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Macachin native, 29 years old Antonela Veroli Mujica belongs to the Argentine Pampa and the Euzko Alkartasuna Basque club, hosts of the 2015 Semana Nacional Vasca that concluded very successfully on Sunday. 

Joseba Etxarri.  As many in this area, she is from a family of strong agricultural heritage and for sure her great grandfather, Javier Mujica from Bergara, along with his wife Margarita Arguinzóniz - they came to Argentina at the end of the 19^th century -  would be surprised at the strong Basque imprint that her family continues to maintain, many generations later, in this area of countryside and landscapes that comprise the Pampas, more than 600 kilometers southwest of Buenos Aires.

You are Basque and Argentinean

-As long as I can remember.  I was born in Bahia Blanca, 250 kilometers from here, in the Province of Buenos Aires and when I was 8 my family moved to Macachin, in La Pampa, so I have always thought of myself as Basque and Argentinean and also from Macachin and La Pampa.

And a dantzari.

-Also, for as long as i can remember.  I started dancing when I was 3 at the Union Vasca in Bahia Blanca and today I direct, along with Analia Mujica, the txikis and intermediate groups of Gure Ametza (sic), that is our club dance group from Euzko Alkartasuna in Macachin.  We teach the kids not only to dance but also about Basque culture, we show films and we give them basic notions of Euskera through songs and comics that include things named in Basque and Spanish.  We teach them how to introduce themselves in Basque and use basic vocabulary with them.

Now you live in the capital of La Pampa, Santa Rosa.

-I come and go for practices and weekends.  Santa Rosa is just over 100 kilometers and I can make the trip into the day.  There is another Basque club there, but Macachin still feels like “my” Basque club.

A lot of work, but last weekend of the Semana Nacional Vasca 2015 in Macachin was a resounding success

-We are a team, and we count on everyone at the club and in particular on Iñaki Unamuno, president and the first to support a good team.  Iñaki is a good example of what it means to work for your town and your Basque club in a selfless manner, without notoriety, actually the opposite.  We also have to thank the town of Macachin because thanks to its support everything worked.  Without them we wouldn’t have the club we do.  And of course we also thank everyone who came, some came from great distances, from the Basque Country and faraway places in Argentina or Uruguay to share Semana Vasca with us.  The closing lunch on Sunday gathered 1,600 people, it was standing room only, and the theater show, with more than 20 dance groups from all over the country on Saturday night, 1,300 at capacity.  We are very happy that everything turned out very well  and everyone was pleased.

You organize a program with youth from the Basque Country. They spend several weeks here teaching basic workshops on dance, music, Euskera…

-We started it with the help of youth form the Hator Hona program at the Euzko Etxea in Necochea, the club that will host the 2016 Semana Nacional Vasca.  This was our first year and we hosted three youth.  With the experience that we had we introduced changes and we have reworked it a bit.  For this next year, we will like to call back youth from the Basque Country in their 20s who want to participate.  Our email is: centrovasco@gmail.com.  They pay their trip here and we provide room and board for their stay.  For them it is an interesting experience to get to know Argentina.  For us, it is important that our youth get information and witness first hand other youth so this way they know that the Basque Country is alive and modern, with a unique culture and solid roots in history, and that we, being Argentinean, share from the Diaspora and are part of all of it and that we contribute so that it endures and does so vitally.