The traffic light of Mortadel·lo and Filemó will soon be a reality. The mayor of Barcelona, ??Jaume Collboni, called the professor from Navarre who had promoted the initiative this Thursday to confirm that the Catalan capital will go ahead with its original proposal in tribute to cartoonist Francisco Ibáñez.
“We talked about it for a long time and he thanked me for the idea. He says that, even if this is not the usual procedure, the Council has welcomed the project and passed it on to the technical services to develop it and choose its location”, explains Francisco Javier Ibáñez to La Vanguardia, who , despite the coincidence in the last name, is not related to the Catalan artist.
Municipal sources confirm to this newspaper both the call and the intention for the project to be carried out. “We are studying where it can be located.”
For days now, thousands of users have suggested on the web some emblematic places related to Ibáñez, such as the former headquarters of the Bruguera publishing house, on Carrer Aldea, or different points in the Sant Martí district, where the cartoonist lived. There is what is considered the best public library in the world, the Gabriel García Márquez, who assures that “we want the traffic lights in front of the library to be regulated by Mortadel·lo and Filemó”. In fact, the center has a space dedicated to the master of humor. “I have insisted that it be located there, but it is not up to me”, reveals the professor.
Throughout this week, personalities from the world of culture, such as the actor Octavi Pujades, the writer Rosa Ribas or the playwright Jordi Galcerán, took a position in favor of this proposal. “It would be a tribute to him and his generations of fans. It would even be a tourist appeal”, acknowledged the filmmaker Santiago Segura.
The idea came from the mind of this teacher during his vacation in Denmark. “In the city of Aarhus there are some very nice Viking traffic lights that honor their ancestors. When I saw them, I thought it would make all the sense in the world to transfer this idea to Barcelona with Ibáñez. I do not rule out that there are those who choose to go through this crossroads before another. He certainly does it with a smile”, he concludes.
