Àngels Martínez Castells

Àngels Martínez i Castells (9 May 1948 – 1 September 2024) was a Spanish economist and politician in Catalonia. From 2015 to 2017 she represented Barcelona in the Parliament of Catalonia.

Life and career Martínez Castells was born in Mollet del Vallès. She attended the University of Barcelona, where she graduated with a doctorate in economics, having previously also studied commerce, philosophy, literature, and law. Her thesis was directed by Fabián Estapé, in which she studied governance in Portugal following the Carnation Revolution.

In 2000, Martínez Castells was the Vice President of the Pere Ardiaca Foundation.

Martínez Castells was a founding member of the United and Alternative Left, a Catalonian political party.

In 2009, Martínez Castells co-founded, and then chaired, the public health platform Dempeus per la Salut Pública. In 2013, she was elected to the Scientific Council of the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and for Citizens' Action.

In May 2015, Martínez Castells was ranked in the 32nd place on the party list of the Barcelona en Comú in the municipal elections. In July 2015, she was elected in a primary election to hold the second position on the list of Podemos for the Catalonian parliamentary elections. After the coalition Catalunya Sí que es Pot was formed, she was also highly placed on the resultant party list, and she was elected to the Parliament of Catalonia where she served until 2017.

Martínez Castells died on 1 September 2024, at the age of 76.

Controversy In the session of 7 September 2017 in which the Parliament was voting on the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic, the deputies of Citizens and the People's Party of Catalonia left their seats in protest against the discussion, which, according to these parties, implied a violation of the Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy, and left Spanish and Catalan flags on their seats. Martínez Castells got up from her seat and removed the Spanish flags, leaving the Catalan flags. This controversial gesture, which was reprimanded by the president of the chamber, Carme Forcadell, was reported in the press.