The new councillor for the coast, General Manuel Mestre, Vox, knows all too well the difficult task that lies ahead, if he is to resolve the problems that cross his desk on almost a daily basis, but as a former military man, unlike many of his predecessors, his is not one who will shirk those responsibilities.
Born in Almería in 1952, Mestre is a former Air Force Lieutenant General. In addition to being head of the Canary Islands Air Command, he was the Chief of Staff of the Portuguese NATO Joint Command (Joint Command Lisbon) and in 2013 he was appointed Chief of Personnel Command, a position he held until his transfer to the reserve in 2015.
Mestre also holds a master’s degree in international relations which he completed at University in the United States.
A resident of the Oriolan village of La Murada, he became involved in local politics shortly after his retirement from the military, and now, as the leader of Vox and the Orihuela Costa Councillor for the Coast, he works from an office on the 1st floor of the Playa Flamenca Town Hall. He told The Leader that this gives him the opportunity of being the man ‘on the spot’ rather than, like many of his predecessors, trying to run the coast from Orihuela city, 35 km away.
“There are many problems on the coast that I will work hard to fix” he said during one of his regular tours of inspection last Friday. On that occasion, accompanied by Antonio, the President of Punta la Glea, and his assessor Hector Mateo, he was walking along the Aguamarina Paseo, picking out actions that need his attention.
“Many people in the area feel that they have not been listened to by politicians in the past, but give me time and you can be assured that Hector and I will work hard to change that”, he said.
