SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, December 15. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, highlighted this Friday that Freemasonry in Spain has been legalized “after more than 40 years of great persecution in this country” and opted to “make known in educational centers the reality of Freemasonry”, which he considers has been “demonized” in Spain.
At the presentation of the book ‘One Hundred Years of Freemasonry in the Islands’, an edition by Víctor Berástegui and Ediciones Idea, held in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, he noted that “here it was buried and annihilated during the dictatorship, but it survived in the underground, they were blamed for everything, they and their families were stigmatized, and they even suffered a specific law against communists and freemasons.
For the Minister of Democratic Memory, “it is necessary that Freemasonry be given the place it deserves in the Canary Islands, Spain and Europe, since its only objective has been to improve society.”
The second vice president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Gustavo Matos, recalled that “the Chamber must be a meeting place for the civil society of the Canary Islands”, so it makes “every sense to celebrate this event here, in the house of the word , in these times that we have lived in, in which the word Mason has once again been used as an insult, which is also an insult to democratic society and its values.”
Juan Miguel Rodríguez Martín, grand master of the Grand Lodge of the Canary Islands, thanked the Parliament for its welcome and the presence of so many authorities at the presentation.
In addition, he had words of remembrance, like Gustavo Matos, to the “serene courage” of the former Canary Islands president and former minister Jerónimo Saavedra, who recently died, and stressed that “Freemasonry is made up of free men and women with good customs who have as great goal the progress of humanity”.
Francisco Pomares, head of Ediciones Idea, has especially highlighted the work of the historian Manuel de Paz and the editor Víctor Berástegui in promoting this “very important book on Freemasonry in the islands, which also includes the latest collaboration of Jerónimo Saavedra “.
Víctor Berástegui has highlighted the variety and diversity of the authors, “which includes people who belong to Freemasonry and others who do not”, and the diversity offered by the Canary Islands, “where Freemasonry has also fought against illiteracy.”
Matos dismissed the event by recalling that “there are still things to do” and that “it is poetic justice” that the Parliament of the Canary Islands, “which was a space of repression against Freemasonry, hosts this presentation today.”
The meeting was also attended by the first vice president of the Chamber, Ana Oramas, as well as deputies from different parliamentary groups, according to a note from Parliament.
Different authors have participated in the work such as Jerónimo Saavedra, Eva Tabah, José Vicente González Bethancourt, Valeria Aguiar Bobet or Manuel de Paz Sánchez, among others.
