euskalkultura.eus

After traveling nearly 22,000 kilometers on foot, pushing his wheelbarrow, Guillermo Larregui (1885-1964), originally from Navarre, died in Puerto Iguazu in the Argentine province of Misiones, at the foot of the famous waterfalls.  This month Puerto Iguazu is celebrating the anniversary of this death; they will pay tribute to Larregui, better known as “The Wheelbarrow Basque,” unveiling a sculpture in his honor in the local cemetery “El Salvador.” 

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.   Tomorrow, June 15th in the city of Puerto Iguazu, there will be an event beginning at 9:30am to pay tribute to someone who not only affected local memory, but also national memory, the “Wheelbarrow Basque,” Guillermo Larregui.  The ceremony will take place at the “El Salvador,” cemetery where he is buried, and will be attended by local authorities, councilmen, security forces, schools and neighbors.  Dr. Claudio Filippa, local mayor, will unveil the sculpture of Larregui and historian, Maria Esther Rolon, author of the book De puro vasco nomás, will summarize, for those present, the history and the trips made by Larregui.

The event is part of the program aimed at recovering local memory led by Claudio Konopka, administrative head of “El Salvador,” aimed at “bearing in mind and reminding people of those who were part of our history and whose remains are in our local cemetery,” Konopka explained.  In a conversation with EuskalKultura.com, the organizer of the tribute also reported that the statue was done by Silvana Kelm, and that on the city’s anniversary on September 10th, a life-sized replica will be inaugurated on the triple border landmark shared by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

This one was done by students and professors at the College of the Arts in the Province of Misiones.  “As a child, we only used to see what was left of the house made out of cans where Larregui lived.  People kept taking pieces of it away and today there is hardly anything left.  Fortunately, I was able to recover some of the cans that we brought here, to the cemetery.  It is important to hold these kinds of events so that the newer generations get to know more about the local history,” Konopka stressed.

[Claudio Konopka explains the ceremony program]

Guillermo Larregui was born in Iruña-Pamplona in 1885 and arrived in Buenos Aires at the age of 15.  After working at various job, he settled in Patagonia, made friends, and made a bet that would change his life, walking to Santa Cruz from Buenos Aires, on foot, pushing a wheelbarrow.  Larregui didn’t lose the bet and in 1935, at the age of 50, he made the trip, the first of four.  He later covered nearly 22,000 kilometers in the same way, and on his last trip one of his destinations was Iguazu, where he lived in the National Park where the Waterfalls are found.  That is where he died on June 5, 1964.

The tribute was originally planned for June 5th but due to weather, it had to be postponed until tomorrow.  On June 5th, however, the film Gora Vasco by Arizmendi was shown at the Iguazu Tourism Office.