The figure of Defense Minister Margarita Robles stands out for her capacity for political survival and her long judicial career. Not affiliated with the PSOE, she quickly rose in the judicial ranks, becoming the first woman to preside over a contentious-administrative court and, subsequently, the Audiencia de Barcelona. Her career was marked by a serious judicial error in 1992.
While presiding over the Audiencia de Barcelona, Robles convicted a Moroccan bricklayer and his colleague to 24 years in prison for rape in Cornellà without waiting for scientific police reports proving their innocence. The error was revoked in 2023, but one of the convicted men died of a heart attack in prison. This case highlights the jurist's initial rigor when accessing high office.
Politically, she entered the government of Felipe González as undersecretary, where she investigated the Lasa-Zabala case and ended the GAL, also accusing Luis Roldán. After returning to the judicial career as a judge of the Tribunal Supremo (2004-2016), she was recovered by Pedro Sánchez as number 2 on the PSOE list for Madrid and appointed Minister of Defense.
Currently, one of the pending issues affecting her management is the relocation of the Santa Eulalia barracks in Sant Boi de Llobregat, demanded for 25 years for urban reasons and the need for social housing. Although the centers of power in Madrid and Barcelona (Generalitat, Diputació, and Sant Boi City Council) are controlled by socialists, the project remains stalled, with only agreements of intent.
Her hermeticism regarding an issue that concerns all residents of Sant Boi and the surrounding region makes her an uncomfortable figure, certainly ambitious but one who does not resolve an old, well-studied, and convenient issue for a city of 86,000 inhabitants.
