The mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort, received Inmaculada Cedrés Padrón, president of the Canary Islands Society of Uruguay, on her courtesy visit to Teguise, where they agreed to carry out several projects that will continue the twinning of the Canary Islands town of Uruguay with Teguise. The most significant of these is the upcoming inauguration of a square in the city of Villa Rodríguez, which will be named "Canary Islands, Real Villa de Teguise", an initiative managed by the official chronicler, Francisco Hernández, and Roberto Curbelo with the Uruguayan authorities.
Inmaculada Cedrés pointed out to the mayor of Teguise, the official chronicler, and the councilor of Archives and Heritage, Sara Bermúdez, "the interest of the Canarian community in knowing their ancestors from the islands and, especially, those from Lanzarote." Therefore, they agreed to initiate the necessary steps to create in the Canary Islands Society of Uruguay, a reception center for applications from Lanzarote residents who wish to search for their ancestors, which will be managed from the Genealogical Data Bank Office of Teguise, coordinated by the official chronicler.
Likewise, Cedrés requested books and videos about Lanzarote from Teguise for the Society's library, and indicated her desire to "prepare a visit to the Society to present the project", agreed between both institutions at the inauguration of the square, which is expected to be in autumn.
From the Consistory, they recall that Teguise and Uruguay were reunited in 2018 on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the Foundation of the Real Villa, when the mayor of Teguise made an official visit to the president of the Uruguayan Republic, Tabaré Vázquez.
And the union with the South American country, according to the City Council, dates back to the first years of the founding of Montevideo, since on the ship Nuestra Señora de Encina, which departed from Santa Cruz de Tenerife on August 21, 1726, there were families from Teguise.
To stage the twinning between Teguise and the Uruguayan people, which was echoed by the international press through the EFE Agency, President Tabaré Vázquez received Oswaldo Betancort to "merge in the warmest and most endearing of universal fraternity embraces", as published in 1964 by the weekly "Antena" in homage to Doctor Alfonso Spínola. In that year, the Canary Islands Society of Uruguay donated the bust of Dr. Spínola to the city of Teguise, made by Serapio Pérez, also from Teguise and residing in Uruguay.
During that official visit, Oswaldo Betancort, accompanied by the chronicler, Francisco Hernández, recalled the "close link" between both towns during the migratory period of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in which 12,500 people arrived from the Canary Islands.
