Juan Cotino

Juan Gabriel Cotino Ferrer (Xirivella, Valencia, January 26, 1950), known as Juan Cotino, is an entrepreneur and Spanish politician of the Popular Party.

Coming from a family of agricultural entrepreneurs, he is 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.

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.

Cotino is a member of Opus Dei.

On April 28, 2013, the television channel La Sexta, Salvados, directed and presented by Jordi Evole, dedicated an episode to the Valencia Metro derailment of 2006. During the episode Los Olvidados, the victims denounced the then Minister of Agriculture, stating that they had acted negligently and irregularly with the victims in order to cover the reality of the investigation of the accident. In the face of Évole's insistent questions, Cotino took a stance of indifference and silence, even when the journalist stated that the victims deserved to speak to the public. When Évole contacted him via telephone, it was the "brother" of Juan Cotino who answered the call.