Rodolfo Martín Villa


Rodolfo Martín Villa is a Spanish engineer and politician, who served in various capacities in cabinets of the Spanish transition to democracy, including interior minister and first deputy prime minister.

Early life and education

Villa was born in Leon on 3 October 1934. He holds a university degree in engineering.

Career

Villa is an industrial engineer and tax inspector by profession. In February 1962 he became the head of the SEU, the university syndicate of the Spanish Falange movement. He replaced Jesús Aparicio-Bernal in the post. Villa's tenure ended in December 1964 and Daniel Regalado assumed the post.
He was a member of the Union of the Democratic Centre. He was the civil governor of Barcelona until his appointment as Minister for Trade Union Relations in 1975. His tenure as Minister for Trade Union Relations lasted until 1976.
He was appointed interior minister in the first cabinet of Adolfo Suárez on 5 July 1976, succeeding Manuel Fraga Iribarne as interior minister. Villa won a seat in the first democratic elections of Spain since 1936 held on 15 June 1977 for the UCD, representing León province. Following the election he retained his post as interior minister and he was 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 Spanish army. 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 to the cabinet led by Suárez. 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 province, 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. From February 1997 to May 2002, he was the chairman of Endesa, the government-controlled electricity group. He became honorary chairman of the company in May 2002.
In 2006, he was appointed chairman of Sogecable, a Spanish pay-TV provider. His term ended in October 2010 and Manuel Polanco replaced him in the post. In addition, Villa is a member of the advisory committee of FRIDE, Madrid-based think tank organization.

Controversy

lawyers announced in Madrid on 23 April 2013 that three former Spanish ministers of the Franco regime, including Villa, should be arrested and tried due to their alleged participation in killing of Argentinean citizens. Villa is specifically being accused of giving orders of five workers' executions during a labor strike in Vitoria in March 1976.