Juan Cotino

Juan Gabriel Cotino Ferrer (26 January 1950 – 13 April 2020) was a Spanish entrepreneur and politician.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cotino and the second or maternal family name is Ferrer.
Juan Cotino
President of Corts Valencianes
In office
9 June 2011 – 13 October 2014
Preceded byMilagrosa Martínez
Succeeded byAlejandro Font de Mora Turón
Spanish Deputy
of the Corts Valencianes
In office
27 May 2007 – 13 October 2014
Personal details
Born
Juan Gabriel Cotino Ferrer

(1950-01-26)26 January 1950
Xirivella, Valencian Community, Spain
Died13 April 2020(2020-04-13) (aged 70)
Manises, Valencian Community, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Political partyPeople's Party
OccupationPolitician

Early life

He was born in Xirivella, Valencia. Coming from a family of agricultural entrepreneurs, he was one of the founders of the Valencian Association of Farmers. In 1976, he joined the UCD, becoming part of the Popular Democratic Party and later the Popular Party. In 1991, he was elected councilman in the City of Valencia, to the position of deputy mayor, being reelected in 1995.

Political career

In 1996, he was named general director of the Police, a position he held until 2002 when he was appointed Government Delegate in the Valencian Community. After the defeat of the Popular Party in the general elections of 2004, he was removed from his position as a delegate of the Government, joining to the Generalidad Valenciana like advisor of Agriculture, Fishing and Food. In 2007, he was named third vice-president of the Valencian Community and counselor of Social Welfare, a portfolio that changes by Environment in 2009, maintaining the vice-presidency. After the elections of May 22, 2011, he was appointed President of the Corts Valencianes.

Judicial cases

Gürtel case
Main article: Gürtel case

One of the witnesses to the case places Cotino as a "factotum" of the organization of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Valencia in 2006. For this event, several of the companies related to the Gürtel case obtained concessions in an allegedly irregular way for the organization of acts related to the visit of the pontiff.[1][2] On 29 November 2018 the judge of the separate piece imputed Cotino and Francisco Camps.[3] The last time he declared as an accused before his death was on 12 March 2020, where he flatly denied his participation in the decisions to award companies contracts for the pope's visit.[4]

On 10 November 2014, he was finally charged by the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community in the separate piece of the Gürtel case that investigated the alleged irregular hiring of Radiotelevisió Valenciana to cover the papal visit and the commission of the alleged crimes of perverting the course of justice and bribery.[5] The imminence of this imputation forced Cotino to abandon politics and all the charges he held on 13 October 2014.[6]

Personal life

Cotino was a member of Opus Dei.[7]

On 23 March 2020 he was admitted to an intensive care unit in Manises after testing positive for coronavirus during COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.[8] Cotino died on 13 April 2020 at the age of 70 of complications from COVID-19.[9]

References
  1. "El coronavirus se lleva a Juan Cotino, principal acusado del juicio por la visita de Benedicto XVI a Valencia". religiondigital.org (in Spanish). 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  2. "Juan Cotino era 'el que cortaba el bacalao' en la visita del Papa". El Mundo (in Spanish). 2014-12-02. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  3. "Camps y Cotino, imputados por los contratos de la visita del Papa a Valencia". El Periódico (in Spanish). 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  4. "Cotino se desvincula de la adjudicación a "Gürtel" de la cobertura de la visita del Papa". La Razón (in Spanish). 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  5. "El juez imputa a Juan Cotino en una pieza separada del 'caso Gürtel'". El País (in Spanish). 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  6. "Cotino deja las Cortes Valencianas acechado por la corrupción". El País (in Spanish). 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  7. Riveiro, Aitor (2011-06-09). "Un crucifijo preside las Cortes Valencianas". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  8. "Ingresan a Juan Cotino en la UCI por coronavirus". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 2020-03-23. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  9. Muere por coronavirus Juan Cotino, exdirector de la Policía Nacional y antiguo dirigente del PP El País, 13 April 2020
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