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The event was highlighted by the presence of Basque descendants, students and professors of history, art and local officials.  Enrique Poittevin Gilmet, president of FIVU, the Basque Uruguayan association's federation, was also present and addressed the crowd.  During the ceremony a plaque was unveiled and a sapling from the Tree of Gernika was planted. 

Florida, Uruguay.   Supported by the General Directorate for Sustainable Development and Tourism of the city of Florida, the mural, a life-size reproduction of Picasso’s Guernica, was inaugurated at the city’s entrance on May 29.  The work is now part of the “Route of Murals” in Florida and is also “a tribute to the sacrifice of the Basque people in the bombing that took place on April 26, 1937.”

The inauguration was attended by a large crowd consisting mainly of Basque descendants, students and professors from local schools, institutional representatives from the community and city officials.  During the event, a message from Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu was read along with others from the President of the Basque Parliament, Bakartxo Tejeria, and the delegate of Euskadi for Argentina and Mercosur, Sara Pagola.

The event began with addresses by local authorities that stressed the importance of the project and the message of peace that it transmits, as well as to thank everyone who supported it from the beginning.  Once the talks were over, Mayor Macarena Rubio, the General Director of Sustainable Development, Gervasio Martinez, and FIVU’s President Enrique Poittevin Gilmet, cut the ribbon in the colors of Uruguay’s flag.

At the event, dantzari from Montevideo, Andrea Bella, performed an Aurresku and a commemorative plaque was unveiled.  A sapling of the Tree of Gernika was planted steps from the mural, as part of the tribute to those who perished in the bombing.

The mural in Florida is the only life-size copy of Picasso’s work in Uruguay.  Ricardo Romero, local painter was in charge of the reproduction, which took three months to complete.  The Guernica, or “The Mural of World Peace,” is the tenth on the “Route of Murals,” a project whose goal is to support tourism in the city.

From the Uruguayan city, they also especially thanked everyone who was involved form the beginning including: the Tribute Commission and for the collaborators at different stages: the National Deputy, Jose Andres Arocena; Florida’s Spanish Association; and Basque descent families and people like Servando and Gonzalo Echeverria, Agustin Almandoz, Eduardo Echevarren, and the Arguiñarena, Arrospide, Albornoz-Ruy, and San Jorge-García families, Jorge Romero (muralist), Hugo Morales (constructor), Artigas Olivera (original idea) and Professor Maria Alegre and civil servants in the area of Development and Tourism.