The former socialist mayor of Arrecife, José María Espino, passed away this Thursday in Lanzarote. He was the first mayor of the capital of Lanzarote between 1983 and 1995 and died at the age of 88.
Currently, after his time in the PSOE, he was a member of Coalición Canaria. He was also a constituent deputy of the Canary Islands Council, a provisional parliamentarian, and a Minister of Employment and Social Services of the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
José María Espino was the only mayor of Arrecife who managed to win three elections and remain in office for three consecutive terms. Under his mandate, the Consistorial Houses, the Medular Road, and the pedestrianization of the Charco de San Ginés riverbank, now known as César Manrique Avenue, were built.
In addition, José María Espino was a school teacher. Also at the Mάcher School, between 1961 and 1968. For this reason, he received a tribute a few weeks ago in which he was able to reunite with some of his students, 60 years later. "Don José, with a fairly heterogeneous class group, discovered in his students the ability to pursue secondary studies and, fundamentally, to convince their parents, with visits to their homes and even to their own farmlands," wrote the mayor of Tías, José Juan Cruz, about the work of this teacher. At that time, students from the municipality had to leave the countryside and go to Arrecife to pursue secondary studies.
Also, until 2008, he was the director of the UNED Associated Center in Lanzarote, where he was also a teacher for 32 years.
