Celestí Alomar has died at 76 years old and leaves a very large void as an era. He did and was many other things, but he will be remembered as the counselor who implemented the ecotax in the Balearic Islands. He did this during his time as Minister of Tourism of the first government of the Pacte de Progrés, a government that had to withstand the fiercest criticism during its existence –from adversaries, but also from those closest to them– and which now, 25 years later, many value and miss, and with good reason. The first Pacte de Progrés of the Balearic Islands governed from 1999 to 2003. In a short time, the deaths of President Francesc Antich and Vice-President Pere Sampol, and now Minister Celestí Alomar, represent the premature disappearance of three key figures in the recent political history of the country. I write 'premature' because, although all three were around or past seventy years old, the death of those who truly work for the common good is always premature.The Pacte de Progrés was the first progressive government that the Balearic Islands had and it was a pioneer in many things, here and in the Spanish state. The ecotax that Celestí Alomar promoted was ahead of its time in uniting tourism policies with serious environmental policies. Alomar understood this tax as a tool for self-government and social cohesion. It earned him a fatwa, a war from hoteliers, an economic sector with pretensions more of a caste than a lobby. 

The afternoon of February 18, 1976, in an apartment on Catalunya street in Ciutat, the Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands was presented to the media. A drizzle of drizzle barely wet the road, while a squad of police from the Social Political Brigade was lurking in the street. It had been barely three months since the dictator's death. A broad group of citizens with a firm and active commitment to anti-Francoism had participated in the creation process of the new party: from Bandera Roja (who came from the Communist Party of Spain, which they had joined a year earlier), from the Popular Socialist Party and other left-wing organizations, trade unionists, from nationalist circles, and independents who had participated in a debate process around the idea.

Island Social Promotions. This was the name displayed half a century ago on a premises on the central Can Verí street in Palma. Near where the newsroom of this media outlet you now hold in your hands, or on your screen, is located. Perhaps some might wonder what these promotions were. The answer is as simple as this: it was the front for a political party, then illegal, like all the others: the Socialist Party of the Islands (PSI), whose initials coincided with those of this entity. And that was its headquarters. Fifty years ago, on January 18, 1976, that PSI, which would later become the Socialist Party of Mallorca (PSM), made its presentation to the press.

This past Sunday, Montuïri hosted a moving tribute to Pere Sampol, former vice president of the Catalan government and one of the founders of the PSM (Mallorca Socialist Party), who died on April 25.

Jaume Obrador (Cas Concos, 1940-Muro, 2025), former councillor for the Socialist Party of Mallorca (PSM) in Palma City Council in 1979, passed away this Friday at the age of 85. The general coordinator of MÉS for Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, said goodbye in a message published on his social media account X.