Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez

Ángel Víctor Torres was born in Arucas in 1966. He began his academic training at the University of La Laguna, where he earned a degree in Hispanic Philology. This university education marked the starting point of his career in public administration, which has spanned several decades and various institutional levels.

His first significant public office was as mayor of Arucas, a municipality in northern Gran Canaria. He served as mayor from 2003 to 2007, managing local administration and representing the municipality in relevant bodies. After this initial period, from 2009 to 2011, he held the position of first deputy mayor, continuing his involvement in municipal management and decision-making within the town council. During the same period, he was elected as a member of the Congress of Deputies for the Las Palmas constituency, serving in Spain’s lower parliamentary chamber from 2009 to 2011. In Congress, he participated in national legislative activity, representing his constituency at the state level.

In 2011, Torres returned to the mayoralty of Arucas, holding the office until 2015. At the end of this term, he moved to the island level of government, serving as first vice president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria from 2015 to 2019. The Cabildo is the governing institution of the island, responsible for managing transferred powers and insular interests. As first vice president, Torres was part of the executive team responsible for coordinating island policies and managing public services under the Cabildo’s jurisdiction.

In 2019, Ángel Víctor Torres was elected as a regional deputy in the Parliament of the Canary Islands and, in the same year, assumed the presidency of the Government of the Canary Islands. Under the parliamentary framework of autonomy, the Government of the Canary Islands is the executive body of the autonomous community, led by a president elected by the Parliament and appointed by the King. The president coordinates the actions of the regional government, appoints councillors, and represents the autonomous community. Torres held the presidency from 2019 to 2023, leading the regional administration and coordinating the government’s actions during that period.

In November 2023, Ángel Víctor Torres was appointed Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory in the Government of Spain. The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory manages relations between the State and the autonomous communities, as well as matters related to democratic memory. Since his appointment, Torres has performed functions at the national level as part of the central government’s ministerial cabinet. His career reflects a progression through various levels of public administration—local, island, regional, and national—in both executive and legislative roles.

The appointments mark the two most recent executive stages of his career. A Royal Decree of 15 July 2019 appointed him president of the Canary Islands; a Royal Decree of 13 July 2023 declared his departure from that office. In November that year he joined the national cabinet: the Royal Decree of 20 November appointed him minister for territorial policy and democratic memory. The regional presidency and the national ministry are different responsibilities, exercised in separate institutions during successive periods of his public career.