“For 22 years I got up at 4 in the morning every day of my life,” Ricardo García Santander recalls, who today ends more than five thousand mornings accompanying the Guatemalans with the program Long live the morning.
After being one of the first voices that awakens thousands of Guatemalans and becoming one of the most familiar faces of national television, one of the most important stages of his life in front of the program ended.
The man who arrived from Argentina in 2003, with a suitcase full of dreams and a revolutionary television proposal, today closes a chapter that forever changed the panorama of morning programs in Guatemala. His eyes, the same ones that have seen two decades of national history pass from the set, now reflect a mixture of pride, nostalgia and expectation for what is to come.
In this office, which has witnessed countless production meetings, Ricardo takes a time to reflect on the legacy of a program that not only entertained, but became a school, family and home for dozens of talents that today shine on national and international screens.
Long live the morning It is not just a television program; He is Ricardo’s first professional son in Guatemalan lands, the project that adopted him as Chapín and now, with 22 years, is ready to grow with new voices, while he explores different horizons.
Why make the decision to finish this important stage?
The truth is that it is a decision that I have been thinking for a long time, about two years ago, when Long live the morning He turned 20, I thought it was the right time to not be in the program.
I consider that this program, for me, was the project that has brought me the most satisfaction at the professional level, because it was the first job that I did in Guatemala when I took charge of the Guatevisión Production Management, in 2003.
The first formal project that I presented was the creation of this Telerrevista, which started on February 23, 2004, and have already been almost 22 years of being in charge of this project that, I insist, has brought me only positive things, only good things. But inside I felt the need to find new challenges within the company.
Continue as a driver of Dreaming as a familywhich is a program that has brought me many satisfactions, but I understood that it was time to get out of Long live the morningat least in front of the camera, because I will continue, obviously, very closely with the new team and I think I am doing the right thing, because it is to open myself to new opportunities, to look for new spaces, and that the program continues to grow and continue evolving with a new team.
You are one of the pioneers in the Mornings shows nationally. How do you feel that your legacy has been on Guatemalan television and what do you think is the future for television?
I think that Long live the morning It was a very important program for the development and growth of Guatevisión.
I think that, because of their style and segments of all kinds, the fact that so many drivers were in the same space, each with a different responsibility, with a different role, the scenery, visual image and the way of telling things, made it made that Long live the morning It will become a very important reference for Guatemalan television. And I think that another very important point is the talent that was generated over so many years, because many figures today from television and social networks went through Long live the morning.
I also believe that Long live the morning It was undoubtedly a school for many. For me it was also a great school.
I learned many things throughout these 22 years and I still learn, but I think, for many people, it was also like a door to many new things.
And we have accompanied, throughout these 22 years, so many processes and so many happy and difficult moments in the country, and there we have always been present, trying to carry the best face for people to wake up every day.
Returning a little his idea about the talents he saw grow Long live the morningHow does it feel to know that the program has been a watershed in the lives of many people who have excelled both nationally and internationally?
I feel very happy, I feel very proud of that, very satisfied for two reasons: one, because I see those people who shine today and have done an extraordinary and wonderful job in their personal and professional lives, and that gives me great joy. And, secondly, because they are still great friends, they are still people with whom I together, and Long live the morning He has that and leaves me that: a family, a group of incredible friends.
So, I really must recognize that this is the most valuable thing that leaves me Long live the morning. I met the best people that life could put me on the way, and that’s why I’m very happy.
What follows Ricardo, both for his professional and personal life?
I am always open to new challenges, to new opportunities, for life to surprise me both professional and personally. From the professional point of view, I remain in charge of the Channel Production Management. I will be much more involved in Long live the morning Behind the camera, now with the content, closely following this new group of drivers in this process of transition to the new stage of the program.
I also have some projects within the channel. I like to create many concepts. I will support all other internal areas of the channel because I like to do everything a bit, and personally, there is a need, perhaps, to start exploring new spaces.
I want to tell you something, and it is – the best people will understand – that for 22 years I have risen at 4 in the morning every day of my life.
So, I am the one who first leaves the parties, which at 8 has already to be sleeping. So I also want to start exploring that life to get up and that the sun has already left, right? Do not get up with the moon.
That is an excuse, no more, but I think I’m going to start exploring other facets too. So, I think good things come to me. I am a person of great faith, and I believe a lot in God and in the Virgin. And if that idea I have been stroking so long ago, and only now I can specify it, it seems to me that life will surprise me with positive things. I am an optimistic person and I always believe that the best is yet to come, so I know that good things come to me. I am sure of that.
How do you see, with all these new technologies, the future of television, not only in Guatemala, but in general?
I feel that television still has a lot of life, that it has to adapt its contents and formats to all this that people consume today for other supports. But I think television still has a long life, adapting formats, changing structures, turning a lot, sharing a lot of what is seen through the screen in a language for other platforms, in other formats.
I feel that television still has a future, and, in some way or another, we are all invited and committed to reinventing us all the time for television to remain very attractive to those who continue to watch it.
In these 22 years that has passed in Long live the morningWhat have been those moments that I would rescue, to make it say: “For this I did what I did and for this I take the program in my heart”?
I’m going to open my heart. Although by Long live the morning I could list you amounts of moments of great happiness, of great joy, of many interviews with endearing characters from the national and international level, moments, birthday celebrations, ordered by our drivers, births of children … that is, everything has happened. Over the years they have been happy moments. But what really has made me follow, from day one, thinking that I did the right thing to make the great decision to come to live in this country, that I love deeply and that I respect with all my heart, which is Guatemala, is the love that people have always shown me.
There is no more beautiful thing that makes me feel happier, happier, more satisfied, than when they say: “Thank you for loving so much Guatemala, you are one more chapín.”
That is what I treasure and what I am going to take most.
So, I take the love of the people, I take a group of fantastic friends and take the pride of having maintained a program for 22 years with its essence, with their DNA, and continue behind the program, because it is my first child, which is already 22 years old, it is about to be received from the university. So, let it grow alone and support the new team 100%.
What would this Ricardo say to Ricardo from 22 years ago that he started with this project?
I would say, first, he was not wrong to make the decision to come to live in Guatemala. That this heart, when he first arrived in October 2003 to drive a UNICEF event, and began to receive offers and options to be able to work here – because it was not my destiny, I was going to work to the United States after Mexico – it was correct and in the end, my heart told me that Guatemala was the place.
I fell in love. It was love at first glance. He reminded me a lot of my house, made me remember Mendoza a lot.
So, I would say: “You are not wrong. Quiet and relaxed, that good things come, that come 22 years that you are going to enjoy, that you will create something that will give you many satisfactions. Enjoy every moment and let it flow, because you are in the right place and at the right time. Then, I only said thanks, because it has been a great blessing, and it will continue to be forever.”
And what does Ricardo tell the Guatemalans who, as you mentioned, are like your family?
There is a wonderful song that I love, which says: “Thanks to life, which has given me so much”, by the great Violeta Parra, a Chilean singer -songwriter.
I am going to allow myself to take that phrase and transform it into: Thanks to the chapines and thanks to Guatemala, they have given me so much, because they have given me love, affection, patience, a wonderful fidelity.
They have made me feel at home. And when one is a foreigner, and when one comes from another country, to really feel that it belongs to a place is not so simple to achieve.
And here, from the first moment, they have made me feel that way. So, I have nothing more than words of real, true and sincere thanks to all those wonderful people who have shown me over so many years.
And I am very happy and I am very happy with the decision I am making. There is nostalgia, there is, obviously, feelings found, but I am happy and I know that wonderful things come to Long live the morningand wonderful things come to my life too.