Adriana Lastra Fernández (born 30 March 1979 in

Ribadesella Ribadesella () is a small municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. Known for its location on the Cantabrian Sea, at the outlet of the River Sella, Ribadesella is a town that forms part of the Picos de Eur ...

) is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

politician member of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

who served as the

Spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of the Socialist Group in the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

. She was also the Deputy Secretary-General of the

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

until 18 July 2022.

Biography

Lastra was born in

, a municipality of the Spanish region of

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

. She started studying cultural anthropology but did not finish the degree. Lastra joined the Socialist Workers' Party at the age of 18 and she was appointed Secretary-General of the Socialist Youth of Asturias the following year, in 1999, remaining in the position until 2004 when she was appointed Secretary for Social Movements and NGOs. Between 2008 and 2012 she served as Secretary for Local Policy of the

Asturian Socialist Federation The Asturian Socialist Federation (Spanish and Asturian: ''Federación Socialista Asturiana''), often shortened to FSA–PSOE, is the regional section of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the Principality of Asturias. It was formed o ...

. In the

2007 Asturian regional election The 2007 Asturian regional election was held on Sunday, 27 May 2007, to elect the 7th General Junta of the Principality of Asturias. All 45 seats in the General Junta were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elect ...

she was elected to the Parliament of Asturias and during that term served as Spokesperson of the Socialist Group in the Committee for the Presidency, Justice and Equality. She was re-elected in the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and 2012 regional elections.

National politics

As a close associate of the newly appointed Secretary-General of the

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has served as Prime Minister of Spain since 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since July 2017, having p ...

, she served as Secretary for Local Policy of the

. Lastra participated for the first time in a national election in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, heading the list of the Asturias constituency of the Socialist Party and was elected to the

. She was re-elected in the 2016 general election. After the 2016 general election, the possibly of a third consecutive election was imminent and the Secretary-General Sánchez proposed to the Federal Committee of the PSOE (the executive body of the Party) the possibility of holding an Extraordinary Congress of an urgent nature to decide if they should allow the Second Rajoy Government or reject it (the position of Sánchez) by asking the voters. The position of most of the members of the Federal Committee was to abstain and allow

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

to form a new government, rejecting Sánchez's request and forcing his resignation. After his resignation, a Caretaker Commission take control of the Party and Lastra publicly rejected what the Federal Committee had done. She was one of the decisive supports in the decision of Pedro Sánchez to attend the 2017 leadership election to regain the leadership of the

and played an essential role in his campaign, based on the rejection of the ideological project of the People's Party and the importance of the socialist bases to recover the party. After Sánchez was re-elected Secretary-General with more than 50% of the votes, the 39th PSOE Congress was held, in which Lastra was named Deputy Secretary-General becoming second-in-command to Sánchez and Deputy

of the Socialist Group in the

. After the success of the

2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy A motion of no confidence in the Second government of Mariano Rajoy, Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy was debated and voted in the Congress of Deputies between 31 May and 1 June 2018. It was brought by Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) l ...

was elected

Prime Minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government (), is the head of government of Spain. The prime minister nominates the Spanish government departments, ministers and chairs the Council of Ministers (Spain), Council of Mini ...

and the lead (

) of the Socialist Group in the Congress of Deputies

Margarita Robles María Margarita Robles Fernández (; born 10 November 1956 in León) is a Spaniards, Spanish judge and politician, currently serving as Ministry of Defence (Spain), Minister of Defence since June 2018. From November 2019 to January 2020, she s ...

was appointed

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

, promoting Lastra to that position, becoming the youngest person and the third woman to occupy this position in the history of the Socialist Party. She was replaced by Héctor Gómez Hernández on 8 September 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lastra, Adriana 1979 births Living people People from Ribadesella Members of the 11th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Women members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain)