Born in Valencia de Alcántara (Cáceres) in 1923, Manuel Vital is already part of the contemporary history of Barcelona. The city paid tribute this Saturday to the founder of the first neighborhood association in the Nou Barris district, that of peripheral neighborhood of Torre Baróto whom the filmmaker Marcel Barrena has dedicated the successful movie The 47. Famous for hijacking a bus in 1978 to take it to this neighborhood for the first time, Vital has received recognition with the baptism of a bus stop with his name on Castellví street, the highest point in the neighborhood.
At 11:30, residents, journalists and authorities, including the mayor of the city, Jaume Collboni, and the Councilor for Culture, Xavier Mercè, boarded two buses to reconstruct the route that Vital took on May 7. The procession headed to the emblematic Karl Marx Square and from there headed up the slope that leads to the Torre Baró castle, while Barcelona slowly appeared on the horizon. Twenty minutes later, the two buses have arrived at the roundabout that will also bear the name of Manuel Vital, the point at which the bus driver entered the neighborhood with the articulated vehicle chanted by all the neighbors.
Vital’s feat demonstrated to the City Council that public transport could also reach Torre Baró. The union member was tried for these events and accused of kidnapping. The company threatened to fire him without compensation, but neighborhood pressure made his reinstatement possible. Little by little, line 47 was extended until, in 1980, Torre Baró already had a bus service.
“Vital was not only a neighborhood leader in Torre Baró, but he has come to represent the demand of all those neighborhoods on the Spanish periphery that fight for the dignity of their neighbors. Vital’s perseverance also reflects the struggle of neighbors like those in the Madrid neighborhood of Entrevías,” added Clara Segura, actress who plays Carmen, Vital’s wife, in the film. A nun by training, she ended up marrying Vital and also became a symbol of Torre Baró for her tireless contribution to the education of the children who lived on that vacant lot. Joana Vital, granddaughter of the couple, He has claimed the role of his grandmother: “She showed us all that you don’t need a school to be a teacher,” referring to the barracks that her grandmother used as classrooms.
Neighbors and former colleagues of his have not missed the appointment either. This is the case of Gregoria, a close friend of Vital who has been visibly moved by the tribute. “He was a man of few words, but affable, a fighter and with strong values. Thanks to him and many others who are no longer here, we now enjoy running water, electricity and paved streets,” he praised.
Vital was never a second-class Catalan, as he said at the time, but he also did not renounce his Extremaduran roots. In fact, he never took off his chain with the green, white and black flag that he always wore around his neck. The neighborhood leader represented that anarchic post-war emigration, an emigration that endured the exploitation of the foremen in the southern fields and that went to Catalonia in search of opportunities. He was known for the hijacking of bus 47, but Vital had already organized a popular revolt in 1972 to provide the neighborhood with running water. He gathered residents of the area and they blocked Meridiana Avenue. Women and children also descended the hill en masse and took to the road. The police surrounded them and ended up attacking the crowd. From that action, the Franco city council built pipelines in Torre Baró.
Despite the improvements, they have been arriving in the neighborhood in dribs and drabs and the area, even today, suffers from recurring power outages during the winter. Collboni has taken the opportunity to announce improvements in the area, such as the burying of electrical wiring, which he has recognized is a “historical pending issue” with Torre Baró. The mayor has mentioned that the consortium will launch the Neighborhood Plan to improve connectivity and public services in a neighborhood that has the indelible mark of Manuel Vital.
