Anna Balletbò i Puig

Anna Balletbò i Puig (15 December 1943 – 24 October 2025) was a Spanish academic, journalist and politician. She was a member of the Socialist Party of Catalonia. Balletbò was the first person released after the kidnapping of the Congress of Deputies during the 1981 Spanish coup attempt, and the first civilian to speak directly to King Juan Carlos I about what was happening inside the parliament building that day.

Early life and education Balletbò was born in Santpedor, Catalonia, on 15 December 1943. Her aunt was the grandmother of football manager Pep Guardiola.

Balletbò attended a boarding school in England where she studied the English language. She also obtained a degree in modern history and communication sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her tenure at the Congress of Deputies ended in 2000.

Balletbò worked as a faculty member at the Autonomous University of Barcelona from 1975 and became a professor at the Faculty of Information Sciences. She was part of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She was also a co-founder of the Olof Palme International Foundation which was established in Barcelona in 1989.

Between 2000 and 2007, she was a member of the board of RTVE and of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals between 2008 and 2012. President of Catalonia Salvador Illa, also from the PSC, expressed his "shock" at the death of "a great, brave public servant and defender of socialist values when it was most difficult and necessary".

Awards Order of the Polar Star (Sweden, 1985) Creu de Sant Jordi (Catalonia, 2006) Golden Medal for Civil Merit, posthumous (City Council of Barcelona, 2025)