Born in
A Coruña, Merino became the first mayor of the city after the
Spanish transition to democracy, serving from 1979 to 1981 in representation of the
Galician Socialist Party (PSG). He was removed from office by a
Union of the Democratic Centre motion of no confidence. After leaving the mayor's office, Merino was a member of the
Galician Socialist Party–Galician Left (PSG-EG), which later joined the
Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG). He was a deputy in the
Parliament of Galicia from 1991 to 1993, and 1999 to 2005. From 2005, Merino was Galicia's
Ombudsman (), an office that he left in 2012 due to
Parkinson's disease. He died at the age of 78. His
FIDE rating was 2266. ==References==