LEONCIO BENTO
Leoncio Bento Casanova was born in 1853 in Agulo. He was mayor of his village on several occasions. In addition being a politician, he was a contractor for works in charge of the rebuilding of the church of San Marcos in 1912.
Leoncio Bento was a quite controversial character in his day. On the one hand, this great landowner considered for some as a “great patriarch” of the people for his prestige and his entire commitment to the serious problems that Agulo was going through. But instead, for his political rivals above all, he was a landowner who controlled the political life of La Gomera, as well as manipulating the elections of his hometown. But Leoncio Bento cannot be denied his efforts to get Agulo out of the economic stagnation it suffered at the turn of the century: the provision of drinking water for Agulo (1906), the provision of electric light for the people, the building of the first school, and above all, his efforts in the construction of the Pescante de Agulo. Today, the church square of San Marcos in Agulo is named after him.
