On July 16, 2019, Angel Victor Torres took office as president of the Canary Islands. Just a month later, a virulent forest fire devastated more than 12,000 hectares in Gran Canaria and caused thousands of people to evacuate. The current Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory of the Government of Pedro Sanchez He struggled with the crisis and decided to appear before the media every day along with emergency technical personnel.
This is one of the examples that socialist sources close to Torres put on the table to value his crisis management experience. The minister has had a relevant role since the DANA tragedy on October 29. He has been the voice of Moncloa in a good handful of press conferences before the media after the meetings of the Crisis Committee, he has also traveled to the affected Valencian territory and appeared in Congress last Wednesday.
The fire and the DANA have not been the only crises faced on the front line by Torres. Shortly before the pandemic, an unprecedented haze occurred in the archipelago. Then came, in September 2021, the eruption of the La Palma volcano. “We have experience in crisis management,” their ministerial team points out. This plural is verifiable, since 90% of the current minister’s advisory team comes from his time as regional president.
“He has never put himself in profile,” say sources close to him. Those who work with him every day highlight his “pedagogical ability.” This is what he also tried to demonstrate during the volcano crisis, with constant press conferencesas he had begun to do in 2019. “We established as a rule that the president appear in emergency communication, before the advisors always came out,” say sources close to Torres.
As a result of that work, the communication team of the Canarian Government received the National Crisis Award in 2023 awarded by the Association of Communication Directors (Dircom) precisely for the management of the La Palma volcano crisis.
In the 2023 regional elections, the PSOE won the elections again, although it lost votes in a context of general decline of the socialists. He was one of the few that managed to remain as a leading force. But the disappearance of Unidas Podemos, with which he governed in coalition with Nueva Canarias, removed him from the presidency after a pact of Canarian Coalition with the PP.
Torres has faced several natural disasters on the front line before DANA
After the setback, Sánchez responded to his call after forming a Government at the end of 2023. His profile, sources from Moncloa point out, fits perfectly with that of his ministry. “It has a lot management experience“He is a person who knows the topics he has discussed very well and shows great versatility,” they say. “He is very confident in his explanations and rarely makes mistakes,” add the same sources.
Throughout this year, Torres’ exhibition has been quite extensive even before DANA. He has tried to push forward some pending issues in the law democratic memory such as the exhumations in Cuelgamuros and the autonomous initiatives of “concord” of PP and Vox have been brought to the Constitutional Court. The reform of the immigration law due to the crisis of migration management in the Canary Islands also gave it a special role with constant negotiations. And in recent months it has been the voice of Sánchez after his round with the regional presidents in Moncloa.
“Dialogue capacity”
Several socialist sources consulted for the preparation of this article agree on a common characteristic of Torres related to his capacity for dialogue and for being “a man of consensus”as a leader of the PSOE of the Canary Islands points out. “He likes to talk to everyone before deciding,” highlights a relevant member of the Government who also defines him as a “very close” politician. His ability to reach agreements is exemplified by those who know him on two different matters. On the one hand, the approval in 2021 of the ‘trans law’ in the Canary Islands, a pioneering initiative that was approved even with the support of the PP.
Later he led the negotiation in 2023 with the Canarian Coalition to achieve their favorable vote for the investiture of Sánchez. A party that had snatched the presidency of the Canary Islands from him very shortly before because it preferred to make an agreement with the PP. He did it. “He is not a man of grudges,” highlights one of the sources consulted.
In the Canary Islands they consider that their presence in Sánchez’s Government is a guarantee for their territory
In the Canary Islands they consider that their presence in Sánchez’s Government is a guarantee for their territory and their best ally. There are not a few who think that on the horizon is try again to be president there when elections occur in three years. In fact, he continues as secretary general and the forecast is that he will be re-elected in a couple of months.
They have no bad words either from leftist parties that have shared space with him. In the Canary Islands he ruled with United We Can and sources from the purple party in the archipelago confirm it. “He is, above all, a good person, with a great public vocation and also with experience in managing crises caused by natural disasters. During our time in the regional government, he was always someone with whom we could work very well, loyal and empathetic. “I only have good words for him,” they say.
From Add, party with which the PSOE now governs, coincide in their definition, according to the sources consulted. “He is a very good person. Conciliatory and close. That makes it much easier for positions to be approached with him and for there to be political agreements,” they say about Torres.
They do put the discordant note in the PP, particularly in Genoa and not so much in the territories that do have a better relationship with it. Popular leadership sources point out that the relationship with Miguel Telladoparliamentary spokesperson, has been distrustful and they accuse the minister of intentionally leaking the content of the meetings on the immigration law.
“It’s a defender of the autonomous state“says a colleague from the Council of Ministers. That is, they defend in the PSOE, what they are doing now after the DANA against the attempts to confuse the population about the powers by the PP. “No one knows the situation better than him. alert system and protocols. That conveys a lot of security,” say socialist sources. “His training as a teacher (he worked for several years in an institute) helps in his pedagogy,” they conclude.
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