«La Rioja has the support of a rich past and a splendid future»

Gonzalo Capellán premiered on La Rioja Day. Just a year ago, he went to San Millán de la Cogolla as president-elect, but Concha Andreu still held the command of the acting Executive. It was a very morbid celebration, more than the protocol of this occasion. It has also been more intimate due to the demands of the weather, indoors, without the spectacular scenery provided by the Yuso patio, although sheltered by a monastery with centuries of history. And on election day. Another La Rioja Day, but different.

The president closed the event with an open speech with that musical prominence given before by the Order of the Terrace or the singer-songwriter Emiliano Valdeoliva, who gave harmony to Codex 60, to the Glosses. Chords of history and vindication. «History, culture, territory, feeling, future. Five principles, five values ​​that, if placed on the lines of the staff, would constitute the musical writing that will serve to interpret the future project that he wanted to build together with all the people of Rioja,” Gonzalo Capellán began his words melodiously, moving on to a new term. : “Are”.

“We express very clearly not only that we have existed as a collective reality for a long time, but also that the feeling of being Riojans has been formally recognized since the approval of our Statute of Autonomy on June 9, 1982,” the president stressed, recalling the regionalist impulse that came from afar and to which, returning again to music, Carmen, Jesús and Iñaki made song.

Words that summarize a legacy that Capellán traveled from Contrebia Leukade, Calagurris, Vareia or Tritium, but stopping in a special way at the Suso scriptorium where our language was born with a vindictive message: «Notes on some codices that came to make up the richest heritage documentary of Spain, jealously guarded for centuries until 1851 in these Emiliano monasteries. “Then they left La Rioja, but their intellectual and moral property will perpetually belong to this land where we hope to be able to see it again, live, with our own eyes and those of all who wish to visit our land.”

History, culture and heritage, the president highlighted: «History is nothing more than a long collective journey in time in which so many things are shared that an idiosyncrasy is formed, that of our land, of La Rioja and of the people who inhabit it, the Riojans.

History in which certain names stand out, such as the winners of the day, whom Capellán recognized: «The artist Rafael Pérez, who with the genuine forms and aesthetic beauty that he has been able to imprint on clay, has become a reference ceramist international; the municipalities that structure our territory, raw sap that feeds from the roots to the branches of the tree of our Community; and Fernando Riaño, for his humanity and for perfectly representing that trait that we want to permeate the identity of La Rioja in solidarity that we are building together.

La Rioja as a collective project, even mentioning those who live in different parts of the world, has been another of the axes of the President of the Government, “which includes us all as people and we must ensure that all people can truly feel fully included.” . And within this project, he highlights that “we Riojans can feel proud of being at the head of Spain and well above the European average in the index of social progress of the different regions of Europe. “We want and must continue to progress along this path.”

Economic development, conviction, spirit of collaboration, social sensitivity… «And, let no one doubt it for a single moment: La Rioja has a future, a great future, whose path has behind it the support of a rich past, but above all a splendid future. A small land, but with the initiatives, the capabilities and the determined aspiration to undertake great future projects together, in all the fundamental areas of our life and well-being: health (physical and emotional), education and training, youth, science and innovation “, caring for people, rural development, industrial advancement, entrepreneurship and technology, creativity and culture…”, continued the president in that speech that looked from the past to the future of the region, dreaming of a land of “all people enjoying equality of opportunities, freedom and means.

“May this day of La Rioja serve to reaffirm our identity, to rejoice in all the path we have traveled together, in all the achievements achieved as an Autonomous Community and to face with hope, determination and enthusiasm the collective challenges that lie ahead of us,” concluded Capellan before shouting a loud applause “Long live La Rioja.”