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His father was the first Republican mayor of Legazpi in 1931 and was obliged to escape, and flee to Cuba.  There he met Emilia Echeverria, from Mutiloa, with whom he raised five children.  The youngest is now a bishop who, after a visit with the Pope at the Vatican, stopped in Legazpi where he met family members on both the Aranguren and Echeverria sides.  Report by Cristina Limia in El Diario Vasco. 

Cristina Limia/Legazpi, Gipuzkoa.   Legazpi was visited last weekend by Emilio Aranguren Echeverria, Bishop of Holguin, Cuba and son of the town’s first Republican mayor.  It was 1931 when his father, Basque nationalist Daniel Aranguren Mendizabal took office.  On April 14^th the Second Republic was declared and on April 17^th, the young Aranguren, born in the Erraizabal house, in 1905, was voted mayor.  He served for only 21 months. Later he had to leave office and flee first to France, and then to Cuba where he died in 1981 leaving behind his beautiful family of five children (three daughters who currently reside in Miami and two sons who remained in Cuba) the fruit of his marriage to Emilia Echeverria, another Gipuzkoan Basque originally from Mutiloa.

Emilio Aranguren is the youngest.  After recently celebrating 25 years since his ordination, stopped in Legazpi on his return trip from the Vatican where he met with Pope Francis.  “It was an Ad Limina visit that each bishop must take every five years,” he explained. His last trip took place in 2008 with Pope Benedict XVI.  Nevertheless this wasn’t his first visit with the current Pope since he welcomed him in September 2015, when Pope Francis celebrated mass in the plaza in Holguin.

The Cuban Bishop enjoyed his four-day stay, Friday to Monday, in both Legazpi and Donostia where he maintains strong ties with his family, mainly with cousins and their children, on both the Aranguren and Echeverria sides.  On Saturday he had the chance to visit Erraizabal, the farmhouse where his father was born and was welcomed by his cousin, Juan Joxe Aranguren, his wife, Arantza Segurola, and their daughter Paula.  On Sunday, various generations of the Aranguren and Echeverria families enjoyed his company during a meal celebrated at the Laubide Restaurant.

Emilio Aranguren was ordained a bishop in the Cuban capital of Santa Clara, on June 23, 1991.  After serving as the bishop of Cienfuegos, he was transferred to Holguin, the city where he has resided since 2005.  Over the years, he has served as the Secretary General of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Cuba (1991-2006), as well as the chairman of the department of Ecclesial Communion and Dialogue in the Latin American Episcopal Council, later as the president of the Economic Committee and finally as a participant in the Fifth General assembly of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean.  Today he presides over the National Commission of laymen and of Justice and Peace in the Episcopal Conference in his country.

Historic Moment in Cuba

The bishop of Holguin, as he says himself, “having 8 Basque last names like the popular film,” highlights several recent events in relation to the historic moment that Cubans are currently experiencing: new diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US, the death of Fidel Castro, who led the country for 50 years, the government of the newly elected US President, the renewal of the common position of the European Union towards Cuba, the situation of difficulty and uncertainty facing Venezuela and the announcement of a renewal of a new government in Cuba beginning in February of next year, along with various steps in the field of economy.  The Cuban people are waiting for the execution of sings that express change in favor of the logical well-being of their citizens, “which I believe should not be delayed to avoid the discouragement of those who are engaged in this task, and who have waited for so long,” he said.

 (Published 05-17-2017 in El Diario Vasco)