Reflect.
This passing year 2018 has been a hard, difficult and very strange year for me, both personally and politically. On a personal level, things have fortunately been redirected in some cases and in others it has ended with the worst possible ending, as happens to all of us. And politically it has also been a very complex year, where meanness and evil have roamed freely. When they ask me if evil exists, my answer is clear: "YES, evil exists and also manifests itself in multiple ways", because despite being 32 years old I have seen it very closely and many times. I saw it live in the death of my co-worker on December 24, I saw it and felt it very closely when family and friends became seriously ill or did not overcome an illness, and I have seen and experienced it exponentially in politics with attitudes that sought personal destruction with lies and with inquisitorial harassment in the public square before citizens without having been charged or convicted.
The last example of this way of acting has been Carlos Espino's idea of messing with my supposed sexual orientation and reproduced by his friends, the Podemos agitators... which coming from the left sounds very "tolerant";, right?.
I believe that this attitude of Carlos Espino and his circle of influences is a flagrant mistake on the part of the left. It is clear that we all make mistakes. It is true that I have made mistakes and will continue to make them because I am a human being, it is true that I have failed and that I have not been right in some decisions, that is also true, but I have never regretted apologizing. But even so, a part of the media and political progressives on the island went beyond the limits of what was reasonable with me and, in my opinion, all the red lines continued to be crossed when I was the object of a brutal campaign of personal discredit in which they did not hesitate to use personal and family aspects of my private life without being charged or convicted and I will repeat this a thousand times.
Help.
Now, with time calmed down, when everything ends up falling into place, with that time acting as a judge and also adding the spontaneous support of all the people who have approached me, who have encouraged me, who have written to me to continue helping to the best of my ability to change the things that are wrong, that can be improved and solved, in our city of Arrecife, I understand and know that I must be hand in hand and elbow to elbow working intensely for this city, being part of a strong, solid team of normal and hard-working people, which is a reflection of our society in Arrecife. And it is now when I see clearly that the attacks that I suffered and will continue to suffer, far from abandoning and causing demoralization in me, should serve as an impulse and incentive to remain present in local politics and help improve this great city that they, the same ones who criticize me, are not able to improve.
Believe.
I have realized the importance of reflection and in this time I have also been fully aware of the great influence exerted on me by the politician who created the most illusion in Arrecife in recent years, such as Cándido Reguera. The only leader who was able to inspire an entire city plunged for decades into the decadence of the PSOE, the same party that did not let him finish the process of change that had begun in Arrecife.
He believed and was able to restore hope to this city. He infected us and hence his electoral result of 2011. He, my boss (as I liked to call the Mayor), Cándido Reguera, left me handwritten and elaborated on December 27, 2014, just 20 days before he left us, a plan for Arrecife; a plan of the basic actions in the city that I will make available to the team that is formed. And believe me that it is really "exciting", as he felt and said when taking the reins of the city. That is why I do not stop believing, believing that this city has a solution, has a remedy, has hopes and has a way out. We are 200 days away from changing the course of things, from channeling everything that has not been done during these last 4 years. The time is coming to turn the situation around and I am willing to take up the baton of Cándido Reguera and bet again on this city. All that remains is for all of us to do it.
Joel Delgado, senator for Lanzarote and general secretary of the PP of Lanzarote
