I want to start my remembrance of a great friend, a great companion, Cándido Reguera, with a phrase from the book The Little Prince that says: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." He was one of those who looked with his heart and who has now left us, but not before passing on to us until the last breath of his optimism, his enthusiasm, his absolute passion for work, but above all, his great heart, his vision of the future, his love for his land and his work.
His extensive political career began when he was 28 years old, serving as vice president of the Island Council of Lanzarote under the presidency of Nicolás de Páiz, a vocation, politics, that he never abandoned. It is indisputable, he was a great man in the politics of Lanzarote, in Canarian politics. So great was his dedication to his island, that he was willing to defy his illness by taking a brave step forward to represent his capital, Arrecife, showing his willingness to lead the list for the Popular Party, "to finish," he said, "what I have started."
Few people would have done it, but Cándido, the great man, was made of different stuff, of a robust and resistant one.
With him we have learned the determination that if we really want something, we are capable of obtaining it. And if it can't be today, we will achieve it tomorrow. Proof of this is the greatness he always sought for Arrecife; it was his girl and he wanted her to stop being the ugly duckling of Lanzarote; he wanted her beautiful and little by little he was rebuilding her. Fortunately, Cándido bequeathed us his ideas and today we take up his witness despite not believing in his absence.
Cándido Reguera will be remembered not only by his colleagues from the Popular Party, but also by members of other parties and citizens who had the opportunity and the fortune to meet a politician, a man with deep democratic principles and values that always presided over his speeches, his decisions and his distinguished style in politics.
Today he is no longer with us, but his spirit continues to roam in our thoughts, in our conversations and helping us to make the wisest possible decisions. We are going to miss you. I am going to miss you. Goodbye companion, goodbye friend.
Astrid Pérez Batista,President of the Popular Party of Lanzarote
