We miss you, César. And I am sure that today many feel a "Cactus Garden" stuck in their chest, or feel like a Crab, Blind and without hope, lost in a Green Cave, without light. Although we hope that in the end a River always awaits us that will take us to a Viewpoint of hope, because it is known that if you Play with the Wind, there is always LIFE.
You will always be the César of all the conejeros, that's for sure.
Happy Birthday.
I owe you the pride I feel for my land.
And that is priceless.
Like every April 24, we remember the man who built toys for the wind. And that is a great merit. Because if those who remember the Earth are already in danger of extinction, those who remember the wind and bad times... I won't even tell you!
There has never been a territory that owes its prosperity to a single man like Lanzarote.
Lanzarote has been an orphan for 31 years, it has been 31 years without the man who loved it the most, and it is not that it is dependent, it is more than self-sufficient, but that man brought out the best in it.
Oh César... if you knew, if you saw it....
Lanzarote has been without that vision of loving the Earth more than tourism for 31 years. The Canary Islands have abused the "all inclusive", the one that comes, consumes in the hotel for a pack, destroys the beaches, looks at the landscape superficially and leaves.
They say that César Manrique entered the Town Halls of the Island and the Cabildo of Lanzarote shouting. Shouts of rage because it hurt him that decisions were made that could damage his, ours; the land. César did not understand that "easy money" and tourism went hand in hand. It hurt César that they were not up to the task of defending what belongs to everyone. Why... who would think of selling the land for bread for today? Lack of common sense.
And... what is life without common sense?
The same as Lanzarote without César. We must have leaders with common sense and ETHICS.
Otherwise, the Canary Islands will be lost.
Lanzarote is not the same without César, but it will always be what remains of him, in every place and in every corner.