Federico Trillo

Federico Trillo-Figueroa Martínez-Conde (born in Cartagena, Spain, May 23, 1952) is a Spanish politician belonging to the People's Party. His father, also named Federico Trillo, was a politician during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

He has a bachelors degree in law from the University of Salamanca and a juris doctor from the Complutense University of Madrid. He is married with five children.

Trillo entered into the Navy's judicial body in 1974 (after finishing first in his class) where he was placed in the prosecutor's office of the Maritime Zone of the Mediterranean, then later in the Directorship of Military Naval Construction. In 1979 he served as the opposition for the Lawyer Corps of the State Council. He retired as commander in 1989 to enter politics.

In 1983 he entered the judicial cabinet of the "Coalición Popular" ("People's Coalition"), then headed by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, where he actively participated in the restructuring of the party, refashioning it as the People's Party. He has been a member of the national executive since 1986.

Trillo has been elected deputy for the province of Alicante at each election since 1989. From 1989 and 1996 he was vice-president of the Congress of Deputies. On March 27, 1996 he was named president of the Congress of Deputies, a position he maintained until the end of the sixth legislature in 2000. On April 27, 2000, Prime Minister José María Aznar named him Minister of Defense for Aznar's second government.

In July 2002 he ordered an attack on the Isla Perejil which had been occupied for days by Moroccan soldiers. The Yakovlev 42 crash in Turkey on May 26, 2003 in which 62 Spanish soldiers died while returning from Afghanistan and for which he repeatedly refused to accept political or criminal responsibility marked the end of his tenure as the Minister of Defense.

Trillo is the author of many books on law and judicial and political thought. His most recognized works are: "El poder político en los dramas de Shakespeare" and "Pregones y Semblanzas".

He collaborated in the founding of the Association for Studies for Social Progress. He is a member of the Spanish Commission of Military History, and a member of Opus Dei.

External links