Antonio Cubillo

Antonio Cubillo, born on June 3, 1930, in San Cristóbal de La Laguna and died on December 10, 2012, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, was a lawyer, politician, and activist labeled a terrorist. He was the founder of the Movimiento por la Autodeterminación e Independencia del Archipiélago Canario (Movement for the Self-Determination and Independence of the Canary Islands) in 1963, after going into exile from the Canary Islands due to his activism, as a lawyer, against the Franco regime of the time. This political movement (MPAIAC), based in Algiers, began a militant campaign against Spanish rule in the 1970s with the support of Algeria, and later the OAU (Organization of African Unity). In March 1977, following a bomb attack at Las Palmas airport that seriously injured one person, the MPAIAC (Movement for the Protection of the Interior and Civil Aviation Authority) was indirectly responsible for the Tenerife air disaster, the worst air accident in history. An airport lacking adequate infrastructure had been designated to divert several flights after the bombing, causing a mid-air collision between two wide-body airliners that killed 583 people.