Puerto de la Cruz, the quintessential tourist city in the north of Tenerife, will have a new street in the short term. It is not due to an urban expansion, but simply a name change in honour of a person whose death was tragic and traumatic for the whole family and friends. The famous Aceviño Street, the main avenue in the select area of La Paz, known for its significant tourist, commercial and high-end residential power, will be renamed Fran Rosales Street in tribute to this businessman from Orotava who had his life taken after a fatal blow in the early hours of 16 March, although he passed away in hospital two days later at the age of 59.
On the morning of Monday, Fran’s sister, Elisabet, and two friends met with the mayor of Puerto, Leopoldo Afonso, to propose this tribute and determine how to proceed. The meeting concluded with full receptivity and support from the senior local official. Therefore, despite the grief and trauma, the town will honour one of its leisure and restaurant entrepreneurs, who since the ’70s, along with his family and until his terrible death, energised the famous La Hoya Street in the town centre with various businesses. Thus, the local government (PP, ACP and CC) will send the motion drafted to the opposition (PSOE) to seek unanimous agreement (which is expected) before submitting the proposal for approval by the full council.
Since the tragedy occurred, the family and friends of Juan Francisco Rosales Santana, while respecting judicial and police investigations, made a public appeal for citizen collaboration to find clues. Initially, the murder did not yield any suspects, informants, or direct witnesses. Their frustration led them to persist in this request on several occasions. However, the police investigation eventually bore fruit and, through the traces left by credit or debit cards at local businesses that night of 15 and early hours of 16 March, a suspect was detained as the alleged perpetrator of a fatal punch.
As reported by Tinerfe Fumero in Diario de Avisos on 7 May, the arrest of a 35-year-old man residing in Santa Úrsula occurred on Monday 5 of the same month. After his statement on 8 May, the judge handling the case in Court of Instruction number 3 of Puerto de la Cruz, Tatiana Sanguino, decided to release him on conditional bail, with the restriction of not leaving the country and the obligation to report to the court every 15 days. The judge is investigating whether there was intent to kill or if it was involuntary manslaughter, and witnesses were set to begin their statements tomorrow. However, the family lawyer has requested a postponement due to a trial, and it seems that this will be supported.
From what has transpired so far, the alleged perpetrator was accompanied by other young people (some with whom he had more connection and others circumstantial) who are soon going to provide their version of events.
Meanwhile, just a few metres away, the Puerto council has taken a step to at least pay tribute to a person who did not deserve such a fate.
Second violent death on the same street
The violent death of Fran Rosales is not the first to take place on this street in Puerto. On 13 March 1990, two assailants linked to the Italian mafia opened fire on an armoured van in front of the Bonanza hotel. It was the vehicle responsible for collecting money from various hotels in the tourist area.
During the shootout, one of the security guards, Francisco Luaces Fariña, aged 23, lost his life, while his colleague, Mauro Fernández, aged 37, was seriously injured with three shots. The two assailants fled the scene carrying almost 35 million pesetas.
This crime on Aceviño Street was recently covered on Televisión Canaria in the programme A Contraluz.
