«The Jews speak of an abuse of memories, but in the case of Tenerife we must refer to an abuse of forgetfulness». The phrase of the professor of the University of La Laguna (ULL) Maisa Navarro summarizes the spirit of the team of scientific experts that will complete the Catalog of the Historical Memory of the Canary Islands in all the Islands. Navarro is the main investigator and she unintentionally acquired prominence during the act of signing the agreement for that purpose. It was signed by the Minister of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuela Armas, its Deputy Minister of Culture, Juan Márquez, and the rector of the academic institution, Rosa Aguilar. The document is valid for four years and is endowed with an item of 339,510 euros.
Navarro emphasized his speech in direct reference to the mayor of Santa Cruz, Jose Manuel Bermudez, and some councilors who have valued maintaining a symbol such as the monument to Franco. The teacher sentences: «There is not the slightest Cainism in me. I am from Santa Cruz and I was born in one of these streets. The data is objective and scientifically rigorous. She refers to the work carried out on the chicharrero municipality that the same team will now develop at the Canarian level. It is up to continue with the other 30 of the Island and complete the 88 of the Archipelago. Between now and 2025 to, as everyone repeated during the morning, “comply with the law” of Historical Memory. double law; on the one hand, the state of 2007 and, on the other, the Canary Islands of 2019. Another common phrase: “It’s not about opening old wounds but about closing them well.”
The Vice-Ministry of Culture and Cultural Heritage entrusts the University of Tenerife with the inventory of Franco’s symbols, streets, monuments and references. As established by Law 5/2018, of December 14, on the Historical Memory of the Canary Islands and on “recognition and moral reparation of the Canarian victims of the civil war and the Franco dictatorship”.
“Remember not to repeat.”
Counselor Armas stressed the need to “remember so as not to repeat mistakes and move forward.” He highlighted other initiatives promoted by his Ministry, such as the Memory Archipelago project, whose objective is the promotion among ESO, Baccalaureate and Vocational Training students of the analysis of the recent history of the Canary Islands, as well as promoting democratic principles and values, “typical of critical citizenship ». They are the same principles, insisted Armas, “of the general objective of the agreement that we sealed with the ULL due to the need to investigate historical memory for the recognition and moral reparation of the victims.” She added that “it is not about waving ideological flags, but about meshing the tools of a peaceful coexistence with knowledge and pedagogy.” She emphatically assured that “the law is going to be fulfilled regardless of who governs” and that includes the monument to Franco on the Rambla in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. She argues about this symbol that “it is so obvious that it does not need discussion.” About the warden’s reluctance, she assures that “each one shows himself as he is.” She even claims that she feels “shame” when such a debate takes place.
«Scientific rigor».
The deputy counselor, Juan Márquez, pointed out that, With this signature, continuity is given to a work that began in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and wants to continue “with the same methodology and scientific rigor with which that catalog was made». He hopes that “the excuses to comply with the Law will end.” This agreement, he added, “will allow us to work throughout the Canary Islands with a group of specialized teachers”, a task that is expected to be “complex”. The threshold is 2025, although, he pointed out, “we would have liked to be faster” but there is a problem with the human and material resources of the municipal archives. The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage undertakes to provide a specific economic contribution to those resources necessary to prepare this catalogue». Márquez valued that the agreement “dignifies the memory, reparation and recognition of victims of Francoism above any other political, electoral interest, or any attempt at insularist or territorial confrontation.” He concluded: “It is not about opening wounds, but about being able to close them with dignity.”
“Neither subjective nor debatable.”
The rector thanked the Ministry for its sensitivity and for using scientific knowledge in the university environment to discover the imprint of the Franco regime on the islands. The first step, she explained, will be the cataloging carried out by scientists in the field of historiography on the intervention carried out in urban heritage by this regime. “It is not an ideological, subjective or debatable issue,” she said while anticipating a “rigorous study” from the University of La Laguna.
A level team.
María Isabel Navarro, as Principal Investigator, is accompanied by experts Ricardo Guerra Palmero, Jesús Pérez Morera, Domingo Gari-Montllor and Yolanda Peralta. Its mission is to elaborate the contents foreseen in the Law; that is to say, the catalog of Francoist symbols, streets, monuments and mentions in the Canary Islands, as well as making it public. The results will allow the creation of curricular content for Primary, Secondary and Baccalaureate, oriented to the dissemination of the principles and values expressed in the norm. Maisa Navarro considers it “contradictory” that the mayor of Santa Cruz entrusted her with a job in 2018 to “comply with the law” and then “does not want to remove the vestiges.” She spoke of “uncomfortable heritage.” She raised the symbols as “lies and propaganda” that allude to “feelings” and separate society. She precisely describes Santa Cruz as “a city of propaganda” where “everyone was a victim.” She recalled an early paper on this subject, in the summer of 1977, entitled Architecture of Economic Command.