Photos: Sergio Betancor
Víctor Fernández Gopar (1844 ? 1920) is and will always be present in the patrimonial memory of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands as a critical and incisive popular poet with the harsh social reality lived in rapid times of caciquismo through his perennial work, we also remember him as a genius of the construction of salt mines and the artisanal exploitation of those white gardens so important in the survival and development of the Island, but from now on also, this February 23, 2020, just to mark the centenary of his death, the figure of 'El Salinero', who came to represent his neighbors as councilor of Yaiza, for example, in 1909, occupies the place of privilege that he richly deserves in the institutional history of the municipality with the delivery to his descendants of the posthumous title of Honorary Councilor of Yaiza conferred by the City Council presided over by Óscar Noda.
On behalf of the family, Tomás Sepúlveda Fernández, great-grandson of Víctor Fernández Gopar, received in a crowded, emotional and solemn ceremony the posthumous distinction granted to his great-grandfather by the mayor, Óscar Noda, in a session of honors of the Municipal Corporation held this Saturday in the cultural center of Las Breñas, a southern town where the sculpture commissioned by the City Council to the artist Cintia Machín to honor the life and work of 'El Salinero' was also unveiled.
The mayor also, together with the Councilor for Heritage of Yaiza, Silvia Santana, presented the family of Víctor Fernández with a replica of the sculpture that now presides over the square of his native town.
Óscar Noda has the firm conviction "of fulfilling, on this day, what the Municipal Corporation has considered an act of justice and moral duty: to distinguish those who have made and will make the municipality of Yaiza so universal".
Regarding the work of 'El Salinero', the mayor recalled that "it has been with the passage of time that his legacy has been reaching us, the knowledge that he was a man who fought against illiteracy and social inequality with the best of his weapons: his concise word, becoming one of the most fascinating and surprising characters that the island of Lanzarote has given".
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, the Councilor for Culture of the Island Council, Alberto Aguiar, councilors of town councils of the Island and of the host Corporation, the official chronicler of Yaiza, Esteban Rodríguez, descendants of 'El Salinero', neighbors of Las Breñas and the Islands and members of the production team of the film 'The Time of Salt. Following in the footsteps of Víctor Fernández Gopar', participated in the event that was adorned by the poetic - musical performance of the folklorists Domingo and Antonio Corujo, Parranda Janubio and the group TriAkustic.
María Dolores Corujo, invited by the City Council of Yaiza to be part of the Honor Committee of the centenary commemoration of honor to the popular poet of Las Breñas, after praising the value "of this man of clear mind and ahead of his time" and reading and interpreting some of his verses, highlighted that "the centenary of his memory deserves the support of all, so both personally and in my capacity as president of the Cabildo of all the people of Lanzarote, I join this happy initiative, congratulating the City Council in the person of its mayor and the people of Yaiza for possessing among its illustrious, from today, Don Víctor Fernández Gopar".
For her part, the Councilor for Heritage of Yaiza, Silvia Santana, pointed out the importance of Víctor Fernández "as a salt worker and as an observer of nature and the human condition, both enriching facets of his poetic compositions".
For Yaiza 2020 will be a year full of cultural celebrations because in addition to the program of events in homage to 'El Salinero', which includes the exhibition 'Salts of the World' and the Seguidillas Festival, Óscar Noda revealed in Las Breñas that, among other projects consolidated from the Heritage Area, "I can announce the granting of the title of Historical City to the municipality of Yaiza, which, as the Deputy Minister of Public Administrations, Alejandro Rodríguez Fernández-Oliva, has personally conveyed to me, already has the approval of the Heraldry Commission".
The sculpture of 'El Salinero'
The work sculpted by the young artist Cintia Machín weighs 90 kilos and has a height of 2.40 meters. Cintia had many reasons for inspiration to create and model the image that represents 'El Salinero'. "I grew up with the figure of Víctor Fernández Gopar from an early age reading his verses and singing them with the Parranda Janbuio at the Seguidillas Festival that bears his name".
The artist has her workshop a step away from the Salinas de Janubio, in the town of La Hoya, so that the landscape context also has some influence on her creation. However, for Cintia it was not easy to put a face and body to Víctor Fernández Gopar as there are no known photographs of him.
She investigated and met with relatives of Víctor Fernández Gopar, "but in the absence of graphic material on the figure of 'El Salinero' that showed any physical or facial features that would help me to model his figure, I made a reconstruction from the data collected in the investigation, the oral tradition and the information provided by his relatives".
Even, she confesses, drawing on one of his verses in which he himself gives clues about the characteristics of his figure: "if someone were eager to know me, ask for an ugly and small old man", lyrics that appear printed on the base of the sculpture.
"This is how I was inspired to create the figure with the greatest respect for the popular poet of Las Breñas and his descendants". And she has succeeded because the family of 'El Salinero', the institutional representation and the public attending the event approved with a resounding applause the work of Cintia Machín.
Óscar Noda points out that "neighbors and tourists have in the sculpture one more reason to visit the town of Las Breñas. Art is not only an object of contemplation, but through it, like the sculpture installed in the square of Las Breñas or the film about 'El Salinero' supported by the City Council, we promote the life and work of Víctor Fernández Gopar so that inside and outside the Island there is greater interest in the knowledge of his valuable legacy".