Anybody who was here in the 80s will remember the unmistakable figure of the Juanita in Motril; an elderly transvestite loved by many but tortured by most.

Coming across Juanita, wrinkled and done up to the nines, wearing a miniskirt in a town like Motril, less than half a dozen years after the death of the rightwing dictator, Franco, was a surprise, to say the least.

La Juanita would stroll down Avenida Salobreña attracting ironic wolf whistles from drivers – she didn’t mind; that’s why she did it, perhaps. Down on the beach she would be trailed by taunting children.

Well, the Spokeswoman for the far-left, IU Verdes Equo, Inma Omiste, has requested that Mayor Luisa García Chamorro delivers on the pledge to place a bust of La Juanita on Calle Cervantes.

This is because in September, 2018, a Plenary Meeting of the Town Council unanimously approved a motion to place such a bust on the said street. However, apparently, there is no written record of this, which is very surprising, so it really depends on the Mayor to recognise that there was such a decision taken and to act on it.

IU Verdes Equo consider that it is necessary to “safeguard the memory of La Juanita” as it is “fundamental to recognise her place in the history of Motril as a symbol of freedom and diversity.”

Editorial comment: Juanita’s real name was Juan Alabarce Maldonado and was born in Motril in 1924. A woman in a man’s body, la Juanita felt like a woman, dressed like a woman and never hid, even though for many years being different in Spain was punished with beatings, mockery, and humiliation. La Juanita died in 2009 at the age of 85, after a lifetime of abuse and social rejection. Olé tus ovarios, Juanita!

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

Keywords: La Juanita, Juan Alabarce Maldonado, Transvestite

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