Mayor Francisco de la Torre presides over the presentation of the Casa de México in Malaga and Andalusia

The Casa del Consulado located in the Plaza de la Constitución in Málaga, where the headquarters of the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País is located, hosted the presentation of the Casa de México en Málaga y Andalucía in its assembly hall.  

The event was presided over by Francisco de la Torre Prados, Mayor of Málaga, accompanied by José María Ruiz Povedano, President of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country, María del Mar Torres Casado de Amezúa, Councillor for Citizen Participation, Migration and External Action, and Claudia Luna Palencia, President of the entity being presented. 

In her speech, Claudia Luna commented that the date of 15 September was chosen precisely because it coincides with the date of the celebration of Mexico's independence from the mother country. On 15-16 September 1810, Mexico gained independence from the territories that comprised the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Claudia Luna is a journalist and writer who this year received the Francisco Zarco Journalism Prize at the Congress of Deputies in Mexico City. 

The Casa de México en Málaga y Andalucía is a private organisation created by a group of businessmen and Spanish and Mexican citizens to promote sporting, cultural, gastronomic, economic and commercial ties between Mexico and Andalusia. It also has other social aims with the concession of scholarships for students with limited resources.

At the moment, it does not have a headquarters, but the objective is to have one where a museum of Ibero-American sculpture, a Sanborn's Cafeteria, a restaurant and an exhibition hall can be housed.  

In the organisation of the presentation of this Spanish-Mexican cultural entity, the Casa América of Malaga participated with the collaboration of the hispanist José Antonio Sierra. 

Among the audience was also Rafael Pérez Peña, dean of the Consular Corps of Málaga, who was accompanied by the Consular representatives of the Ivory Coast, Chile, Cyprus and Uruguay.  

The event ended with a musical performance by Mariachi Jalisco Juan Manuel Valencia. Since the 19th century, the Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Malaga has had its headquarters in the Casa del Consulado (known as La Económica), a veteran institution in the city of Malaga that was founded by Royal Decree of Charles IV in 1789. The building of the Casa del Consulado is in the classicist baroque style of the late 18th century, the work of the architect José Martín de Aldehuela (1729-1802).  

Text by Juanjo Florensa, Melilla Association for UNESCO 

Submitted by José Antonio Sierra, Hispanismo advisor.