José Carlos Pérez, a 62-year-old lagoon man, was one of the early risers. Before 8:30 am I was already preparing some flowers in the area. «I come every year for my father; I pass through here first and then I go to the San Luis Cemetery for other relatives who died later, “he said. «My children do not know if they will continue with this; you only had to see the center of La Laguna the other night full of people in disguise … “, he pointed out. He was not the only one who this Monday showed doubts about the future of the tradition. Isabel Díaz, on the other hand, was surprised by the tranquility that was breathed at that time: «It is early, but in other years there have been more people; It is also true that, having fallen just after the weekend, many have already come.
The researcher Benjamin Reyes made years ago a detailed work on this infrastructure closed in 1983, when it reached its full capacity. Reyes indicated then that among the numerous historical figures that rest there are Luis Florencio Román y Machado (circa 1755-1841), who participated in the Gesta of 1797 against the attack of Admiral Horacio Nelson, where he had an outstanding performance; Alfred Rensonnet y Rensonnet (1868-1921), who was the engineer director of the first tram in Tenerife, which was inaugurated in 1901 and lasted until 1956, and José Rodrigo Vallabriga (1876-1965), who projected numerous works in the Canary Islands and who carried out the reform of the Cathedral of La Laguna in 1905.
The style of the installation also contributes to its storytelling. There is also the peculiarity that houses in the lower part of the Polígono Padre Anchieta have their balconies facing the tombs and niches. “You come here and for a moment it does not look like a cemetery at all,” said another lady who had come with flowers there, named Carmen. “I have a few relatives, especially those close to my parents, who are here,” he said. The forecast was that the place would open its doors yesterday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., like the rest of the cemeteries that the municipality has: San Luis, the largest; Valley of War; Tejina, and the Punta del Hidalgo.
“You come because you have always come and a custom like this cannot be lost; you always remember your loved ones, but at this time even more so, “said Alberto Díaz, who was walking outside the cemetery accompanied by his daughters. “I think the first time I was with my parents was as a child and it seems to me that since then I have come every year around this time to clean a little and put some flowers,” he said. Mari Carmen Domínguez, another lady who came to the place early in the morning, was struck by the fact that the influx was less than previous editions. «It has to be because of how this year has fallen, that there have been more opportunities to come, with the weekend in between, that other times, in which in the end we end up coming all at once, “he said. “But better this way: calmer, less haste and even safer due to the pandemic,” he said.
It should be remembered that the La Laguna Town Hall had carried out a comprehensive intervention in this cemetery to restore the image of the space and that followed other actions that had been carried out in recent years. In more detail, fifteen people participated from an agreement signed to promote employability with jobs at this site and in San Luis. On that occasion, conservation and renovation tasks were carried out, such as the comprehensive cleaning of the facility, the painting of walls, arches and spacing between the tombstones, the arrangement of railings and the repair of the chapel door, among other actions, according to They were listed from the Lagunero Town Hall coinciding with those tasks.
Monolith to 583 people
Another of the outstanding actions of recent times in this space was announced by the Cemetery Department of the City of La Laguna. In August 2020 it announced that it had started andhe process to place a monolith and a plaque in tribute to the 583 people who lost their lives in the largest plane crash in history, occurred in 1977 at the Los Rodeos airport. “These recognitions will be located in the place where the remains of many of the victims are found, who also have a sculpture in their memory in the Mota Table in the municipality,” they explained then. «It is an act of justice to keep the memory of the victims of that accident who were buried in a grave in the San Juan cemetery, without being able to be identified, with the future monument and the plaque, but also by sprucing up the plot where they were find their remains, “reported the mayor responsible for Cemeteries, before adding that” all of them are part of history for this terrible event and we want to carry out this initiative out of respect for them and their families.
The San Juan Cemetery has also had protagonism in the most recent stage because there are indications that there are the bodies of reprisals of the Franco regime, known as the eleven of San Juan. Without going any further, the Ministry of Public Administrations, Justice and Security of the Canary Islands Government awarded a grant of 15,900 euros a year ago to carry out an investigation that would allow the location of graves of reprisals in La Laguna and Los Rodeos, which means, said the counselor Julio Pérez at that time, “an act of materialization of the commitments” of the Law of Historical Memory. “Specifically, the investigation tasks on missing persons who could be buried in a common grave in the San Juan Cemetery and in Los Rodeos will be prioritized, as well as the investigation of an oral testimony that indicates a house on Calle del Agua, in La Laguna, as the final resting place of four disappeared people “, indicated from the regional Executive about those actions that were programmed on this space.
