As he was, Miquel Oliver, according to his mother: "There has never been anyone as calm as him"

PalmaHe did his military service with little enthusiasm. He studied Systems Informatics at the UIB. At 15 years old, he became so passionate about volleyball that, when he was already living in Palma, he returned to Manacor once a week to train. At just fourteen months old, he was already speaking clearly. He wasn't one of those children who get tangled up with language: he quickly developed the ability to express himself with precision. Joana Gomila, mother of the mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver Gomila, recounts this. It's hard to get words out of Joana. At the end of the conversation, she reveals why: “A mother always speaks well of her children. What else can we say? And I... I don't just want to flatter him.” There will be some, but not that many.

Miquel Oliver was born in Manacor the year Las Grecas released the album Gipsy Rock, which includes the hit 'Te estoy amando locamente', and Los Diablos sang 'Acalorado'. It was 1974. Joana was a new mother with Miquel, who was what is called a 'nin trampa' (because he is so easy to look after that everyone develops a curious desire to have one): “He was a calm and observant child who never caused much trouble. There's never been another as calm as him. He was sleepy, cried little, and had a calmness that set him apart”.

Since his brother Toni arrived when he was a year and a half old, Miquel started school very early, at Sant Francesc de Manacor. He then continued at Simó Ballester, and Joana says he didn't mind going to school at all: “Quite the opposite. He did the work he was told and you never had to ask him to”, she recalls. Even as a child he showed a clear inclination for “being handy”: “He would spend hours assembling and disassembling devices, testing wires and light bulbs, and fixing, or breaking, any object that fell into his hands. He also liked to draw and paint”, says Joana, who to sum up says that “he was entertained by anything”. His mother still keeps a small box full of wires, tools, and small parts with which Miquel used to spend his time as a child.

One place where he loved to spend his hours was the family farm, in Son Macià: he would spend entire afternoons observing and chasing small animals and birds. “He knew them all, the birds' songs”, she recalls. He even insisted that his grandfather and father keep the scrubland clean when they neglected it. And, like any boy, he also liked to play in the street with his friends, whatever the game, although he preferred his friends to come to his house to play with “cositas” (little things).

When asked if Miquel ever showed interest in politics, Joana immediately says that “politics was never discussed” at home and that when he said he would be a councilor, “it was a great surprise”. However, she highlights Miquel's strong sense of justice and his desire to help others. To explain this, she tells an anecdote: “He never told me this, I had to ask him if it was true. When he was 16 or 17 years old, he was riding his Vespino in Manacor and saw a group of young people around a man. He thought they were beating him, and he didn't think twice: he stopped the vehicle to intervene. But the situation was not what it seemed: those young people were helping the man, who was ill and suffering some kind of attack. My son's gesture shows his impulse to help in the face of possible injustice, even at the risk of assuming it”.

Joana admits that it is not easy to have a politician son: “I would have preferred him not to get involved”, she confesses. But the prevailing sentiment is pride. “My children are responsible. What more can I ask for?”. She knows, however, that public exposure has a price: the criticism of people who don't know what they are really like. “That's what hurts me”, she states.