Today marks 100 years since Lanzarote, land of volcanoes, gave birth to you.
Oh César!...if you only knew... we are in an election year and some people are filling their mouths with your name, ha! They are not dumb or anything...they know that your name gives votes, so they keep you in mind at all times, in every interview and in every rally, they bring you out everywhere; ignoring what you, as a good visionary, said; "What a legacy for future generations with this speculative mafia"
You know how it is, now they say things like:
"Continue César's project" To justify projects that invade your sea.
"Promote quality tourism, as César said" and then they promote Lanzarote as a niche for all-inclusive for 300 euros.
So much hypocrisy, César, so little clarity, that even the haze would become transparent to you.
Everyone wants to pay tribute to you, but not everyone wants to continue your legacy, you have to know that, César.
But within so much chaos, there is one clear thing, and that is that you have become the Constitution for the conejeros and conejeras.
I think that if Lanzarote belonged to someone, it would be yours. Because you loved it well. And loving is easy, but loving well is more complicated.
You were born, you left and you came back. You saw what no one saw.
When Lanzarote was naked, you came back with the best fabrics from New York to dress her and make her beautiful. You loved Lanzarote since you saw her soul for the first time. And in that way, no one knew how to see her and love her as much as you did. That's why you belong to her. Because in the end we belong to those who love us and take care of us when we are naked.
I think that geniuses like you should be identified early and elevated, so that they last longer. Not give them a thousand titles, when they are no longer there, but take care of them when they are there.
Oh César ... many years in which we notice that the wind claims you... and you without returning! and it's not that it has gotten tired of playing with the toys you gave it, but it needs new toys.
It needs more of you. The wind and us.
Another thing I want you to know is that you have achieved something unthinkable. And that is that the people of Lanzarote and those who are not from Lanzarote feel love, pride and attachment to this island, that has been your greatest work. And your eyes.
What a look César! I wish you had left your eyes to someone else and thus ensure that we would not be so orphaned.
We are in those days when politicians fill their mouths saying: "sustainable and quality tourism" and then signing with the big businessmen the extraction of the organs of your Island. That is not loving Lanzarote. It is telling her that you are going to take care of her knowing that you are going to leave her abandoned soon.
I'm not going to fool you, sometimes I also think: maybe it's better this way, maybe it's better that you're not here. I don't think you would have endured seeing the "Ryanair" overflowing every Thursday. You wouldn't have liked what we who are here see.
I think we all think that some few have benefited from your works for their particular business profit, promoting exactly the opposite of what you said. An "all-inclusive" tourism that does not want to go to see from the Mirador, with everything there is to see!.
But they don't want to, César! they prefer artificial chlorine before the salt of Janubio. It would have scared you!
People who prefer the fire of the sauna before the fire of the Mountains.
In this time that you have not been, I think you would not have liked to see how your island became news for being "The Island of the 200 accused", yes, César, as if Lanzarote was only a refuge for crooks. As if your work was not in it dressing it.
But not everything is bad, you have to know that the conejera society remembers you, you have become "viral" in this virtual era, your name fills rooms in all parts of the world. And I think you would be excited to know that the conejera society is making you a sculpture. Even the Guacimeta Airport now bears your name. Of these 100 years, I can tell you something with certainty: they love you César. They love you in the immaculate way they love Lanzarote.
By Amalia M. Fajardo, April 2019
100pre César
