Marta Gastón

Marta Gastón Menal was born in Huesca, in the Spanish region of Aragon, on 2 February 1973. She studied economics and business at the University of Zaragoza, and before turning to politics full time she worked at Ibercaja, the Aragonese savings bank, as a business account manager.

Gastón was elected to the Senate of Spain for the province of Huesca in the 2004 general election for the PSOE. In the Senate she was deputy spokesperson of the Socialist parliamentary group and vice spokesperson on the economy and finance committee.

In 2007 she was elected to Huesca city council, where until 2011 she was responsible for finance and participatory budgeting. In the 2008 general election she moved to the Congress of Deputies as second on the Socialist list for Huesca, and served until 2011 as her group's spokesperson on the economy and finance committee during the financial crisis.

In July 2015 Javier Lambán made her minister for the economy, industry and employment of the Government of Aragon. In August 2019, in his second government formed by PSOE, Podemos, CHA and PAR, she became minister for the economy, planning and employment, with industry passing to the Aragonese Party. A decree law promoted by her department in August 2016 unblocked wind farm projects that had been stalled for nearly five years by legal disputes, with investment initially estimated at around 2 billion euros. During her time in office Aragon attracted the bonÀrea agri food complex in Épila, Amazon logistics and the Amazon Web Services data centres, and her department handled the recovery after the financial crisis and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic from 2020. She also chaired the Corporación Empresarial Pública de Aragón and the boards of public companies including Aramón, MotorLand, Aragón Exterior, Expo Zaragoza Empresarial, Walqa and the Aragonese logistics platforms.

After the 2023 regional election, in which she stood as number two on the PSOE list, she became a Socialist member of the Cortes de Aragón in opposition, again working on economic and business policy.

Gastón remained closely tied to Huesca throughout her life. She kept her private life largely out of public view, and published reports on her death did not give details of her family.

Marta Gastón died on 3 November 2026, aged 53, from cancer. Reports said she had lived with the illness for some time and that it had forced her to give up her seat in the Cortes de Aragón early. Her death was announced by PSOE Aragón general secretary Pilar Alegría, who described her as "una mujer incansable, tenaz y dialogante" who had devoted years of work to boosting the economy and improving the lives of Aragonese people. The regional PSOE called her a committed Socialist who worked tirelessly for Aragon's development and employment. Aragon's president Jorge Azcón of the PP and Vox also sent condolences, Azcón calling her a public servant recognised for her great capacity for work.

Gastón is remembered as the minister who steered Aragon's economy through eight years of change, linked above all to the expansion of renewable energy, logistics and large investments such as bonÀrea in Épila and the Amazon Web Services data centres. Her 2016 wind energy decree is widely seen as a turning point for renewables in the region.