At sunset I saw him by the sea, on the small pier of the bay of Pollença. He was a thin man, with a long, untidy beard. His movements were slow, harmonious. He was doing his practices and it seemed that his body was there, but his spirit was very far away. That instant of eternity exuded serenity and tranquility. Who was that man? What life story did he have behind him?I stopped at a certain distance, I didn't want to bother him. Everything began to slow down, the small waves that moved, the orange sun that wanted to set behind Tomir, the children running with their bicycles, the slow body and hands of that thin man with a long beard. Every encounter is unique and unrepeatable. That afternoon I didn't know who he was, I only knew that he exuded a serenity that made you want to stay still and watch.“Every breath is an opportunity,” says Ester when she leads the yoga practice. To understand Armand's story, we must go back to the early 80s. In sa Pobla, AIDS arrived without knocking. It wasn't the only guest; heroin also arrived, along with the need for easy and quick money. The appearance, the skin of the town, changed radically in a short time. A string of young people began to die, always silently and on tiptoe. Homosexuality was present, but it couldn't be spoken of; they said it was taboo, or perhaps a sin.Faced with the facts and the news that reached us about that red death, there was a deep-seated collective sense of survival. It seemed to us that those stories belonged to another world, that what was happening was in New York, in London, to the artists we saw on television, but not in our town. "These misfortunes don't happen to us," we thought; meanwhile, the young people began to fall, dying one after another. Lives shattered, without opportunities, without return, without explanation.Between 1981 and 1995, almost twenty young people died in sa Pobla infected with AIDS or killed by an overdose. The same number of young soldiers from Pobla who died on the Ebro front in that fateful 1938. For a small community, it was another war. Without bombs, without uniforms, but equally devastating.“Every session, every practice, is like starting with a blank page”.Tai chi is reached through continuous movement, shifting of weight, rooting to the ground, and breathing. There is no rush, each movement is born from the previous one and prepares the next. Time ceases to be something that ‘happens’ and becomes something that you ‘live’. Armand needed to inhabit his body and time, he needed to contemplate to gain distance and make the illness bearable. Yoga also seeks this. When you hold a pose with conscious breathing, you don’t simply ‘hold’ a pose, you learn to be present within your own body. The body ceases to be a tool you use and becomes a place you inhabit. When he contracted AIDS, Armand began a journey of deepening within himself, without much noise or visibility. The practice and contemplation of tai chi gave him life and meaning.“Living with a tranquil spirit,” Joan Socies, my childhood friend and Armand’s disciple, used to tell me. With Joan, we learned to walk and ride bicycles on Gran Street in sa Pobla; it was the 1960s. Psychology, teaching, and the search for his inner path were his constant pursuit and, at the same time, a vital necessity. One day he told me: “I’ve started doing tai chi and I like it. The teacher is half Basque and half French and lives in Santa Margalida. You would like it... Why don't you come?”Three years ago, Joan died of cancer and we buried him in Son Tut, facing east. Armand, his teacher, visited him a few days before he left. They talked and hugged; they had shared a part of the journey. Joan died with a peaceful spirit.Armand sought a corner, a quiet refuge in the bay of Pollença. He knew he had to prepare for his departure, he had little time left. AIDS had taken over his body when he was only 24 years old, while he was working as an engineer in London. In those years there were no vaccines or answers. But he decided to live his time, his own time, with more awareness.“Every breath counts... Take a breath. This time is just for you,” says Ester in a calm voice.N'Armand knew how to transform suffering into a serene way of life. In the documentary that in 2019 broadcast IB3 about AIDS, Armand said he would not give up his illness for anything.Throughout his life he sought silence. He was not a 'media master', he did not publish books nor seek notoriety. He simply lived. And this, nowadays, is extraordinarily rare. Joan told me: "The important thing is to have a calm spirit". Now we know that this phrase was not born out of nowhere. It was part of a way of living that he had probably learned alongside Armand. A teacher is not one who creates dependent disciples, but one who helps others to walk on their own two feet. Armand's greatness will not be having been perfect, but having continued to live.Now we have that scene on the pier, that man in front of the Bay of Pollensa. A very thin man, with a long beard, a man ravaged by consumption.In the last days of June this year, Armand died, accompanied by the people who loved him. Grief spread through the small corner of the bay. The women who lived there in winter had welcomed and adopted him; he made himself loved. I often walk past the jetty and still see that thin man, with a long beard, practicing his routines, living each day as if it were the last day of his life.

The Balearic Islands have registered 97 new HIV infections in the last year, a figure that places the region at a rate of 7.87 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This is the lowest incidence since this indicator began to be recorded in 2003, although it remains slightly above the national average of 6.95. According to data from the Directorate General of Public Health, provided on the occasion of World AIDS Day – which is celebrated on December 1st with the slogan 'Zero AIDS deaths by 2030'–Mallorca accounts for 69 of the infections; Ibiza and Formentera, 23; and Menorca, 5. Regarding the profile of those affected, the majority continue to be men (75), although there has been a notable increase in cases among women, rising from 12 infections in 2023 to 22 this year. Among men, however, the number has decreased from 89 to 75. The transmission routes follow the usual trend: 50 cases among men who have sex with men, 42 in heterosexual relationships, two in intravenous drug users, and one from mother-to-child transmission. In two cases, the origin could not be determined. The most frequent age group for new diagnoses is between 30 and 49 years old, accounting for 59% of cases. The percentage of people born outside of Spain also increased slightly, from 53% to 56%. The Ministry of Health notes that the highest rate recorded to date was in 2008, with 209 infections and an incidence rate that reached 19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment presented a collaboration agreement this Monday with the Chamber of Commerce of Mallorca, through which it will contribute just over 360,000 euros for a voucher campaign for the consumption of local products. This campaign will allow consumers to discount 10 euros for every 20 euros spent, up to a maximum of 60 euros.

MÁS por Palma criticized this Wednesday that the PP "continues to not pay the aid for the 2024-2025 academic year so that families can pay for a 0-3 kindergarten," a situation that the spokesperson for the party in Cort, Neus Truyol, described as "outrageous, unacceptable, and absolutely unacceptable."

Of the 7,976 tons of plastic Of the 1,333 plastics required for agricultural activity, 1,333 are converted into waste each year. The agricultural sector in Mallorca generates 40% of the plastic waste that would be expected, according to manufacturers, thanks to its reuse and more efficient management by farms, according to the study. Analysis of the use and management of plastics in the agricultural sector of MallorcaPrepared by the Association for Organic Agricultural Production of Mallorca (Apaema) with the support of the Mallorca Preservation Foundation. Due to the reduction in the useful life of plastics, farmers have stopped burning or burying the waste they generate "thanks to services such as free collection on farms and the availability of municipal green points"

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, assured this Wednesday, during the presentation of the balance of the aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC) by 2024, that the primary sector in the Balearic Islands is "more aware of climate change." European Union. In fact, in the Balearic Islands there has been an increase in applications for the 2025 CAP compared to last year. The increase in aid for 2024.

Farmers in the Balearic Islands have received 36.5 million euros in direct aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC) during 2024, 900,000 euros more than in 2023. Of this figure, more than 95% have already been paid, with a payment rate that is 14% faster than the previous year.

The Balearic Cultural Work (OCB), CineCiutat, Jóvenes por la Lengua, and Casa Planas will receive €430,000 in aid from the Ministry of Culture. Specifically, the OCB will receive a total of €300,000 for promoting its "essential work" for the Catalan language and culture in the Balearic Islands at "a particularly delicate historical moment." This was stated by Vicenç Vidal, a member of Congress for Sumar MÁS, who highlighted the "good work" carried out to secure the Ministry's award of this money to various cultural entities in the islands, according to Europa Press.