In 2013 the socialist family in Gibraltar lost two
major figures. In April we said goodbye to Charles Bruzon and on the last day
of the year to Luis Del Rio.
Both were very different people but had more in common
than one might realise. I first met Luis some two and a half years ago. When I
was introduced to him he was described to me as being Gibraltar’s Che Guevara.
It was said somewhat tongue in cheek but it came back to me when I read Joelle
Baglietto’s fond Facebook farewell tribute where she wrote “Say hi to Che for
me.”
Some months after I met Luis my dear friend Charles
asked me to read through an article he’d written for the Christian Socialist Movement
magazine in the UK. What stunned me was that Charles had chosen to use a radical
quote from Keir Hardie in which he wrote of Christ the first Communist. I never
discussed religion with Luis but I certainly did with Charles. Both men were
staunch socialists and I am sure they connected in that conviction via Hardie, Che
and Christ the first Communist. Indeed Charles was always delighted when he
could connect his devout Christianity with Joe Bossano’s strong no-nonsense socialism,
which happened more often than not.
The other aspect of their lives in which they shared
much in common was their genuine concern for other people. Both men would go
out of their way to help those in need. The disadvantaged in our society could
count on their help and support not just in word but also in deed.
Yet Charles Bruzon and Luis del Rio were also very
different. I remember well the first time I heard Charles speak in public
because I was knocked away by his articulate, impassioned socialist message
born of the pulpit. I also remember the last time that Luis stood for the
executive committee of the GSLP. Candidates were given the opportunity to make
a short speech. That was not Luis’ way, he gave a wave and the party re-elected
him because they already knew his true worth.
Charles was one of the public faces of the GSLP first
as an MP and then as a Government minister. Luis was one of the dedicated
backroom boys. Yet both were wise enough to know you could not have one without
the other. Leaders need loyal lieutenants at their side and there was none more
loyal than Luis Del Rio.
In losing Luis Gibraltar has lost another part of its
historic memory. He came from a Gibraltar very different from the Rock of today
and indeed those under 30 probably know little of its existence.
Luis grew up alongside Joe Bossano: a man he was close
to all his life. When I interviewed Joe some years ago we spoke of his early
life in Gibraltar. Although I grew up some 1,000 miles to the north our mutual
families had shared experiences. Poverty is poverty is poverty whether it is
Devil’s Gap or Silvertown in London’s dockland. What is common is the battle of
families to survive with dignity.
That very hardship is in the DNA of today’s
Gibraltarian even though extreme poverty is a thing of the past. It was Luis,
along with others, who gave witness to it. Their fight for justice was carried first
by the TGWU through to today’s GSLP and Luis was one of the socialism’s constant
banner carriers.
I last spoke to Luis at length just days before he
flew to London for the hospital tests which tragically bore bad news. If he had
any inkling of his pending fate he certainly gave no signs and it was a
conversation filled with his usual good humour.
I am not sure if in the after life they read Panorama,
perhaps they do online. In my last email message to Luis as he started his
final treatment I urged him to have anímo. If he is reading this my message
would be the same as he rights any wrongs he sees around him. I certainly send
anímo to his close family at their deep loss: a loss they share with the wider
socialist family and all Gibraltarians who believe in social justice for all.
