Exhibition Marks 50 Years Since Bartolomé García’s Murder
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 22 September – The General and Humanities Library at the University of La Laguna has launched a documentary exhibition to commemorate the tragic murder of 21-year-old student Bartolomé García Lorenzo. His death, which occurred exactly fifty years ago, shocked the Canary Islands and sparked widespread protests and clashes with the police.
A subsequent trial acknowledged the brutality of the police’s actions, although the officers involved received minimal sentences, allowing them to continue their careers. The exhibition, titled Bartolomé García Lorenzo: 1976-2026 – 50 Years Since a Police Killing, is organised by the Democratic Transition Archive in the library and runs until 30 October. It features books, newspapers, and documents related to García’s case and other incidents of police repression during the Transition period.
Domingo Garí-Montllor Hayek, the academic curator and a professor in the Geography and History Department, emphasised the exhibition’s aim to address this anniversary as both a memorial and a historical inquiry. He explained that the panels seek to answer essential questions: what happened, where it occurred, who was involved, how it was reported at the time, and what the consequences were.
García’s death occurred during a turbulent political climate, shortly after Franco’s death, when many institutions from the dictatorship remained in place. The exhibit aims to renew awareness about García and counter the risk of his story being forgotten.
Garí-Montllor noted the prevalent narrative of the Transition often focuses on official accounts, neglecting the stories from the streets and communities affected by violence. This exhibition provides a different perspective, connecting local experiences to the historical context of 1976.
The initiative has been supported by the Directorate-General for Culture and Cultural Heritage of the Canary Government, with Miguel Ángel Clavijo, the director, highlighting the importance of the work being done by the archive amid significant investment from various governmental departments to document this difficult period.
Clavijo stated that the project has involved six years of work and over half a million euros dedicated to preserving democratic memory for future generations, stressing that García’s murder remains one of the most critical events from that era.
Paqui Rivero, head of the university library’s Cartoteca and Mediateca, outlined the exhibition’s structure, which is divided into six sections across eight display cases. These include themes such as The Transition: Victims, which underscores the violence during an ostensibly peaceful period, and Bartolomé’s Death: Report on a Police Murder in 1976, featuring significant artefacts like the black crepe worn in mourning.
Rivero also mentioned that García’s memory continues to be honoured through local tributes, documentaries, music, radio programmes, and theatrical references, including Antonio Tabares’ play La inmortalidad and María del Mar Rodríguez’s book La viuda blanca.
The opening event featured remarks from Isabel León, Vice-Rector for Culture and University Extension, and Soledad Jacobe, the Library Director. It concluded with a panel discussion involving García’s family, local residents, and university staff, further enriching the conversation around this pivotal moment in Canary Islands history.
