María Pardo Valdés, one of the most recognizable faces of the last PP government in Santiago de Compostela, passed away this Saturday at the age of 58 after a long illness that had worsened in recent weeks. Former Councilor of Urban Planning and municipal spokesperson, she had been away from the political frontline for more than a decade and focused again on her professional career. She will be mourned at the family home in Rábade (Lugo), where she will be buried this Sunday.
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Born in Santiago in 1968 and with a degree in Law, Pardo arrived at Raxoi in 2011, when the PP regained the Mayor’s office, and took on key areas such as Urban Planning, Housing, Rehabilitation, and Historic City. During her time leading these responsibilities, she promoted changes to speed up the granting of licenses in the historic center and promoted various public space improvement actions, including the creation of playgrounds in the plazas of Galicia and Vigo.
Her time at the City Council was also marked by one of Compostela’s darkest nights. After the Alvia derailment in Angrois in July 2013, Pardo participated in coordinating the municipal response during the first hours of a tragedy that shocked the entire city.
Her political career broke down barely a year later. Pardo and six other councilors were initially sentenced to nine years of disqualification by a decision of the Governing Board linked to the context of the Pokémon operation. The seven resigned. Months later, in March 2015, the Provincial Court of A Coruña overturned the sentence and acquitted them, although Pardo did not return to active politics.
Her death caused widespread recognition in Compostela this Saturday. The mayor, Goretti Sanmartín, and the entire Corporation expressed their condolences to the family and the local PP. The socialist Mercedes Rosón, with whom she shared years at Raxoi, claimed that above the disagreements remained “affection, respect, and dedication” to the city.
Also, the popular spokesperson, Borja Verea, remembered her as a person “very beloved” by those who knew her. Pardo thus leaves a short but intense political career, linked to years in which Santiago experienced changes of mayor, judicial crises, and the Angrois tragedy, before she chose to definitively return to her professional life.
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