Spain's first female defense minister, Carmen Chacon, dies at 46
The cause of death has not been confirmed, although Spanish news outlets reported that she had been suffering from heart disease.
Chacon, who was from Barcelona, was defense minister from 2008 to 2011 under Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. She was seven months pregnant when she took on the role, which cast her into the media spotlight.
After Zapatero lost Spain's 2011 national election, Chacon ran to be the head of the Socialist party but narrowly lost.
She was the party's secretary for international relations between 2014 and 2016 when she resigned.