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In 1941 Lehendakari Agirre arrived in Uruguay with a fake identity, coming from a Nazi-occupied Europe.  He was welcomed with open arms and received honors at the Congress.  Seventy-five years afterwards, the Basque-Uruguayan community paid tribute to the Uruguayan House, thanking them for their welcome of the Lehendakari as well as many other Basque exiles.  The Basque Parliament joined in the tribute on Tuesday with a message from its president, including the recording of some words in Basque and Spanish that Agirre spoke on an Uruguayan radio. 

Vitoria-Gasteiz.   As EuskalKultura.com reported last week, the Basque community in Uruguay, through the Euskal Erria Basque Club in Montevideo, organized a program to commemorate and pay tribute to the 75th anniversary of Lehendakari Agirre’s arrival to Uruguay.  The program included a series of events that culmeated on Tuesday with a tribute to the people and the Parliament of the Eastern Republic and recognition of its House of Representatives.

The tribute included the Basque Parliament through a message from its president, Bakartxo Tejeria, when “the Tree of Gernika covers the land in freedom.” In the video sent to the event, Tejeria stresses the gratitude to the people and the Uruguayan Parliament “for the help and cooperation that they provided Lehendakari Jose Antonio Agirre himself, as well as to many other fellow citizens, Basque men and women, our people in one of the most difficult moments in our history, in times of struggle for freedom and justice.”

Recording of Agirre in Euskera

The video message sent by the president also include a historic recording, one of the remaining of Lehendakari Agirre, recorded in Montevideo, that ends with several phrases in Basque.

It was a speech that Agirre gave on Ariel Radio, during his second visit to Uruguay in 1955, when Lehendakari Agirre had the opportunity to thank the Parliament, the Government and the people of Uruguay for the welcome that not only he, but that the whole of the Basque community had received in Uruguay in those turbulent years.

During his address on the radio, Lehendakari Agirre also addressed the Basque community in Uruguay, calling them to “be the best citizens.  To be the best among those around you.  And don’t forget Basque compatriots, because we have so many reasons to be thankful to the people and the noble land of Uruguay.”

Cheerful and Noble People

The video, with an audio, transcription of the recording and the words of the president were sent to the Uruguayan Parliament for this event with the idea that Lehendakari Agirre’s recording would become part of the archive of the House of Representatives of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.

The address by Basque Parliament President, Bakartxo Tejeria, concludes with the same words in Basque that Lehendakari Agirre used in his address: “Horregatik jaun andreak, euskaldun maiteak, esan nirekin batera, zuen etxeetatik, nirekin batera, esan oraintxe: Gora Uruguai, Herri alai eta noblea! Gora Uruguai, betiko!  Eta Jaungoikoak eman diezaiola  zoriontasuna, ontasuna eta bizi luzea!”