In politics, the most revolutionary thing today seems to be the most basic: normality. And that is what the Nueva Canarias- Bloque Canarista project represents in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, normal people, like you and me. People with principles, with values and with a single ambition that is not that of power or salary, but that of improving the lives of our people.
There is a phrase from the recently deceased former Uruguayan president José Mujica that sums it all up: “Politics is not a hobby, it is not a profession to live off of; politics is a passion with the dream of building a better social future. And those who like money, stay far away from politics.” That phrase not only inspires, but defines what commitment to the public should be. And yet, every day we see in the press, radio, television and especially through social networks, that this vision is an exception and not the rule.
Since I assumed my responsibility as a public official in the Parliament of the Canary Islands two years ago, I have learned something fundamental, that to be in politics you have to be a good person. It seems simple, easy, easy, but it is not. You have to have solid principles, clear values and, above all, an honest ambition: the ambition to transform reality for the better. Not just any ambition, but the noblest one, that of serving everyone. Hence, on many occasions I ask myself the following question; Do you have to be a bad person or simply not have principles and values to enter and stay in politics?
We are a human group made up of normal people, with normal jobs, with normal lives, who decided to take a step forward because we could not continue looking the other way. Our island, Lanzarote, cannot continue to be a hostage of the same old people, of those who have turned politics into a way of life, into an armchair, into a personal benefit and into a simple short-sighted improvisation every four years.
My profession is nursing. I did not come to politics for a salary or a position. My ambition has always been clear since my time as a health activist, or since my union struggle, and it has been none other than to try to improve public health in the Canary Islands, especially that of my island. That is my daily struggle and my main reason for being where I am.
There is a small ritual that I do every time I enter the Parliament of the Canary Islands and that may seem insignificant, naive or even ridiculous to some, but for me it makes a lot of sense. Every time I enter the plenary hall I sit in the chair, I touch it, I caress it and in silence I thank my islands. I thank Lanzarote and La Graciosa for having given me the opportunity to represent them, to raise my voice for their problems through the language of truth. Because that chair is not mine. That chair belongs to everyone, including those who did not vote for me. And when one sits down believing that it belongs to him, that he has won it for himself, he begins to move away from politics in capital letters and sinks into politics in lowercase letters: that of ego and personal interest.
Therefore, I recognize that it is difficult, but we need more normal people. More committed people, with principles, with vocation, with a desire to change things from within. In Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista we are working so that in 2027 we are not just two councilors and one deputy. We are working to be present in Arrecife, in Tías, in San Bartolomé, in Yaiza, in Tinajo... We are going to return to the Cabildo to change the course of an island that cannot continue to be managed as if it were a private company and an annex of the employers.
I am worried about the future. I have an 11-year-old son and I cannot help but wonder what island we are leaving them, but not thinking about thirty or forty years, no, but what Lanzarote we will have in one or two decades if we continue at this rate. There is no housing, there is no water planning, there is no control of the territory, there are no development limits, there is no public transport, there is no real strategy for adapting to climate change. The last rains in Arrecife made it evident. I repeat, what will become of this island in 10 or 20 years?
Those of us who are members of this political space of nationalist progressivism see Lanzarote as our home. And a home is taken care of. A home is kept clean, safe, orderly, sustainable. That is what we want. That is what we are looking for. That you feel in Lanzarote as in a safe and happy home.
Finally, I want to thank my colleagues from Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista in Lanzarote. I know it is not easy, that the road is hard, that it is a sacrifice, that we do not start like others from their general brands, their media and business powers. But as Mujica said: “it is worth it, because politics is a passion with the dream of building a better social future.”
And that future, believe me, is built with normal people. Like you. We are waiting for you in our home.