La Laguna honra a Dionisio Santana González en San Miguel de Geneto
The City Council of La Laguna pays a well-deserved tribute to Mr. Dionisio Santana González, by naming a street after him in the San Miguel de Geneto area. This act aims to recognize the selfless work that this exemplary lagunero has demonstrated throughout his extensive life and to forever engrave his legacy in the memory and streets of the municipality.
The Mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, unveiled the commemorative plaque, accompanied by the honoree and numerous family members and friends who did not want to miss this occasion.
The Mayor recalled that this distinction dates back to an agreement made by the City Council 22 years ago, when a street was approved to be named after Mr. Dionisio. However, shortly after, that same street ceased to exist in the municipal map. «The City Council of La Laguna wants to give Mr. Dionisio back his street, his well-deserved recognition. For this reason, this is an act of justice and a historical reparation that arrives late, but arrives, so that his children, and his children’s children, feel the same pride that we all feel who accompany him on this special day,» he added.
Luis Yeray Gutiérrez thanked Mr. Dionisio for his involvement with his neighbors, «whom he taught to read and write in the little school he had set up himself, providing education and values to men and women who managed to make their way in various professional fields.» «Committed to the problems and needs of his people, he always got involved in the neighborhood movement in defense of improvements for Geneto, because he knows very well that the greatness of a land lies in the greatness of its people,» declared the Mayor of La Laguna.
On behalf of Dionisio Santana and his family, Julio Rodríguez spoke, expressing «his most sincere gratitude for the execution of this honorary recognition,» recalling that the initiative «came from the Cultural Union Neighbors’ Association in 2002, considering that until then Mr. Dionisio had had a special and intense dedication to neighborhood volunteering in positions of responsibility.»
«The recognition carried out today has the added value of occurring in the life of the rewarded, which is also an act of justice, as the Mayor has rightly said, because it is the way in which the gratitude of the neighbors is reflected, the one they give back to Mr. Dionisio for his dedicated service to the community,» stated Julio Rodríguez, emphasizing that «the long vital trajectory of Mr. Dionisio, who will turn 94 on October 9, and his neighborhood commitment is determined by three unbreakable principles for him: the evocation of the town’s history with its traditions and customs, neighborhood unity, and family unity.»
Julio Rodríguez reviewed the long vital journey of Mr. Dionisio, deeply linked to the town of Geneto, where «he worked on different restorations of the hermitage and led the initiative to restore the image of San José, promoted the recovery of the Pilgrimage, the pilgrimages to Candelaria and the Union movement of San Miguel de Geneto; and advocated for unity with the neighbors of San Bartolomé and Los Baldíos and many other voluntary activities. Today he continues to advocate for the creation of a museum of tools and utensils for rural life in this place. He also advocates for the recovery of about twenty threshing floors located along the main road and its surroundings; the recovery of the livery, the conservation of historic rural houses, and the creation of a crypt, among many others. And in the final moments of his life, he dreams that when he is no longer among us, other people will take up the torch and continue to defend the identity and the cultural, material and immaterial heritage of San Miguel de Geneto,» he concluded.
