Trinidad Jiménez, Spanish Minister for Health
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By h.b. - Apr 27, 2009 - 12:06 PM
She also took on responsibility for Social Policy when appointed in April 2009

Trinidad Jiménez García-Herrera, the former Secretary of State for Iberoamerica, became Spain’s new Minister for Health in 2009, taking over from Bernat Soria. She also took on responsibility for Social Policy, which had previously been under the Education Ministry until the Cabinet reshuffle announced by the Prime Minister in April 2009.

The new Health Minister is a malagueña, and was born in the capital of the Costa del Sol on 4th June 1962, the third of nine brothers and sisters. A lawyer, she took her degree in law at the UAM – the Autonomous University of Madrid - and is an expert on international relations. While at university, she and other students in the faculty founded the Socialist Students Association. A year later, in 1984, Trinidad Jiménez joined PSOE.

Her political career has been closely tied to international relations: she was president of the International Relations Committee of Spain’s Youth Council and served on its Permanent Committee, and between 1996 and 2000 had responsibility for Political Relations with America within PSOE’s International Relations Secretariat. She then became Secretary for International Policy on the party’s Federal Executive Committee.
She has also served as an advisor to the former Socialist Prime Minister, Felipe González, when he was President of Socialist International’s Global Progress Commission.

Trinidad Jiménez was chosen to stand as the Socialist party’s candidate for the Mayor’s office in the 2003 municipal elections in Madrid, but lost to the Partido Popular politician who is still Mayor of the city, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón. She was to remain at City Hall despite speculation in the press that she was to be named as a Minister in José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s new Cabinet after the Socialist victory in the general election which was held the following year – Jiménez had been one of the main members, as had José Blanco, appointed Development Minister in the 2009 Cabinet reshuffle, of the ‘Nueva Vía’ – ‘New Way’ movement within PSOE which had propelled Zapatero to party leadership in 2000.

Trinidad Jiménez García-Herrera left local politics in September 2006 when she was appointed to the Foreign Ministry as Secretary of State for Iberoamerica. Two and a half years later, Royal Decree 559/2009 of 7 April 2009 named the Secretary of State as Spain’s new Minister for Health and Social Policy.

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