LOGROÑO, June 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Parliament of La Rioja, Marta Fernández Cornago, has called “for unity, harmony and the sum of all” to “renew our firm commitment to our land” and “continue to claim our role in history” .
“No one doubts our autonomy anymore. No one questions our capacity for self-government. No one imagines a community that is not like the one we have managed to build together: unique, strong, brave, open, loyal, enterprising and welcoming” and our duty is to continue with that legacy that began 212 years ago, the president stated.
And he has asked to do it “above any other consideration, above any interest” because it is our responsibility “to future generations. We cannot let them down.”
For the first time after assuming her position, Marta Fernández Cornago has read the Pregón del Día de La Rioja this Saturday, June 8, in the usual enclave, the Rioja town of Santa Coloma, where the meeting of mayors of 1812 took place that It was the germ of the Riojan identity. It takes place prior to the celebration of Community Day, on June 9.
On a dull afternoon, in which the square had to be adapted with a tent to protect attendees from the rain, the event began with the interpretation of the jota ‘En San Millán se firma’ by Blanca Fernández. ‘De La Rioja y los Cameros’, by Alba Iruzubieta, has also been performed.
The president of the Government of La Rioja, Gonzalo Capellán, the delegate of the Government in La Rioja, Beatriz Arraiz, as well as the deputies of the Rioja Parliament attended the event. The mayor of Santa Coloma, Begoña Palacios, has also participated.
In his speech before the authorities, Fernández Cornago wanted to review what Santa Coloma meant for what is today our autonomous community.
OWN CHARACTER AS A REGION AND OWN IDENTITY
“212 years have passed since this framework was the place chosen to vindicate our own character as a region.” La Rioja is a passage and an encounter. A condition that makes us unique and forges our open and welcoming character,” he read in his speech.
Santa Coloma was “a strategic place to celebrate an event that has reached our days and become an unquestionable bastion of our autonomy. The Santa Coloma Convention was a milestone. It was not the first nor the last time in which our representatives raised the voice to claim itself as a province with its own identity”.
It was, in short, “a turning point. A before and after. A transcendent milestone. The feeling of identity had already taken root in the people of Rioja.
“That December 8, 1812 – continues the president – had a decisive influence on the consolidation of the province of La Rioja as a political and administrative entity of Spain.”
That December 8 “not June” – the president clarifies, although it is always celebrated one day before La Rioja Day, June 9 – had two specific purposes: on the one hand, the reorganization of the military administration of the territory and, on the other, the request that it be governed by itself, independently of Soria and Burgos.
At that time “the evident provincialist sentiment was already palpitating and it was achieved that the province began to govern itself.” “A transcendent step because it was the first time in which the clamor of the Rioja people reached the Cortes,” he stressed.
However, it was necessary to wait until 1822 for the Royal Decree of January 30 to divide Spain into 51 provinces. Thus, for the first time, Logroño arose, taking the name of its capital as its name.
EFFORT AND SACRIFICE
“Since then our people have traveled a long path of effort and sacrifice that bore fruit in 1982 with the birth of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja.”
Although, from those years until now “everything has been changing”, the president of the Rioja Parliament wanted to remember the speech that the jarrero Eugenio Mazón Verdejo made on a day like today but in 1993 – the year of Fernández Cornago’s birth – that “could well be written today”.
“That day, Eugenio Mazón made a reflection that serves us well for 2024: He said that today our problems are radically different, but the human being, although more cultured and with more needs, remains the same, and his desires for peace and harmony also the same ones.”
He also said that “being from Rioja means never conceiving a company as impossible. A statement with which I cannot agree more.”
CLAIM DAY
Therefore, although times change, the president has opted to continue “defending the role of our Autonomous Community in Spain as a whole.” La Rioja Day “is a day of celebration; of exaltation; of shouting from the rooftops that we are Riojans and we are proud of it. But also of continuing to claim our role in history year after year.”
“We proudly defend our love for La Rioja and our love for Spain. Furthermore, as he has reflected, “love for La Rioja increases the greater the distance.”
Thus, and in tribute to those Riojans who are abroad, the president wanted to show her “admiration and immense affection for all those who celebrate the traditions that bring us together. For them, our gratitude, affection and recognition.”
“Also, we see this message reflected in hundreds of young people and adolescents, who leave our land every year to undertake an academic or professional project.”
With all this he concluded “I invite all of you to renew our firm commitment to our land with a call for unity, for harmony, for the sum of all for a commitment based on the defense of our territory.”
After the president’s speech, attendees were able to enjoy the jota ‘With good wine was toasted’, in the voice of Daniela Llaria. After three dances, the event ended with the listening of the anthem of La Rioja and the anthem of Spain.
