Migration and time kept the brothers apart, one living in Gran Canaria and the other in Cuba, until fate and family determination brought them together again. This reunion, which took place in El Tablero, is a testament to the collective memory and the history of Canarian emigration.
One of the brothers, aged 103, resided in El Tablero, while the other, aged 98, lived in Cuba. The hope of a final meeting remained alive for decades, driven by a family member's promise to do everything possible to make it happen.
The process was not simple, facing the great distance between the Canary Islands and Cuba, as well as numerous bureaucratic obstacles, including the loss of essential documents. However, the collaboration of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council, which in 1994 agreed to a solidarity twinning with Santiago de Cuba, facilitated the necessary arrangements for the trip.
“"I would do everything possible to make that reunion happen."
Finally, the Cuban brother was transferred to Havana, where a brief delay at the Spanish embassy allowed for deep conversations that revealed a prodigious memory, full of recollections of his childhood and youth in El Tablero and Maspalomas, as well as the customs of the era.
Both brothers lived lives marked by the harshness of their time, working in difficult conditions and surviving on limited resources. The community of El Tablero and Maspalomas at that time was characterized by a close and familial relationship, forged by isolation and mutual need.
The initial separation occurred in 1914, when one of them emigrated to Cuba aboard the Valbanera. Three years later, the other brother also traveled to Cuba, remaining there for about nine years before returning to El Tablero. Since then, each formed their own family, with generations of descendants on both sides of the Atlantic.
The reunion, awaited for almost seven decades, was a moment of serenity and profound humanity. Although conversations were scarce, the brothers shared their last days surrounded by family affection, which took care to protect them from overly intense emotions. This event was not only a family reunion but also the restitution of a part of a people's history and the Canarian migratory memory.
