“I was born to narrate, to tell stories to you, for instance”. This is how Juan Cruz, the journalist and communicator – a collaborator and columnist of this newspaper – defined himself when receiving the Patricio Estévanez Award granted to him this year by the Association of Journalists of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (APT). “For journalists, it is very important to be good,” stated the professional, who was born in Puerto de la Cruz in 1948, and who made a plea in favor of this profession, to which he has been dedicated for over six decades, as he started in it at the young age of 13.
“We were not born to be bad or to do malicious deeds,” said the award winner at an event attended by the president of the APT, Salvador García Llanos, and the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez.
Juan Cruz started writing at the age of 13 in the Aire libre weekly, then moved to La tarde and EL DÍA before the founding of the newspaper El País. He is currently a collaborator and columnist for this newspaper, and has also written several novels that have been recognized over the years. The Canary Islands Literature Prize in 2000 found his passion in writing, and the president of the APT, Salvador García Llanos, stated that the Patricio Estévanez Award “is richly deserved” due to his “distinctive penchant for storytelling.”
During the Patricio Estévanez Award ceremony, the APT also commemorated the festival of journalists, whose patron saint is Saint Francis de Sales. / Carsten W. Lauritssen
Juan Cruz had warm words for each of the people who attended the award ceremony held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Thus, he had an anecdote to tell about practically every member of the audience, which he turned into endearing stories that could now form a new book by the Tenerife journalist. “It was very important to me that my mother respected my way of being,” began the renowned professional, who dedicated part of his speech to praising the work of the Institute of Hispanic Studies of the Canary Islands. “It was the place where I became a person,” and said, “That it has not yet received recognition from insular society seems to me to be one of the most resonant injustices we have experienced in the Canary Islands.”
“Journalists were not born to be bad or to do malicious deeds”
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Juan Cruz shared his award “with journalists, with young people, with those who have helped me become a journalist” and lamented the fact that he practices “a profession that is mistreated by us, by the society it addresses, by those who do not understand that a journalist is someone who tells people what happens to other people, that a journalist is someone who, knowing, must say what he knows and must keep silent about what he has not yet understood.” To express his gratitude for this award, he read the text Peripecia de una periodista del barrio, in which he recalled the first interview he conducted when he was still a child, with the footballer Vicente Jimeno.
“This profession is mistreated by us and the society it addresses”
The event was presented by the president of the APT, Salvador García Llanos, who explained that the Patricio Estévanez Award aims to recognise an entire career, and this time it has been awarded to the journalist from Puerto, Juan Cruz, for his “dense and rich journey through the intricacies of the profession”. “Juan deserves it,” said Salvador García Llanos, who read the text Juan Cruz Ruiz, una vida entre escritores and highlighted the journalistic values of the awardee.
“It was very important to me that my mother respected my way of being”
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Throughout his career, Juan Cruz has collaborated with the APT on numerous occasions, participating in forums, discussions, and presentations; contributing ideas for different initiatives and proofreading texts. “Rebellious against injustices and selfless towards noble causes.” That’s how Salvador García Llanos defined Juan Cruz, and affirmed that the awardee “is irreplaceable.” All this was said about “Juanito, as many of us still call him.”
He recalled that from a very young age, he “was clear that the vocation was cultivated among books and bookstores“, which allowed him to become “the journalist who knew and knows almost everything, in love with all the islands, which he has always kept in mind in each of his public appearances.” García Llanos concluded the praise for this “journalist of race,” noting his “respect for the deontological codes.”
“This profession is mistreated by us and the society it addresses”
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For his part, the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, pointed out that Juan Cruz has already been the official proclaimer of the May Festivities of the Tenerife capital, and has also been recognised with the title of Adoptive Son. “When I turn on the TV and see him participating in any program, those of us who consider him a friend feel proud to know him, of his trajectory, and that the name of Tenerife and the Canary Islands manages to slip into his speeches at any moment.”
And “long live journalism, by the way”, celebrated the recipient of the Patricio Estévanez Award, Juan Cruz Ruiz.
