The city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife recognized yesterday the neighborhood figure of Esteban Reyes, who died on October 26, 2020, with the change of name of the Mercado de La Salud to the Center for Cultural Associations and the Esteban Reyes Carnival. An act that is promoted by the Aula de Cultura del Carnaval, some twenty groups and more than five hundred individual signatures.
The mayor of the city, José Manuel Bermúdez, presided over the emotional ceremony in the company of the Councilor for Fiestas, Alfonso Cabello, and other municipal representatives. Accompanied by dozens of neighbors and relatives, they were in charge of making effective the file of honors and distinctions approved by an absolute majority by all the political forces with representation in the municipal plenary session.
In his speech, Bermúdez recalled the figure of the honoree as a “parrandero from the Las Cuatro Torres area, he actively participated in the start-up of the first troupes of the festival, along with other historical figures such as Bella, Alejandro Antonio, Vicente Cruz or Ignacio Vazquez”.
The change of name of the Mercado de la Salud brought together numerous carnival-goers. / GIVES
The change of name of the Mercado de la Salud brought together numerous carnival-goers. / GIVES
“It has been people like Esteban who at certain moments in their history have taken a step forward, have shown a commitment that today we have the obligation to reward, as we do with this humble act that serves, even for a moment, to remind us everyone who was Esteban Reyes and why hundreds of chicharreros and chicharreras continue to mourn his departure ”.
The mayor made reference to his passion for Carnival “if behind the Brasileiros there were hundreds of components, there are tens of thousands of those who have made this festival of international tourist interest great since 1980, which, beyond tinsel, has the face and the heart of people like Esteban, to whom we pay tribute today and remember him here, in La Salud, where his comparsa was based, forever”.
The May festivities in the capital were another of the passions of the honoree “since Esteban gave flavor and aroma to these founding festivities, and he did it in a real way”, adding “it was his love for cooking that gave rise to a a project that he shared with others such as Lali Sierra, Angelita González Ledesma, Juanjo Coello, Paco Tacoronte… who were able to organize the typical food contest that, in the end, would end up being the longest-lived of the Islands”.
Finally, the mayor wanted to remember “that this act bears the name of Esteban Reyes as a representative of the thousands of people who have shared his passion; because Carnival is the sum of people, families and feelings”.
