Javier Gómez Navarro, former Minister of Commerce and Tourism between 1993 and 1996 and one of the key figures of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, died this Thursday in Madrid at the age of 78 due to cancer. He was one of the key figures in ensuring that the Amadores project (owned by the Roca family in Puerto Rico, SA) in Mogán was legally compliant due to criticism from environmental groups in Las Palmas who defended a cliff of stones that was useless for employment. He was the ideologist from the Higher Council of Chambers of Commerce of the creation of the Consortium for Tourist Rehabilitation of Maspalomas. As a minister he came to the south of Gran Canaria during the time of Marcial Franco to support the PSOE of San Bartolomé de Tirajana in its crusade to modernise the Maspalomas promenade and protect the Dunes.
He was Minister of Trade and Tourism between 1993 and 1996 and reinvented Fitur in Madrid. He defended the presence of private capital in the Maspalomas Rehabilitation Consortium, one of the first to be created to modernise Spanish destinations. He did not succeed, but he did manage to get it created along with Playa de Palma, Puerto de la Cruz and Costa del Sol.
"To create something, you first have to destroy something. And there will always be someone who feels harmed. You have to have the will and take the risk, that's what has been lacking. It's difficult for public consortiums to achieve this," said the former Minister of Trade and Tourism. "Electoral difficulties ultimately make political powers back down when the first difficulties appear." "Another factor that slows down projects is the unwillingness of some owners to participate, who don't want complications, which can paralyze the entire project." Real as life itself. RIP.
