Juan Manuel Guillén Díaz, Consul of Germany in La Palma

Juan Manuel Guillén Díaz (Santa Cruz de La Palma, 1952) officially took office on November 3 as the honorary consul of Germany in La Palma. He replaces José Francisco Pérez Bravo, who has held the consular representation for the last three decades. In the presence of the consul of Germany in the Canary Islands, Judith Elisa Metz, the formal ceremony was held, attended by various authorities, friends, and the German consul colleagues in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Ángel Hernández Hernández, and in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, Roland Mager.

For La Palma and for Germany, having an honorary consulate on the island is a great advantage and is significant, given the considerable number of German citizens who visit and reside there. A businessman linked to the ownership of the company Manuel Rodríguez Acosta, S.L., Juan Manuel Guillén Díaz is the nephew, on his mother's side, of Antonio Manuel Díaz Rodríguez, who was the honorary consul of Venezuela, a position previously held by his father, Diógenes Díaz Cabrera.

Consul Judith Elisa Metz with consuls Juan Manuel Guillén Díaz (right), Ángel Hernández Hernández (left), and Roland Mager (center)

La Palma is an island with a long consular tradition, which is a topic worth studying in depth. Other prominent local businessmen have held consular positions. José Cabrera, co-owner of Casa Cabrera, was consul of Germany and Italy until World War II. Another prominent local businessman, shipowner José Duque Martínez, was consul of France, succeeded by his nephew, José Díaz Duque. Duque Martínez was awarded the Legion of Honor. Another notable local figure, Gilberto Duque Cabrera, was consul of Portugal.

There was also a consul of the Dominican Republic, George Waldemar von Langen, a White Russian born in Latvia, who resided in Los Llanos de Aridane and was known as “don Geo,” reports Juan Manuel Guillén Díaz, who knew him personally as he was a friend of his grandfather. And from the last third of the 19th century until the 1930s, La Palma also had a consul of Cuba, given the importance of the commercial and social relations at that time.

Other locals have held or currently hold consular positions at the provincial and regional level. Antonio de la Bárcena was until recently the consul of Brazil in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. His nephew Álvaro de la Bárcena has just been appointed consul of Ireland in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The undersigned has held the position of consul of Finland in the Canary Islands since 2012, based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and from 2007 until that year in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The current consul of Italy in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Silvio Pelizzollo, is a local consort. We must also mention another local who is a career consul. This is Moisés Morera, a member of the diplomatic corps since 2007 and currently assigned to the Spanish embassy in Venezuela.

Photos: Ángel Hernández and Juan Carlos Díaz Lorenzo