The plenary session of the Cabildo approved, unanimously, the proposal of the Canarian Coalition – the last one as advisor to Coromoto Yanes – to create the figure of official chronicler that Tenerife lacks. The first steps are, among others, to endow it with a budget, create a working table with those who hold that position in the different municipalities and promote the celebration on the Island of the next Congress of the National Network.
Tenerife he is looking for an official chronicler, a figure with a great historical tradition that he lacks. The insular plenary session agreed unanimously, at the proposal of the Minister of Canarian Coalition, Coromoto Yanes. It was his last motion, since he is leaving office for personal reasons. Before, he obtained the support of all the political groups so that the Island equips itself with this “honorary and lifelong” figure. The people who hold this position are usually distinguished by their work of study and research in any field in favor of culture and territory, especially from the local space where they work.
One of the first steps to find an official island chronicler, in addition to starting the appointment file or incorporating the gender perspective into the work, has been to provide the figure with an economic contribution, still to be defined, that allows the operation and task development. Among other things, to finance physical offices and headquarters, possible resources or the communication policy inherent to the position.
Another of the five points agreed upon is to promote the holding of the next National Congress of the Royal Spanish Association of Official Chroniclers (Raeco) on the island of Tenerife.
Its functions include document exchange, defending and promoting freedom of research and expression in the field of its activities or ensuring that local corporations safeguard their archives in due form, as well as files and other documents of historical interest, of particular shape.
defense of values
Chroniclers are also concerned with defending historical, artistic, urban, linguistic-literary, landscape and human values, within the sphere of their powers. Or to promote the conduct of research, studies and works and urge their publication, in addition to advising and informing the administrations that request it, on matters of history, art, heraldry, vexillology –study of flags–, traditions, urbanism , linguistics, literature or ecology.
The proposal includes creating an insular work table with the chroniclers who today exercise that function to develop actions that understand the global concept of Tenerife. There are nine on the Island, but, curiously, they cover eleven municipalities – of the 31 that exist – because two of them double their work in nearby towns. Granadilla de Abona and Arico, on the one hand, and Güímar and Candelaria, on the other.
In Tenerife, chroniclers have been appointed in recent months in San Juan de la Rambla, Vilaflor de Chasna and La Guancha. Pending resolution are Guia de Isora, Fasnia, Los Silos, El Tanque, Los Realejos and Santiago del Mount Teide. It seems topical to aspire to “have the honor” of having local people who are distinguished by their dedication to history, research and dissemination of heritage values.
Only eleven of the 31 municipalities have this figure to gloss culture and history from a local perspective
The official chroniclers are, as is logical, closely linked to the local corporations. They are nourished by municipal documentary sources, they rescue collective memory, they are the notaries of current events, editors of the past and guarantors of the conservation of the historical, documentary and patrimonial heritage of the peoples.
Each institution establishes the appointment process. Sometimes it is regulated by the Honors and Distinctions Regulations. On other occasions, the institutional agreement legitimizes it. Always with the agreement schedule, title and inauguration. The chronicler acts for the benefit of the interests of towns, villages, cities and territories. The commitment to the conservation of the historical and documentary heritage, of monuments and traditions and of his own personality is part of the task that, as a cultural manager, corresponds to him.
Nine on the Island
The official chroniclers of Tenerife are currently José Manuel Ledesma Alonso (Santa Cruz), Eliseo Izquierdo Pérez (San Cristóbal de La Laguna), Pedro Ángel Gómez Barreto (San Juan de la Rambla), Salvador Pérez Pérez (La Guancha), José Velázquez Méndez (Garachico), José Fernando Díaz Medina (Icod de los Vinos), Emiliano Guillén Rodríguez (Granadilla and Arico), Febe Fariña Pestano (Arafo) and Octavio Rodríguez Delgado (Güímar and Candelaria).
The trend is to increase appointments in all municipalities where possible to help preserve their history and culture. The same goes for the Island. Official chronicler wanted.
