Rodolfo Martín Villa (born 3 October 1934) is a Spanish engineer and politician, who served in various capacities in the cabinets of the Spanish transition to democracy, including interior minister and first deputy prime minister. He is being investigated in Argentina for aggravated homicide and crimes against humanity committed during the 1976 Vitoria massacre.

Early life and education

Villa was born in Santa María del Páramo, León, on 3 October 1934. He holds a university degree in engineering which he obtained from

Technical University of Madrid The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Te ...

Career

Villa is an industrial engineer and tax inspector by profession. In February 1962 he became the head of the Sindicato Español Universitario, the university syndicate of

FET y de las JONS The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS; ), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco ...

. He replaced

Jesús Aparicio-Bernal Jesús Aparicio-Bernal Sánchez (born june 15, 1929 in Madrid) is a Spanish politician who began his career under the Francoist State. Biography Having read jurisdiction at university, Aparicio-Bernal became a representative (''procurador'') ...

in the post. Villa's tenure ended in December 1964 and Daniel Regalado assumed the post. Villa was a member of the Union of the Democratic Centre. He was the civil governor of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

until his appointment as minister for trade union relations in 1975. His tenure lasted until 1976. He was appointed interior minister in the first cabinet of

Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister since the Second Spanish Republic and a key figure in th ...

on 5 July 1976, succeeding

Manuel Fraga Manuel Fraga Iribarne (; 23 November 1922 – 15 January 2012) was a Spanish professor and politician in Francoist Spain, who was also the founder of the People's Party. Fraga was Minister of Information and Tourism between 1962 and 1969, Amba ...

in the post. Villa won a seat in the 1977 general election, the first democratic elections in Spain since 1936, for the UCD, representing León. Following the election he retained his post as interior minister being responsible for internal security, local administration and also, civil rights. He also tried to institutionalize certain reforms about these issues, but he could not manage to realize the reformation of the Spanish police due to the intervention of the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The ...

. On 6 April 1979, Villa's term as interior minister ended, and he was replaced by Antonio Ibáñez Freire in the post. In a reshuffle of September 1980, he was appointed minister of the regions in the Suárez cabinet. He then served as first deputy prime minister from 1 December 1981 to 28 July 1982. After holding his seat for the UCD in the 1979 and 1982 general elections, he resigned in February 1983, but returned to the Congress at the 1989 election as a member of the People's Party, representing

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, holding his seat in the two subsequent elections before resigning in February 1997. In addition, he was a board member of the institution Caja de Madrid, a savings and loans institution. On 10 February 1997, he was named as the chairman of the

Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales ''Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales'' (SEPI) is a Spanish state holding company that is characterized as a Sovereign wealth fund. It is controlled by the Ministry of the Treasury. SEPI was preceded by the Instituto Nacional de Ind ...

. From February 1997 to May 2002, he was the chairman of

Endesa Endesa, S.A. (, originally an initialism for ''Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A''.) is a Spanish multinational electric utility company, the largest in the country. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, ...

, a government-controlled electricity group. He became honorary chairman of the company in May 2002. In 2006, he was appointed chairman of the

Sogecable PRISA Televisión, S.A.U (PRISA TV) is a pay TV company in Spain. History and profile PRISA TV was established in 1989 and controlled (as of 2007) by PRISA. It was the first company to introduce interactive systems and specially digital tel ...

, a Spanish pay-TV provider. His term ended in October 2010, and Manuel Polanco replaced him in the post. In addition, Villa was a member of the advisory committee of

FRIDE The FRIDE (''Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior'', Spanish for "Foundation for International Relations and Foreign Dialogue") was an independent European think tank headquartered in Madrid and Brussels. As of 201 ...

, now-defunct

-based think tank organization.

Controversy

Argentine

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

lawyers announced in Madrid on 23 April 2013 that three former Spanish ministers of Franco regime, including Villa, should be arrested and tried due to their alleged participation in the killing of Argentinean citizens. Villa is specifically being accused of giving orders of five workers' executions during a labor strike in

Vitoria Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

in March 1976.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin Villa, Rodolfo 20th-century Spanish businesspeople 20th-century Spanish engineers 1934 births Living people People from León, Spain Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) politicians People's Party (Spain) politicians Deputy Prime Ministers of Spain Government ministers of Spain Spanish corporate directors Members of the constituent Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 1st Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 2nd Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 4th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 5th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 6th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Interior ministers of Spain Civil governors of Barcelona Spanish industrial engineers Technical University of Madrid alumni