Lawyer and politician, José María Suárez González became mayor of León in 1976. And he was one of the ambassadors of the Bembibre’s National Festival for the Exaltation of Botillo in its origins, in the fourth edition.

In Bembibre he did not overlook the dependence on coal, at a moment when the town was “the centre of a large mining area”, according Bembibre’s Botillo Festival Report. In his speech he was eager to express his amazement for these workers who “illuminate darkness, who open mineral veins; that carve the ground looking for buried energy to offer it to others, giving us light, flame and heat».

That was the description that, broadly speaking, he made in his speech in the three previous editions of the festival. He did not forget Botillo, with dignity included, he said: “the work of the knights of this land” who have been in charge of “elevating the conduct to ritual”, in addition, in a festive, generous and joyful way.

“May he fulfil all the weddings in the chronology of time with the same euphoria.”