The former President of the Canary Islands, Lorenzo Olarte Cullen (91 years old), has died this Friday in Gran Canaria.
According to the newspaper La Provincia, Olarte Cullen had been hospitalized at the Cajal Clinic in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in critical condition in recent weeks.
His last public appearance was precisely two months ago, when he attended the funeral chapel of the also former Canarian president Jerónimo Saavedra, where he met with other former Canarian presidents.
The Pontevedrian based in the Canary Islands was in charge of the Regional Executive between 1988 and 1991. During his years at the head of the Regional Government, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was created (1989), the islands entered the European Economic Community (EEC) and the reform of the Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) was carried out.
Before that, he was an advisor to the first president of the democratic stage of Spain, Adolfo Suárez. Olarte was a prosecutor in the Francoist Courts (1974-1977), founded the Canarian Union (UC) party in 1977 together with Fernando Bergasa, which was integrated into the UCD, and in the post-Franco period and during the Transition he was president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria (1974 and 1979).
In 1992, when he left the presidency of the Government of the Canary Islands, Lorenzo Olarte Cullen founded the Canarian Nationalist Center (CCN), which would later become one of the founding parties of the Canarian Coalition.
Cullen also won a seat in the Congress of Deputies (between 1993 and 1995). In addition, he was vice president and Minister of Tourism of the Government of the Canary Islands (1995 and 1999), at the same time that he was a parliamentarian in the Canarian Regional Chamber with the Canarian Coalition (between 1995 and 2003).
In addition, he held different positions as president in public companies such as the airline Aviaco and the Caja Insular de Ahorros de Gran Canaria.
In 2014, he was appointed national president of Citizens of the Democratic Center (CCD).