I have never considered myself a political actoror in electoral terms, that is to say, I do not have an electoral flow nor do I lead any electoral micro-enterprise that can negotiate with the candidates for an election position, let’s say that I have an image and a prestige built on these 25 years of professional life and I think that sometimes adds up to something, the fact is that, just like the low-ranking voter, I have also been disappointed by the candidates I have supported once they sign their inauguration certificate.
It was the 2012 campaign and Gonzalo Gómez was already practically the Mayor of Valledupar, only the day of the election was missing, all the leadership and the heavyweights accompanied him in that campaign, nothing could go wrong, he was a safe mayor. Fredy Socarrás was his opponent at the time and with little chance, he came from a succession of defeats so it was not by far the favorite, however, together with my brother we decided to bet against all odds on his project, we met in a small office on 17th street, it was hot and the only thing there was a few bags of water and they weren’t even cold, but how did you dream in that place.
Any day of those impromptu meetings Fredy made an act pointing to the sky with his index finger and a hand on his knee slightly leaning forward that sealed our unrestricted support for that cause, and I quote literally “…I swear to God one thing, I am going to win the mayoralty with everyone, but I am going to govern with my friends, and what you are doing I will never forget” It was a sublime moment, I already painted myself in the halls of the mayor’s office showing off that I had a mayor friend, but due to those unpredictable things, with only a few months to go before the election, Gonzalo Gómez committed a imprudence and the world came crashing down on him and Fredy began to rise like foam and the miracle happened, exhausted that night, without a penny in my pocket and with the car in reserve, I went to the command to celebrate the triumph, we had counted almost 1,200 votes in that campaign.
On January 2nd I found out that I was in a meeting at the Sonesta hotel, I showered and changed in no time at all and I rushed to the hotel to congratulate my mayor friend, I got out of the car and we met on the stairs and he told me I lunged forward with open arms, the mayor made a slight throw of the body like those Spanish bullfighters and with his open hand at chest level he made a gesture that I interpreted as a “get away please” You can already imagine my level of frustration.
But 2015 arrived and after having taken the drunkard’s oath to stop drinking on the day of the hangover, there I was putting my chest to the favorite’s campaign and accompanying the then ‘Tuto Uhía’ as it was popularly known, the same thing was repeated once more, the hugs, the promises and the name of God accompanying each one of them, they even offered me to be the candidate for the Council, which I did not accept but there I was delivered in body and soul; any day a great friend who attended the crisis meetings asked me if I was accompanying the ‘Tuto’ campaign, the question was disrespectful as well as strange, of course And do you want more? And he told me, I ask because the candidate said that you were not supporting him and that you did not acknowledge any support from him.
Since I have never believed gossip, I followed through to the end and what we expected happened We fucking win! And again the adrenaline to a million and the dream of having a friend in the mayor’s office flooded me again; at that time they delegated one of the closest advisers to the already mayor ‘Tuto’, known as ‘Yanca’, a character with loquacity only compared to his tutor, gathered us in a meeting room that a friend lent us and asked us to we handed over the resumes, it was January 10, 2016 and it was the most I could do, it was fine for me so I considered it a triumph at that point in my life. What could go wrong? (Will continue)
By Eloy Gutierrez Anaya
The entry El irresponsable (First Part) was first published in El Pilón | News from Valledupar, El Vallenato and the Colombian Caribbean.