Even if you have been here over 30 years, if I say Juan Alabarce Maldonado, you probably won’t know who it is, but if I say, La Juanita from Motril…

La Juanita was a harmless transvestite in Motril, when it was dangerous to be one. Yet lorry drivers tooted and waved when they drove past this craggy old man in a miniskirt walking along the roadside. He was well liked in the town.

Sadly, La Juanita disappeared for many years only to resurface in a pensioner’s home, yet in the meantime he had become an institution. So much so that this month saw the unveiling of a stree plaquet in Motril in his honour.

The Mayor, Flor Almón unveiled this plaque on Calle Cervantes, speaking of how he was ahead of his time, breaking ground when being gay in Spain was enough to get you put in prison.

The campaign to get La Juanita official recognition was led by Antonio Bueno and Mercedes Valera who consider that such a name plaque would be something in compensation, at least, for everything that La Juanita went through during the toughest years of his life.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)