“The day you start believing what the newspapers say about you is the day your countdown begins,” said Paul Castellano, Carlo Gambino’s successor. The Las Palmas Chamber has chosen to remove the president of a port commission, José Mayor, who heads Oneport, the leading business association in the logistics sector at the Port of Las Palmas, recognized as such by the Gran Canaria Island Council. Were it not for Juan Acosta and Antonio Morales, the Las Palmas Chamber would have been in insolvency proceedings for years.
The move consolidates the dominance of the Canary Islands Federation of Port Companies (Fedeport), which is effectively Astican’s business association, and breaks more than 15 years of continuity under Mayor’s management. The result was shaped by internal tensions and changes at the top of the business organizations in the capital of Gran Canaria. Morales strongly dislikes Fedeport for two reasons: its support for Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara, and its backing of the idea that it would be good for the islands if Rabat controlled 45% of Boluda’s terminals. Canarymaritime reported this Tuesday that Fedeport already faces opposition in Tenerife from CC and the PP, along the same lines Morales has defended since February.
Humiliation
What was surprising was the attempt to humiliate him over the defeat. “You can take money away from a businessman and he will understand it as part of the business; but if you ridicule him in front of his peers, you will have created an enemy for life—especially when that Chamber of Commerce transport commission is completely useless, as Mayor himself knew,” said a Las Palmas shipping agent, who warned: “Let it be clear that Mayor is not exactly a favorite of mine.”
Voting discipline at the CCE
The overwhelming victory, achieved through the strict application of the Greek art of democracy at the Chamber’s plenary session, reflects voting discipline aligned with the institutional architecture of the Canary Confederation of Businesspeople (CCE), the representative organization of traditional business interests in Las Palmas under the 1978 Moncloa Pacts. Mayor even secured a substantial number of votes: six.
Sources in the port sector have reacted to the outcome of the process with astonishment, pointing to the contrast between the decisive vote count and the apparent need to accommodate business leaders in sectoral positions. “Now the Chamber will obviously give the green light to an increase in mooring fees.” Canarymaritime already reported this in August 2026.
Power brokers and shares of influence
The move at the Chamber comes as the current president of Fedeport seeks to maintain a share of public representation following recent changes to the CCE’s board, where a vice presidency went to someone outside the port federation’s legal inner circle. Likewise, Fedeport’s representation is shaped by an unusual configuration: the Las Palmas Port Authority itself has a representative of the Boluda group on its board of directors, a person who lives in Valencia while representing Fedeport.
Saudi crude
“What is happening is a response to the usual organic functioning of the islands’ representative bodies, where intermediaries accumulate positions to secure the loyalty of commercial officials and administrators before their foreign or non-Canarian parent companies; under Florentín Castro’s first generation, appearances were maintained,” said a maritime analyst who, like everyone else, preferred to remain anonymous. Oneport has not been sidelined in its dealings with the administration through the Chamber: Morales will cook up something raw; time will tell.
The article The ‘1978 Regime’ Blocks Mayor (Oneport) at the Las Palmas Chamber was first published on canarymaritime.com.
