Tunte painfully says goodbye to Camilo Álvarez, Tunte's most important businessman
Hundreds of people, including island authorities, directors of companies in the environmental sector of the Canary Islands and Tirajan residents, said goodbye this Wednesday to one of their most important businessmen who were able to grow without waiting for the manna of tourism. Camilo Álvarez was a Canarian and Gran Canarian who suffered persecution in his business life by hitman officials who, while protecting companies that have advanced with bribes, Camilo Álvarez had to endure the pressure. This happened to him in Telde. He was a very loved person by honest officials for his correct conduct and for being out of the spotlight.
Camilo Álvarez began trading almonds in the mid-50s, at the age of 20, bringing several batches of product to Sidi Ifni. He collects it from farmers whom he always paid correctly, that is, he was not a fruit middleman. At that time in Tunte there was not even a midwife. The almonds were broken with a hammer and 10 kilos per bushel were removed, 60 kilos per woman. After the almonds came the pine needles from Tamadaba, Inagua, Pajonales, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, and then sent to the banana packing houses.
Pine needles were used as packaging for bananas when they were exported, although rice straw was also used. Ships full of this new type of packaging, which was rice straw, arrived in Las Palmas. Pine needles were cooler and were often used for transportation in hot times, while rice straw was warmer and used more in winter. Camilo Álvarez remembers that Don Antonio Manchado was in charge of the Fyffes company in Gran Canaria.
This company had its headquarters in Juan Grande and bought the fruit in the Canary Islands to then send it to England. Camilo Álvarez and an almond merchant from La Palma went to Reus in 1956 and each bought an almond splitting machine. It was a small splitter, which was installed where the gas station in the town of Tunte is today. He belonged to a company made up of 3 people: Camilo Álvarez, José Macías del Toro and Diego Cruz Ojeda. In 1965 was when he acquired the splitter we are talking about. He bought it in Denia (Alicante) and it is from the Borrell brand. The place where the splitter is installed was a lot. Camilo requested a loan from the Agricultural Credit Bank, both to buy the splitter and build the building. He then raised the building and later an engineer from the peninsula came to install the machinery. Manuel Bermejo Pérez was the building's engineer. Later, this engineer would be mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at the beginning of Democracy. The almond is acquired on the island of La Palma and in Gran Canaria (Tejeda, Cercados de Araña, Valsequillo, etc.).
In Valsequillo he bought it mainly from Emilio Suárez Fior, who had a large estate and who had been a corvette captain in the merchant navy. Almost all the almonds were sent to Europe, mainly England and Germany (to the port of Hamburg, the 2nd largest port in Europe). The party closed about 20 years ago (2000), due in part to the emigration of the population of Tunte to other places, especially to the coastal tourist area of the south of Gran Canaria and other employment sectors such as construction or hospitality. . In those 60s there could have been a population of about 1.500 people in Tunte, while currently there will be barely 300-400 people.