User:Mcapdevila/Riera-Pau

Agustí Riera i Pau (Sábalo, Guane, Cuba, July 2 of 1876 - Les Encies, (Les Planes d’Hostoles, Garrotxa, August 27 of 1936). He was a conservative Catalan politician and physician.

Second son of the doctor Narciso Riera Isla, from Vilamarí (Pla de l'Estany) and Crescencia Pau Caulas of Besalu (Garrotxa). His parents emigrated temporarily to Cuba fleeing the Third Carlist War. When they returned to Catalonia, Agustí was 8 years old. He had three sisters and two brothers.

He attended primary school at El Collell high school and later at the Institute of Girona, where he met Francesc Cambó, starting a friendship that would last a lifetime. Both were part of the Regionalist League since its founding.

He studied medicine at the University of Barcelona, where he graduated on May 30, 1899 with the highest award. He married in 1903 to Maria Teresa Trotcha Estalella, born in Cuba, daughter of Zenon Trotcha former banker from Arenys de Mar, also emigrated to Cuba. They lived in Barcelona until 1905, when due to the death of his father they moved to Sarria de Ter to take over his father's post as a physician. They had seven children. He was a member of the Association of Physicians and Biologists in Catalan Language, where he served as deputy member representing the surrounding region. He was a very appreciated in the region, as a person and as a physician.

He was elected deputy provincial of Girona by the Regionalist League, and between March 13, 1911 and January 13, 1924 he was president of the Council of Girona. As such, he participated in the creation of the Commonwealth of Catalonia, body composed by the four Catalan provinces, active between 1914 and 1925. He was appointed director of the Association of Communications and Public Works, position in which he actuated with high efficiency expanding the network of country and local roads and extending the telephone line network. He also took part, together with his friend Francesc Cambó, in the commission of the Catalan parliament in Madrid, created in 1918.

On January 9 of 1921, he chaired the Floral Games in Sarrià de Ter. On May 13, 1923 he was elected senator for the province of Barcelona. In 1933, as chairman of Catalanist Center, was named vice president of the Governing Council of the Catalan League.

With the outbreak of the Civil War (18 July 1936) he was threatened to death. Cambó offered him the possibility of exile, as many other politicians did, but he declined the offer. On August 27, 1936 he was found murdered in a small forest near Les Encies (Olot). Two streets bear his name in Girona (in the Pont Major) and Sarria de Ter.