Under the motto ‘the land that inspires us’, with a large presence of authorities from different fields and with the music of Vivaldi as a welcome, the institutional act for the Day of the Region of Murcia was held this Friday morning at the Almansa Park auditorium, in the town of San Javier.
After Vivaldi and before the national anthem came Mozart and his ‘Te Deum’, performed by the Patnia Choir, which served for the entrance of this year’s winners of the Region’s Gold Medals and Distinguished Service Diplomas, who They entered the auditorium in the company of the mayor of San Javier, José Miguel Luengo, the acting president of the Regional Assembly, Alberto Castillo -with a circumspect gesture throughout the act- and a smiling acting president of the Autonomous Community, Fernando López Miras, who reached his seat after greeting left and right.
The first to speak was José Miguel Luengo, who bet “a cauldron from the Mar Menor” that all those present in the packed auditorium of Parque Almansa “have tried a cauldron or a cake from Cierva de San Javier”. He assured that “the Region of Murcia we do it together”, as is the case “of all the winners today.” And he transferred his pride and gratitude for the choice of the municipality of San Javier for the celebration of the event, a town that “always has its doors open.”
The “goodbye” of Alberto Castillo
Next came the turn of Alberto Castillo, who greeted most of the authorities present at the lectern, including the Bishop of the Diocese of Cartagena, José Manuel Lorca Planes, and had words for Azorín and the Mar Menor, demanding “results tangibles” in the fight to defend the ecosystem so that “the lagoon continues to be the pride that it has always been for each and every one of us.” Castillo referred to the “convulsive series of events” that have marked the last legislature, such as DANA or the war in Ukraine. He also focused on the latest poverty data from Cáritas in the Region of Murcia, and asked in turn to stop “criminalizing the businessman.” He also assured that “it is essential to have water, which is life for the Region.” And finally, and although he thanked all the winners for their role, he had special words for José Luis Mendoza, “a kind man I will never forget.” In his “goodbye” time, in his last intervention in an institutional act for the Day of the Region as president of the Assembly, as he recalled, he also demanded that citizens “go to the polls” on the next 23 of July.
Then came the performance of the Kalima Jazz Quartet Group, awarded at the San Javier International Jazz Festival, which performed the song ‘Spain’ and which gave way to the institutional video prepared for the occasion, which closed with “proud of how we are”. .
Fernando López Miras then took the stage to deliver this year’s awards. The first of the Distinguished Community Services Diplomas went to ENAE Business School, an award received by the president of the educational institution, Antonio Ballester. The other Distinguished Service Diploma was for the team of health workers from the Region who carried out the work of assisting the Turkish and Syrian population as a result of the earthquake in February of this year. The nurse Francisco Robles received the diploma.
Next came the delivery of the Gold Medals. First were the ‘Francisco Salzillo’ Choir and Dance Groups from Murcia, Cieza and Yecla. They also collected Gold Medals from the Jumilla Harvest Festival, a tradition with more than 800 years of existence. It was the president of the Peña Fiestas de la Vendimia, Guillermo González, who collected the award. The following Gold Medals went to the Cartagena businessman José Martínez Nieto; for the company Hero; for the Thader Consumption Federation, for its 60 years of fighting in defense of consumer rights; and for the Union of Teaching Cooperatives of the Region of Murcia (Ucoerm), whose president Juan Antonio Pedreño, collected the distinction.
Juan Jódar, president of the Regional Confederation of Business Organizations of Lorca (Ceclor), received the Gold Medal for the Lorca employers; while the deans of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Faculty of Informatics of the University of Murcia were in charge of receiving two medals.
an emotional moment
One of the most emotional moments, with one of the longest applause, came with the delivery of the Gold Medal posthumously to the founder of the UCAM, José Luis Mendoza. Most of the audience stood up to applaud Mendoza’s widow, María Dolores García, who could not hold back her tears for a good part of the act. The former president of the Community, Carlos Collado, also received the highest distinction from the Community, which in this case was collected by his son, Carlos Collado.
The Gold Medals awarded to the athletes Mariano García and Mohamed Katir, as well as to the Lorca artist Manuel Belzunce -who collected his son, Pablo Belzunce- and to the researcher from Cartagena María Cascales Angosto, the first woman to enter as academic number at the Royal National Academy of Pharmacy. It was precisely the researcher from Cartagena who spoke on behalf of all the winners, and she made clear the “legitimate pride” that this recognition produces in her. “Among the 17 winners this year there are very diverse people and entities, but our region unites us all,” she made it clear in a review of all the virtues of the winners. “Allow me to remember my parents, Salvador and Pilar, to whom I owe everything,” she concluded.
To end the act, the acting president of the Community, Fernando López Miras, took the floor, who referred to all the winners and began with some verses by Carmen Conde about the Mar Menor to later point out that “this land will continue to grow without set limits and without letting anyone set them for us ». López Miras recalled on several occasions that the Region of Murcia is “the best land in the world” and that “there is no more beautiful place to be born.” He endorsed some of Carlos Collado’s words, during the first celebration of Murcia Region Day, in 1988, when he assured that the Region was located “within the growing Spain”; and he had a memory for illustrious Murcians and Cartagena, from Saavedra Fajardo to Isaac Peral and Juan de la Cierva, passing through María Cegarra or the Count of Floridablanca. “I dream and work for a Region of Murcia that leaves no one behind,” he said. A Region “where we guarantee quality Education”, with an “efficient and agile” Administration. One of the emerging territories “that can contribute the most to make our country better.”
The result of the polls
López Miras did not take long to refer to the elections on May 28. After assuring that “no one can or should block or close the path to the future of the Region of Murcia”, the acting president pointed out that “with the legitimacy of the result of the polls, it is time to start a new stage under a government of everyone and for everyone with whom to face new challenges that make us stronger and better ». He also said that “after hearing the citizens of the Region speak loud and clear on May 28, our commitment is due to them and only to them.” And that commitment implies, according to López Miras, “making the infrastructures we need for our growth advance decisively”; or that “the Government of the nation confronts the discrimination that we suffer in financing” and also promotes “a sensible agreement and far from confrontations” on water. He insisted on the need for a National Water Pact and made clear for the umpteenth time his defense of the Tajo-Segura Transfer.
Finally, López Miras closed his speech and the institutional act by listing his preferences when it came to governing: “the Region first, the Region later and, finally, the Region of Murcia.” Thus, he said, “when we have to render accounts, we will be able to raise our heads with pride and affirm that only service to all the citizens of this land is our only flag.”
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