Oscar R. Window |
Villaseco de los Reyes (Salamanca) (EFE).- Can a 90-year-old person lead his town? And a young man of 23? Arturo and Juan ask and answer each other with their eyes already set on the municipal elections on May 28.
The mayor of Villaseco de los Reyes (Salamanca) has been Arturo Calvo (PP) for 44 years, one of the few councilors who has remained in the gap since 1979 and who defends with ease and vigor that nothing is lacking in his town: “Residence, indoor pediment and paddle tennis, swimming pools, wake… all that is missing is a machine to make money and take the bills around the houses.”
He has the particularity that he is already 90 years old, which makes him the oldest in the entire country and contrasts with what one of the youngest mayors, Juan del Canto, has experienced in the last four years of his legislature. who at 23 years old repeats as a PP candidate in Villalazán (Zamora) after taking office at 19.
Both have accepted EFE’s invitation and, after the youngest traveled the 83 kilometers that separate their towns, they have met to cross arguments from two radically different vital points, but united by the call to service to their neighbors. In the conversation, the experience and strength of Arturo Calvo clearly takes the lead.
Advice to the newbie
“A lot of sense, a lot of calm, not getting upset, a lot of seriousness and being sociable with everyone… if you have one who is looking for war and problems… you can’t get up to him. You have to talk,” says Arturo before warning Juan that “difficult times” always come, especially if there is opposition.
It remains to be seen what will happen on 28M, but remember that it was more difficult at the beginning, back in 1979: “What happened to you was tender… a very prepared guy came and we had strong confrontations,” he respectfully recalls about his first opponent against a young mayor who has serious doubts that he will remain in the same position until he is 90 years old.
“I don’t know… the truth is that with 90 years to continue…”, outlines the rookie before his partner takes him at his word again to remark that he entered the Mayor’s Office “with a terrible illusion”: “Here in town there was nothing, nothing, nothing…”, he laments.
The other “water war”…in Villaseco
A town called Villaseco seems predestined to suffer from water problems -despite being next to one of the largest reservoirs in Spain, the Almendra reservoir- and that was the main concern of its neighbors in 1979. To wash, to the river; to wash clothes, to the river; to urinate at night, the urinal…
“It was a disgrace and nothing was done; other towns had water, ”Arturo recalls under the watchful eye of Juan, his eyes wide at the headaches that his counterpart recounts.
Tired of taking polls and recruiting, he took the car and went to Valladolid to speak with the then Minister of the Environment Francisco Jambrina: “It is a shame what is happening in Villaseco” with the water, he snapped. Soon after, not only his town got the supply, but others around it also benefited from this initiative. “No one moved,” he recalls, between complaining and proud.
Depopulation and national politics
In the case of Villalazán there are now no water problems but rather the lack of people who drink it. “Older people are the ones who give us the least trouble. In my town, as in the majority, the problem is the accusing depopulation that we have.
We must seek a serious and emphatic solution at the national level that can help us control this bloodletting of people”, links Juan del Canto, with the assent of his interlocutor.
And that look at national politics leads them to agree on their vision of it. For the veteran “it’s a shame” how the environment is.
“We don’t have the politicians there to get involved in arguing and messing around, we have them to govern and solve our problems, that’s what they charge for…”, drops Arturo, critical of the latest controversy between President Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Minister Félix Bolaños, on whether or not the latter could rise to a podium of authorities on May 2.
For the young Juan del Canto, the situation can be summed up in one sentence: “Much ado about nothing. The one who wants to be in the photo and the one who doesn’t… and the rest of us who are not going to put ourselves in the photo in any way… here, without paying attention”.
It is at this point where the twenty-year-old links a couple of sentences in a row to emphasize that the responsibilities of all mayors are the same, regardless of whether it is Villalazán or Barcelona… in some cases charging and in others (such as these two mayors) without charge.
“And more and more absurd laws that we are not able to fit into our municipalities and more and more problems (…) in the end there are many towns where there are no people who want to run for mayor,” Juan concludes.