And Santa Cruz smelled gunpowder again. The recreation of the battle in which the chicharreros managed to defeat the troops of British Admiral Horacio Nelson once again took to the streets of the capital of Tenerife after two years of forced stoppage due to the pandemic. And he also did it when a very special date is fulfilled, the 225th anniversary of the Gesta of July 25, day in which the capitulation of the English was signed.
To commemorate it, this year the acts that recreate this historic battle, -organized by the City Council, the Historical-Cultural Gesta Association of July 25 and the Tertulia Amigos of July 25- will last three days. After the landing of the British last Friday, yesterday the chicharrera militias, after opening their camp in Alameda in the morning, once again clashed with the English. Shouting “we are going to defend our island” they set out in search of the enemy to prevent him from entering the city. “Sergeant form the battalion” could be heard moments before a cannon shot gave way to the battle and that surprised a good part of the public. “Body to ground!” Some attendees exclaimed while covering their ears in case that shot was just the first of many.
And it was. The Santacrucero battalion then moved to the surroundings of the Santos ravine where the English were waiting for them. At the height of the main entrance of the Museum of Nature and Archeology, the first battles took place, in which the gunpowder made the air of the city rarefied, very close to the beach where the soldiers of the navy commanded by Admiral Nelson.
The skirmish progresses towards La Noria street where the soldiers from Tenerife, who were under the command of General Antonio Gutiérrez, surrounded the British, who ended up entrenching themselves in the convent of Santo Domingo. A building that at that time occupied the site of the current Isla de la Madera square, the scene in which his surrender was recreated.
Hundreds of people did not want to miss the return of recreation to the historic center after two years of absence. Mobile in hand, many tried to capture the best moments and there was even a tourist who, through a video call, showed the act to a relative or friend thousands of kilometers away.
However, for many it was also a bittersweet moment, as It was the first year that acts were carried out in the street after the absence of Javier Gorostizathe former president of the Gesta Recreation Association, who died in December 2020.
