Born in
Bilbao, Aburto graduated in law from the
University of Deusto in 1984, and became a civil servant for the
Provincial Deputation of
Biscay in 1986. In the early 1990s, he worked in the
Basque Government under Interior Minister
Juan María Atutxa. Returning to provincial politics, he was a deputy to provincial leader from 2011 to 2012. In December that year he went back to the regional government, to be Minister of Employment and Social Policy. He resigned from his ministry in February. His party won 13 out of 29 seats and achieved a majority by forming a coalition with the
Socialist Party (PSE-EE). Aburto won re-election in
June 2019, forming the same coalition with 14 and 5 seats respectively and delegating four specific areas to the PSE. In April 2021, Aburto announced that he had cancer of the
duodenum in the
small intestine, having twice previously had the same diagnosis 13 and seven years earlier. ==References==