The publication of Order JUS/1222/2023 by the Ministry of Justice highlights the high volatility of prosecutorial positions in the tourist hub of Gran Canaria. The Territorial Section loses two career prosecutors to receive three newly appointed prosecutors, a swap that directly impacts the handling of large-scale economic crime.
The resolution of the transfer competition to fill vacant positions in the Public Prosecutor's Office, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on November 14, 2023, has confirmed a major restructuring in the Prosecutor's Office of the Territorial Section of San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Maspalomas). This personnel movement, while common, is significant and underscores the high turnover that characterizes judicial positions in tourist areas of the islands.
The main focus of attention for the South of Gran Canaria is the departure of two key figures, whose transfers are interpreted as a move to positions that, while lower in rank, offer greater stability or geographical proximity: María Ruiz Jiménez (Prosecutor, 3rd category): Transferring to the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Huelva. Rocío Martín-Romero Cabrera (Prosecutor, 3rd category): Moving to the Territorial Section of Osuna (Seville).
The departure of these two professionals represents the loss of accumulated experience in a particularly complex jurisdiction. The San Bartolomé de Tirajana Prosecutor's Office handles sensitive cases related to urban planning corruption, organized crime linked to nightlife, and economic crimes stemming from tourism investment and money laundering. This loss of know-how forces the new prosecutors to undergo accelerated learning curves in cases with significant economic impact.
However, in a move that mitigates the bleeding, Érika Quintana Kwak, a second-category Public Prosecutor, maintains her position in the Territorial Section, providing a necessary thread of continuity.
To fill vacancies and compensate for turnover, the San Bartolomé de Tirajana Prosecutor's Office welcomes three new Prosecuting Attorneys in 3rd category positions, injecting new blood into the team: Rafael Guerra del Río Calamita, comes from the Territorial Section of Mataró (Barcelona); María Teresa Gómez Pérez, comes from the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Las Palmas, a geographically close transfer that may facilitate her adaptation to the island circuit and Mercedes Gil Castillo, who comes from the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Valencia.
While the arrival of three prosecutors numerically compensates for the losses, the qualitative balance implies that the heavy and specialized workload of southern Gran Canaria will temporarily fall on new shoulders, which could translate into a delay in the processing of macro-cases until the professionals become accustomed to the particularities of the tourist forum.
This transfer competition reinforces the theory that the Prosecutor's Office in Southern Gran Canaria frequently acts as a "stepping stone" or a temporary posting. Newly appointed prosecutors would use these island positions to consolidate their rank before applying for positions on the mainland or in provincial capitals.
This endemic instability creates a vulnerability in the fight against large-scale crime and urban planning corruption, as institutional memory and specialization are constantly disrupted. The lack of incentives (beyond mandatory transfers) to establish experienced prosecutorial teams in an area of high economic complexity should be a point of pressure for the Ministry of Justice and the State Attorney General's Office if they truly seek to strengthen the criminal justice response in the Canary Islands' largest economic engine.
