The Colombian hotelier who spent 16 years at the head of the management of the Hotel Puerta del Sol, in the city of Barranquilla, is remembered by colleagues, friends and employees in this special tribute made by Hotel and Restaurant Management.
by Carolina Londoño
"An honest man, good friend, helpful like no one else was killed."
"César García Matarazzo, manager of the Hotel Puerta del Sol, was shot twice when he was traveling along a busy street in Barranquilla, in the company of his wife, his children and some of their friends... an exemplary citizen was killed who had no problems with anyone and who was determined that the establishment he managed was a source of pride for the city," This feeling of helplessness and pain, collected by the renowned Colombian journalist Ernesto McCausland for the Barranquilla newspaper El Heraldo is shared by its 102 employees, friends of the guild, family and ordinary citizens, who still do not explain how the violence that shakes Colombia daily took one of the most beloved sons of the Colombian Golden Gate.
César García Matarazzo, a Colombian hotelier of Italian descent, was born on December 8, 1960 in Barranquilla and studied Hotel Business Administration at the Externado de Colombia University. He had worked with the Morrison Multinational Company, in La Guajira, in the Food and Beverage department, and since July 1.992 he was serving as manager of the Hotel Puerta del Sol.
His managerial work was so outstanding that he not only avoided the disappearance of the hotel, formerly called El Cadelia, but also positioned it as one of the favorites of both national and international tourists, so much so that the hotel was consecrated as the home of the Colombian Football Team when it played in Barranquilla the qualifiers for the World Cup in Germany in 2006.
But not only the national team stayed at this hotel: The world champion, Brazil, also stayed at La Puerta del Sol thanks to the kindness of its human team and its optimal facilities. They say that their players Ronaldo, Ronaldhino and Kaká, expressed to the Puerta del Sol team their gratitude for the service provided during their stay at the hotel.
García Matarazzo was married to Mrs. Karen Osorio, and had two sons: César and Julián, aged 14 and 11, respectively. "He adored his children. His family came first for him, he had a beautiful marriage of many years. He exuded affection, and therefore, he left an indelible mark not only on them but on all the people who knew him. His funeral was the largest I have seen in the history of Barranquilla, because people from all walks of life came to him to say goodbye. His death definitely caused a very strong impact on the city," says Luz Mary Restrepo, business advisor at the Puerta del Sol Hotel.
The entrepreneur
As a hotelier, García had dedicated his last years to a single purpose: to position the Puerta del Sol hotel as one of the most prestigious in this city. It achieved this last December when the hotel was awarded as the first hotel in Colombia with the certification of the Colombian environmental seal and the ISO 14.001 / 2004 Environmental Certification, after 7 years of continuous work in which the main thing was the awareness of its employees towards the care of the environment. "He vibrated with this theme, it was his philosophy of life," says Restrepo, who also participated as the leader of the environmental project that finally achieved this merit.
"César always wanted the environment to be part of the hotel's business policies. Therefore, I held weekly meetings with employees, in which they learned about the rationalization and reuse of resources such as used soaps and old locks, efficient use of water and electricity, handling of chemicals and recycling of garbage, "says Luz Mary.
"It also implemented a monthly activity called The Environmental Week, in which the entire Puerta del Sol team actively worked to achieve the goals established by the National Center for Cleaner Production and Environmental Technologies of Colombia CNPLMTA (entity that brings together the set of institutions, entities and public and private companies interested in promoting the improvement of the economic and environmental performance of the productive sector of Colombia) and SENA (Service National Learning). He also created the figure of the Green Tsar, a person exclusively in charge of leading the environmental processes in the hotel, and thus, with a lot of effort, teamwork and leadership he achieved his dream, "recalls Luz Mary Restrepo.
"The profits from this process represent a great value for the Hotel Puerta del Sol, for the Colombian hotel sector, for the coastal region and for the country in general. The greatest achievement for the organization was the construction and strengthening of the environmental culture, a key factor in achieving the certifications that we will soon receive and that already allows us to ensure their maintenance over time.
For our customers and the surrounding community, it means well-being and trust because day by day we implement the best environmental practices with the determined interest of continuously improving environmental conditions, rationalizing natural and energy resources, properly managing solid waste and the chemical products we use in our processes," García told this magazine a few months ago.
The boss
His death, which occurred on February 22, left an immense void in his employees, who always had an endearing relationship with García, so much so that he always gave them the confidence to speak bluntly about their problems. His secretary and right-hand man in the last 7 years, Janeth Umaña, describes him: "He was one of the best bosses I have worked for, because he was a broad and noble person. Although like every person he had his flaws, his virtues as a boss and as a person were more.
From the first day of work it gave me a lot of confidence. He was a kind and cordial person and I never, in these years, noticed him in a bad mood; nor did he treat me or any of his employees in a bad way. For me it was a very painful impact his death and leaves me an immense void, and although I have not yet been able to recover completely, I continue to work with great desire, because he would have wanted it that way."
Another of the characteristics that most highlight the people who worked alongside him was his immense leadership capacity. "He was a person of ideas, of innovations. He worked with a tight-knit group of people who respected him and he respected. Those who work here still mourn him, and remember him with a poster stuck on one of the walls of the hotel," says Luz Mary Restrepo.
But his gift of people was not only limited to the people he was in charge of. As indicated by María Luisa Abuchaibe, Manager of barranquilla Conventions & Visitors Bureu, colleague and personal friend of García "despite not belonging to the hoteliers guild (Cotelco), he was always willing to help us when we needed it. Personally, he collaborated with me with a project that I was advancing. In addition, he was one of the few hoteliers who had contact with all his colleagues, since he had no problems with anyone. In the guild he leaves a very great absence, because not only did he leave a great friend, but a person committed to the development of tourism in Barranquilla".
For him, promoting the city as a tourist destination was also a priority, since he knew that this is how all hoteliers won. Abuchaibe says that one of the projects he had in mind was to open a restaurant-show in his city that promoted the Carnival of Barranquilla, one of the characteristic festivities of the city and Colombia, "because I knew that by promoting the city as a tourist destination, we all won as a guild."
The human being
A great friend, as described by his relatives, such as McCausland himself, who knew him from his school days at the Liceo Cervantes in Barranquilla, where both graduated in 1,977. Last November, García and his classmates met again after 30 years, a meeting in which García was the great leader and engine: "beyond his administrative achievements, the progress he evidenced in his personal and professional life, García Matarazzo was the unconditional friend ... To understand the fraternal and endearing value of the bond with these true friends of life was undoubtedly to know how to worship one of the most beautiful values of the Caribbean, such as communion and loyalty with those and towards those who are part of the good moments of existence, "says the journalist in his personal tribute to García in the Barranquilla newspaper.
They themselves, the lifelong friends, the employees with whom he worked shoulder to shoulder and the relatives who still do not overcome his departure, decided to pay their own tribute to him on the social network Facebook with the creation of the group "For the soul of César García Matarazzo". In it, people can observe photographs illustrating the most important moments of Garcia's life next to his loved ones, family and employees, and express their pain, repudiation and helplessness for the crime of a person who always attended to everyone with a smile on his lips and who never allowed himself a bad word for anyone.
