has collaborated with several radio and television programmes and has published a dozen books.
Alberto Garzón
Alberto Carlos Garzón Espinosa is a Spanish politician and economist, currently the Spanish Minister of Consumer Affairs. He has been a member of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and United Left since 2003. In the 2011 general election, he was elected as an MP within that coalition. He has been the Secretary of Constituent Process in IU from 2014 to 2016 and in 2015 he was elected as an IU candidate for that year's general election. He is a researcher in University Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla.
Javier Cámara
Javier Cámara Rodríguez is a Spanish actor. He starred in the Pedro Almodóvar films Talk to Her (2002), Bad Education (2004) and I'm So Excited (2013), and the television series 7 Vidas. He played Cardinal Bernardo Gutierrez in the HBO series The Young Pope as well as Guillermo Pallomari, the chief accountant of the Cali Cartel, in season 3 of the Netflix series Narcos.
Luis de la Fuente
Luis de la Fuente Castillo is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a left back, and is the current manager of the Spanish under-21 team.
Concha Andreu
Concepción "Concha" Andreu Rodríguez is a Spanish oenologist and politician who currently serves as the President of La Rioja. Since 2011 she has been a member of the Parliament of La Rioja.
Pepe Viyuela
José Viyuela Castillo, known as Pepe Viyuela, is a Spanish actor, clown, poet, and comedian. He is best known in English-speaking countries for his one-man stage show Encerrona (Lock-In), which was brought to the London stage in June 2017 as part of the Festival of Spanish Theatre in London (Festelón).
Santiago Aldama
Santiago Aldama is a Spanish basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Carlos Coloma Nicolás
Carlos Coloma Nicolás is a Spanish cross-country mountain biker. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the Men's cross-country at Hadleigh Farm, finishing in 6th place. He improved this result four years later at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he finished third, behind Nino Schurter and Jaroslav Kulhavý, and won the bronze medal. He was on the start list for the 2018 Cross-country European Championship and he finished.
César Luena López
César Luena López is a Spanish politician, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), serving as Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He was a member of the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th terms of the Congress of Deputies in representation of La Rioja.
Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda
Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda is a Vatican monsignor who was jailed for leaking official documents in the Vatileaks scandal. The clergyman admitted to passing classified documents to journalists. He is highest-ranking Vatican official ever to be arrested. Pope Francis granted him clemency after he served half of the 18-month jail sentence.