The leader of the PCE and Secretary of State, Enrique Santiago, has as cabinet director since this week a former director of Cáritas, Cristina Linaje Hervás, who in the past was the national person in charge for the 2030 Agenda in that charity organization of the Church. Linaje Hervás has been promoted to the political structure of the Ministry of Social Rights after the remodeling that has taken place in the cabinet directorates of Minister Ione Belarra and her Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda.

These changes have been triggered by the departure of Santiago Jiménez Martín, until now director of Belarra's cabinet and previously deputy director of Pablo Iglesias's cabinet while he was vice president of the Government.

Now, replacing Santiago Jiménez, the minister and general secretary of Podemos has appointed Sandra Estela Astete, who until now headed the cabinet of Secretary of State Enrique Santiago. In turn, the gap left by Astete is filled by Cristina Linaje, one of the positions popularly known as the 'plumbing' on which the political leaders rely.

Sandra Estela Astete becomes a senior position in the Ministry of Social Rights. Given the level of that position, in which her predecessor earned more than 70,000 euros in nine months last year, Astete's appointment as director of Belarra's cabinet has been made by royal decree of the Council of Ministers, although at the proposal of the department head. However, Cristina Linaje's appointment has been made effective through a lower-ranking provision, an order signed directly by Minister Belarra, of which she simply informs the Council of Ministers.

Cristina Linaje had been linked to the ministerial team led by the general secretary of Podemos for some time and in which the leader of the PCE is placed as secretary of state. For example, until now it has represented the Ministry of Social Rights in the Network of Local Entities for the 2030 Agenda, a body of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) in which Linaje has appeared as a member of its governing council.

The new cabinet director of Enrique Santiago is a political scientist. Before being responsible for the 2030 Agenda in Cáritas Spain, she was in charge of the Political Advocacy area of ​​that same Church organization. She was also part of the NGDO coordinator, the state network in which social organizations and platforms working in the field of international development cooperation are grouped.