We appreciate Leandro Perdomo Spínola so much in Teguise that the municipal government's slip-up of claiming he was born in La Villa is forgiven - press release regarding the celebration of his centenary - when we all know he was born in Arrecife, exactly on May 21, 1921.
What he did do in the old capital of the island was say goodbye in 1993, after years of writing from his "Old Villa", which may be the reason for the governmental blunder. A farewell, with more than seven decades behind him and years of a distinguished literary career, which began in Las Palmas, passed through Belgium and concluded in Teguise lands, where he is admired and remembered as an adopted son.
Once again Teguise and its luck with letters, as few places can boast of the mark left by Perdomo and some of the most prominent Lanzarote writers. It is a big deal to be able to associate José Clavijo y Fajardo, José Betancort "Ángel Guerra", the Spínola Ramírez sisters and Leandro Perdomo himself with our municipality, also theirs by birth, work or inspiration, as you know what Nobel laureate Saramago said: "it is not my land, but it is my land".
A fortune that is remembered by busts, streets, literary contests and anniversaries, witnesses of the contribution they have made to the cultural heritage and Canarian literature. This justifies any recognition, such as the recent announcement by the government of Teguise about the future acts of homage to the author of books such as "Ten Stories" or "Lanzarote and I"; responsible for characters such as Anacleto Rojas; and who gave chronicles and articles such as "Our Camel", a foreshadowing of the guelfa or little camel Bentejuina that was given to him years later from Yaiza; "A Man, More Than a People", a tribute to Manuel Caramba; or "In Praise of My Old Wooden Toilet", which awakens the curiosity of any reader with just the title.
All testimonies of the magnificent work and the moment he had to live. And no, he was not born in La Villa, but in Teguise he spent the last stretch of his existence where he conceived some of his best writings, as Fernando Gómez Aguilera brilliantly reminds us in "Leandro Perdomo, My Teguise", his Teguise. So much of Teguise, that fragments of his texts, together with those of Guerra, Spínola, Clavijo y Fajardo... should accompany some of the illustrious streets of our municipality in an initiative for the dissemination and knowledge of such distinguished writers. This would allow the walker, tourist or resident, young and old, to encounter buttons of prose and Teguise seal.
If walking through Teguise always inspires, even more so, discovering jewels along the way such as "happiness is a stranger down here; but you will find it distributed throughout. God gives it to everyone more with measure" by Clavijo y Fajardo; or "many times a man is worth more than an entire people, and that this man in the Villa de Teguise is none other, cannot be other than Manuel Caramba", of whom Leandro Perdomo spoke wonders.
"The idea, my friends - or enemies, it's the same - is launched", as Perdomo himself said at the end of "Illustrious Sons of Lanzarote", an ode to Clavijo y Fajardo, Alfonso Spínola and José Betancort. Hopefully, the glove will be picked up.
Marcos Bergaz, PSOE Councilor in the Teguise City Council.
