Doris Benegas Haddad was born in 1951, and died on July 29, 2016.

She was a Spanish political lawyer and leader of the pro-independence Basque coalition the Castilian Left.

Doris’s father was José María Benegas Echeverría, an exiled Basque Nationalist politician, who fled Spain in 1939 following the victory of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

Doris Haddad was her mother, a Lebanese Jew, who migrated from Lebanon to Venezuela.

During 1956 the family moved back to Echeverria’s home region, the Basque Country.

During 1964, Doris left home to attend high school in Bayonne, in French Basque, returning to Spain in 1969 to begin studying law at the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian.

She relocated to Valladolid in 1972 and started working in the FASA-Renault factory.

Doris went on to take part in workers’ strikes and industrial action, and subsequently lost her job for her involvement in these activities.

Benegas also joined the communist movement and as a result came under police surveillance.

During May 1973, Doris was arrested for her political activism.

She completed her law degree and joined the Bar in Valladolid in 1975.

Doris Benegas passed away at 64 years old.