Local writer uses city hall address to highlight corruption issues

Carlos Garrido, the Mallorca journalist, writer and rock musician, used a speech to commemorate the 779th anniversary of the conquest of Mallorca by James I to launch a broadside against the political class. In the presence of the mayor and the minister of health Garrido warned the audience to “Be wary of leaders who are fat in power.”

His address focused on the corruption of power and he lamented the ‘moral poverty’ of most politicians, accusing them of possessing “blind greed, an impulse to gather more and more and a general lack of respect for people – in fact they are an insult to humanity and, as a matter of fact, ridiculous.” He went on to cite examples of recent corruption cases, alluding to ´bank accounts in the Cayman Islands’.

Drawing a contrast with King James I, who conquered the Moorish city of Medina Mayurka – now Palma – in 1229, Garrido said that true leaders knew that “Each of their decisions, every move and every word, affects thousands of people – many of them poor and without resources such as the sick, the homeless and others with all sorts of problems.”

The writer concluded that real authority is won with honesty and integrity and urged the restoration of ethics, honesty, humanity and intelligence´ to politics.

Carlos Garrido´s band Rock & Press are playing a gig on Jan 17th at Exit Rock Bar in Palma – more details