Carolina Darias San Sebastián (

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

, 25 November 1965) is a Spanish civil servant and

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 ...

(PSOE) politician who served as minister of Health of Spain from 2021 to 2023. Before that, from 2020 to 2021, she served as Minister of Territorial Policy and Civil Service under

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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 ...

. As member of the

(PSOE), in July 2019 Canarian President

Ángel Víctor Torres Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez (; born 30 March 1966) is a Spanish politician currently serving as minister for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory since 2023 and secretary-general of the Socialist Party of the Canaries (PSC–PSOE) since 20 ...

appointed Darias as regional minister of Economy, Knowledge and Employment in the government of the Canary Islands. She also served as President of the Parliament of the Canary Islands from June 2015 to June 2019.

Early life

Born in

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

on 25 November 1965, Darias received her law degree from the

University of La Laguna The University of La Laguna (ULL; Spanish: ''Universidad de La Laguna'') is a public research university situated in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the island of Tenerife, Spain. It is the oldest university in the Canary Islands. The univers ...

Career

Career in regional politics

A politician from the

, Darias was a member of the city council of

from 1999 to 2004. She served as a government sub-delegate (2004–07) and was elected to the

Parliament of the Canary Islands In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

from Las Palmas in 2007. However, she left the position the following year after her appointment as the director of Territory, Town Planning and Housing in the Las Palmas city council. In October 2014, Darias contested the PSOE primary for the post of

President of the Canary Islands The president of the Canary Islands is the head of government of the Canary Islands, one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, while the monarch Felipe VI of Spain, Felipe VI remains the head of state as Monarchy of Spain, king of Spain (an ...

but lost to Patricia Hernández. After the results of 2015 Canarian regional election were announced PSOE agreed to form a coalition with

Canarian Coalition The Canarian Coalition (, CC or CCa) is a regionalist and Canarian nationalist political party in Spain operating in the Canary Islands. The party's aim is for greater autonomy for the islands but not independence. Its position has been labeled a ...

and she was elected Speaker of the Parliament of the Canary Islands even though PSOE had won fewer seats than Canarian Coalition. She is the first woman to hold the position.

Career in national politics

On January 11, 2020, Darias was appointed as Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Function in the Government of Pedro Sánchez was announced. Throughout the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and as the minister responsible for relations between the central government and the different public administrations, Darias accompanied the minister of health,

Salvador Illa Salvador Illa Roca (; born 5 May 1966) is a Spanish politician serving as the President of the Government of Catalonia since 2024. He also served as Ministry of Health (Spain), Minister of Health of Spain from 2020 to 2021. He has been the Secr ...

, to all meetings of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System as well as other types of coordination and control meetings in the health field. Due to this, on 26 January 2021 the Prime Minister announced her appointment as Minister of Health, successor to Salvador Illa.

Personal life

On 12 March 2020, it was reported that Darias had been infected by

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

, the virus that caused coronavirus 2020 pandemic. She was the second member of the Spanish government to be infected by the virus, after it was reported that Minister of Equality

Irene Montero Irene María Montero Gil (; born 13 February 1988) is a Spanish politician and psychologist, member of the Podemos party. She most recently served as the Minister of Equality of Spain from 13 January 2020 to 20 November 2023. She is the partn ...

had tested positive for the virus earlier the same day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darias, Carolina 1965 births Living people Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians People from Las Palmas Spanish women in politics Members of the 9th Parliament of the Canary Islands Presidents of the Parliament of the Canary Islands Health ministers of Spain