The institutional distinction of the one who was councilor of this municipality for 28 consecutive years is included in the file of honors and distinctions for 2025 that the mayor Marco Aurelio Pérez will submit this Friday to the full Corporation, where the appointments of Pedro José Franco López as Favorite Son and the tourism entrepreneur Theo Gerlach as Adopted Son are also proposed.
The well-known and esteemed resident of San Fernando de Maspalomas, Benito Pérez Franco, who held the position of councilor of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council for 28 uninterrupted years, spanning seven different terms, will return to the front line of the southern municipality as an "Honorary Councilor."
This distinction will be one of the 11 official institutional recognitions that Mayor Marco Aurelio Pérez Sánchez will propose for approval by the City Council's plenary session this Friday, as part of the list of honors and distinctions for San Bartolomé de Tirajana for 2025, prepared by Elena Álamo Vega, Councilor for the Presidency, Culture, Education, Youth, and Equality.
Benito Pérez Franco, born in El Lomo de Maspalomas on May 13, 1951, and retired in 2019, began his career as a councilor of this municipality in 1983, and then served uninterruptedly for up to six more consecutive terms between 1987 and 2011, becoming one of the residents of San Bartolomé de Tirajana who has held the position of democratically elected public representative for the longest period of time. He was deputy mayor and headed various departments, including Sports, Nursery Schools, Festivals, Mobile Park, Markets, and Social Services. His initiatives included the creation of the Meloneras Sailing School, the Skating Rink, the Maspalomas Climbing Wall, the Maspalomas International Football Tournament, the Petanque Court, the Children's Golf School, the Ayagaures Horse Riding School, and the implementation of multi-sport courts in various neighborhoods. He worked for 15 years at the pharmacy in the town of San Fernando and for another 15 years at the pharmacy in the Mercurio Building. From a young age, he participated in the organization of the San Fernando festivities and served as its president for many years. He was a founding member of the Maspalomas Football Club and served on its board until its promotion to the Second Division B.
Other honorary recognitions
This year's proposed honorary recognitions, in recognition of personal, civil, and social merits rendered in the general service of the municipality and its population, include the awarding of the title of Favorite Son of San Bartolomé de Tirajana to former City Council official Pedro José Franco López, and the title of Adopted Son to businessmen Theo Gerlach, founder and owner of the Seaside Collection hotel group, and Andrés Ocón Guzmán, the latter posthumously. Likewise, the list of honors and distinctions of this city council for 2025 includes the awarding of the municipality's Gold Medal to Ángel Marrero Rivero, Tatiana Mar Vaquero Escribano, Francisco Brazuelo Cañizares, María Dolores Osés Merino, Orlando Viera Morales, Ann Kristin Ekstrand, and Josefa Trujillo Abrante.
Pedro José Franco López is the president of the "Friends of Maspalomas" Association. He worked for the City Council for 32 years in various capacities. In 2019, he received the Raíces Award, and the Gran Canaria Island Council honored him with the Roque Nublo Folklore Award in 2020. From a young age, he demonstrated his commitment to rescuing, preserving, and disseminating events of historical, social, and cultural significance in the municipality and its tourism development. This work includes the publication of several books, such as "Maspalomas Antier" and "Maspalomas, the Roots of Progress," among others. His biography as a resident highlights his close collaboration with the Church of Maspalomas and his participation in its segregation from the main parish of El Tablero and the launch of the Maspalomas Regional Folklore Festival.
Theo Gerlach, born in 1928 in Hamburg, Germany, chose Maspalomas, where he opened the Hotel Don Gregory in 1974, to cement the foundations of his hotel chain. Since then, the company that owns the Grand Hotel Residencia, the Sandy Beach, and the Palm Beach in Maspalomas has grown to include 12 prestigious hotels in Spain (the Canary Islands), Germany, and the Maldives. In 2002, he was awarded the gold medal for "Important Tourists" for his contribution to the development of quality tourism in the Canary Islands, and in 2010, he was named an Adopted Son of Gran Canaria by the Island Council.
Andrés Ocón Guzmán, who died on October 31, 2024, at the age of 85, was an entrepreneur with a background in Public Relations who joined the Canary Islands tourism sector in October 1968 as the first maître d' at the Hotel Las Palmas Palace in the capital of Gran Canaria. A year later, he assumed the position of director of food and beverages at Extur SA, a position he held until 1972, when he was appointed director of the Hotel Parque Tropical. He led the hotel for 18 years, until 1990, positioning it as one of the most highly valued by tourists. He was also a prominent collaborator of the Spanish Red Cross, where he held the position of head of the naval section in the municipalities of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Mogán during the period of population and tourism growth.
Ángel Marrero Rivero, one of the pioneers of tourism in Maspalomas, was the founding president of the Canary Islands Regional Bartenders Association (AABC) in May 2006 and one of the promoters of the twinning of the municipalities of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Segovia in 1996.
Tatiana Mar Vaquero (Maspalomas, 1985) holds a PhD in Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering, specializing in the design of spacecraft trajectories for interplanetary missions. She has worked for NASA in California since 2013. Her work as a supervisor at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has consolidated her reputation as a researcher in advanced astrodynamics and an expert in the planning and execution of complex space missions. In 2019, she was awarded the Silver Dog in the scientific field by the Gran Canaria Island Council. She is also an international speaker.
Pianist and composer Francisco Brazuelo Cañizares (Madrid, 1949) arrived in Maspalomas in 1974 with an orchestra hired to perform for six months at the Oasis Hotel. Afterward, he decided to settle in the municipality and work as a pianist in several hotels in the tourist area and also as a music and solfeggio teacher. His calling led him to found the Maspalomas Polyphonic Choir and the "Maspalomas Encantada" Cultural Association in 1989, an institution he directed for 35 years. In 1992, he obtained a position as a secondary school teacher at the Támara Secondary School.
María Dolores Osés Merino (San Sebastián, 1947), known as "Loly la Vasca," arrived in Maspalomas more than 50 years ago. Here she raised a family of five children and in 1981 opened the haberdashery "La Casa de las Labores" in the San Fernando Shopping Center, where she served as president. Her neighborhood biography highlights her contributions to fundraising for the construction of the current San Fernando parish, organizing the first Three Kings' Parades and the first food and toy collection campaigns, and being one of the first volunteers in the town's soup kitchen. She was an activist in anti-drug campaigns, the opening of schools and sports and cultural facilities, and the establishment of the southern hospital. One of her most intense campaigns was in support of the educational community of the now-defunct Enrique Jorge School in El Tablero, dedicated to caring for children and young people with mental disabilities. This led her to create the 'Diez Mil y Más Association', which in 2007 was renamed the 'Asociación Caminaré' (Walk I Will Association), and to secure the provision of a large workshop for the El Salobre Occupational Centre and the opening of a centre for people with intellectual disabilities on the same site by the Council, as part of the 'City of Equals' project. In 2005, she was awarded the Maspalomas Rotary Club's Humanities Award.
The son of Gran Canarian parents, Orlando Viera Morales was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1958, where he graduated as a marketing and advertising technician. Back in the Canary Islands, he qualified as a nursing assistant in 2002 and joined the Canary Islands Association of Friends Against AIDS in 2004. He settled in San Bartolomé de Tirajana in 2009 and has since been a key player in community work to prevent and assist people with HIV/AIDS. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in coordination with health authorities, he managed the supply of medication to tourists stranded in the municipality, ensuring the continuity of their treatment during the lockdown.
Ann Kristin Ekstrand Celis arrived in Gran Canaria in 1975 to study Spanish. In 1978, she began working as a secretary at the Swedish consulate in the capital. She was later appointed vice-consul and in 1992 assumed the position of honorary consul, a position she held for 39 years, until her retirement in 2024. She has been a prominent collaborator of the Swedish Church on the island and a point of support for numerous fellow residents and tourists. She has actively collaborated with the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council and was one of the promoters of the installation of the Dalecarlian Horse sculpture in San Agustín in 2012, coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the Maspalomas Costa Canaria tourist resort.
Josefa Trujillo Abrante (Castillo del Romeral, 1940) has been a leading figure in the neighborhood struggle in her hometown. Her biography highlights the social mobilization of opposition and rejection she led against the construction of the Juan Grande Penitentiary Center and the demand for the construction of a decent funeral home for El Castillo del Romeral and a school in El Matorral.
