canarian mayors convicted since 1978

The Canarian mayors convicted since 1978

Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.

Power tends to corrupt

Power tends to corrupt. Misconduct in public office, embezzlement, bribery, fraud or offences against land-use planning. It is a list all too familiar to more than thirty Canarian mayors and former mayors who, since 1978 – the year the autonomies began with the promulgation of the Spanish Constitution – have accumulated firm criminal convictions for acts related to the exercise of public office. Four new names could soon be added to that record.

Four Tenerife councillors face trial over sewage dumping

Four mayors and former mayors from the municipalities of Güímar, Candelaria and Arafo (Tenerife) will face trial in February 2027 over sewage dumping from the Valle de Güímar Industrial Estate. The Fifth Section of the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has set the start of the hearing for 8 February, when the mayor of Candelaria, María Concepción Brito Núñez, the mayor of Güímar, Carmen Luisa Castro Dorta, and former mayors José Gumersindo García Trujillo (Candelaria) and José Juan Lemes Expósito (Arafo) will take the stand.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking four years’ imprisonment for each of them, plus up to 13 years’ disqualification, for alleged environmental offences and misconduct in public office. The proceedings stem from a complaint filed in 2017, and the investigation concluded that the municipal officials had allegedly failed to meet obligations relating to the control, treatment and legalisation of the dumping, according to the prosecution order. The prosecution now maintains that for years industrial and waste water was discharged into the sea without the required treatment or permits.

A recurring problem in the Canary Islands

The Güímar case highlights a problem that is nothing new in the archipelago’s local authorities. The map of firm convictions accumulated over recent decades paints an uneven picture, although with a common thread: most cases stem from decisions taken by town councils, particularly in matters of town planning, procurement and the management of public funds.

Tenerife leads the list of convictions

Tenerife is the island with the highest number of mayors and former mayors with firm convictions related to the exercise of their public duties – more than a dozen. Among the most notorious cases is that of Miguel Zerolo, mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife between 1995 and 2011 and senator for Coalición Canaria. The Supreme Court confirmed in 2019 his seven-year prison sentence for embezzlement of public funds and misconduct in public office in the Las Teresitas case. Zerolo entered prison on 1 April 2019 to serve his sentence.

Gran Canaria’s most notable cases

Gran Canaria occupies the next rung on the count. One of the best-known cases is that of Francisco Santiago Castellano, historical mayor of Telde for 24 years. He was convicted of administrative misconduct for allowing the construction of the Yrichen Social Emergency Centre on a plot that the planning rules reserved for another use. The Provincial Court confirmed the sentence of seven years’ disqualification from public office.

Another notable case on Gran Canaria – because of the reason for the ruling – is that of Manuel del Rosario Báez Guerra, former mayor of Firgas, who was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of €2,160 for falsifying an official document after admitting he had sat an exam in place of his son in a Canary Islands Government selection process.

Lanzarote’s lengthy judicial history

Lanzarote also presents an extensive list. The judicial trajectory of Dimas Martín constitutes in itself one of the longest chapters in the island’s political history. He was mayor of Teguise, president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and senator, among other positions. The Supreme Court confirmed convictions for embezzlement, fraud and offences against the Social Security system committed during his time at the helm of a municipal company. He was subsequently convicted again in other corruption-related cases. In one of them, the Supreme Court confirmed a sentence of seven years and five months in prison for organised crime, continued bribery, embezzlement, fraud and misconduct in public office.

Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro

Fuerteventura also has several episodes, although none as drawn-out as that of Domingo González Arroyo, former mayor of La Oliva, former senator and one of the island’s most historically influential politicians. His judicial record includes a nine-year disqualification for misconduct in public office related to the operation of a quarry in a protected area. To that was added a conviction for tax fraud that ended with his admission to a social integration centre in 2026.

On La Gomera, Esteban Bethencourt Gámez, former mayor of Valle Gran Rey and regional deputy for Coalición Canaria, stands out. The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands sentenced him to four years in prison and ten years of absolute disqualification for embezzlement of public funds. The court considered it proven that he received payments from the town council in the form of expenses and travel allowances that he did not justify, although the Supreme Court ultimately reduced the sentence to one year and six months in prison.

El Hierro contributes one of the most historic names on the list of those convicted. José Francisco Armas Pérez, mayor of Valverde and regional MP for the PSOE, was convicted of misconduct in public office for a decision taken in 1983, when he ordered the demolition of a walkway and a staircase in the Tamaduste area without municipal agreement. The Territorial Court imposed a six-year-and-one-day disqualification, and the Supreme Court subsequently confirmed the conviction. The mayor of Valverde thus became the first councillor in the Canarian democratic era to accumulate a firm criminal conviction.

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