SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

• Agencia EFE celebrated tonight its 75th anniversary in the capital of Galicia with an exhibition of as many iconic photographs from a good part of the 20th and 21st centuries

Last night AGENCIA EFE celebrated its 75th anniversary in the capital of Galicia with an exhibition of as many iconic photographs from the 20th and 21st centuries.

The rain provoked that the ceremony took place between the Patio de San Juan, on whose walls are installed the photographs, and an adjoining hall, in which the first person who took the floor was the General Manager for Communication and the Chairman’s Office of the company Gas Natural Fenosa, Mr. Jordi García Tabernero.

The manager expressed his company’s satisfaction with being able to collaborate in this historic display 'Efe, 75 years through photos”, which they have sponsored, and its being a reality and that it can be exhibited “in this magnificent building”.

Photographs of significant events

Regarding the news agency, he highlighted that it is a “witness” of the main events which have taken place in the last years and he pointed out that, after going through the exhibition, he checked that the most significant events have been included.

Besides, he stressed that the selection of the images was both to the point and difficult to make.

About Gas Natural Fenosa, he mentioned his long-standing link with Galicia and its commitment with progress, employment and the wellbeing of the citizens of this region.

EFE’s Chairman, Mr. José Antonio Vera, told something which not everybody knows, that the abbreviation EFE, although “do not mean anything” are what have made possible that this communication mean to expand all over the world, until becoming one of the most important international news agencies, and the first in the Spanish language.

'We inform in a responsible and professional way, we are present at the most complicated places. We make real news agency journalism” and not only in the Gallego language, but also in Spanish, one of the most-widely spoken languages in the world, and which is in continuous expansion.

The Mayor of Santiago, Mr. Agustín Hernández, told the story about his grandfather, who died at the age of 101 years, and who dedicated his life to journalism, and who congratulated himself that such an exhibition can be displayed in the town.

The President of Galicia’s Government, Mr. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who closed the ceremony, expressed his gratitude to EFE for its commitment with public service, as well as for its internationalization and for providing the opportunity to “recall what we are”.

The Head of the regional Government mentioned one of the persons attending this exhibition, the journalist from Galicia, Mr. Alejandro Armesto, General Manager of Agencia EFE from 1969 to 1976, and who is now 89 years old, and who has donated 7,000 books – which make up his life’s portrait – to Galicia Library, which is located at the City of Culture, on Monte Gaiás, near the town.

Both Mr. Feijóo and Mr. Vera had warm words for Mr. Armesto, which provoked the addressee’s emotion.

Pope Juan Pablo II dressed as just any other pilgrim, the award in 1989 of the Literature Nobel Prize to the writer from Iria Flavia Mr. Camilo José Cela, the “queimada” (typical alcoholic beverage from Galicia) which inn 1991 prepared Fidel Castro to Manuel Fraga during the latter’s visit to Cuba, or the year when the nationalist politician Xosé Manuel Beira threw one of his shoes to a political opponent.

Photo: EFE.

About Grupo SEPI

Agencia EFE is part of Grupo SEPI, a corporate holding which includes a total of 16 state-owned companies in which it has direct, majority shareholding participations, with a final workforce of more than 74,000 professionals in 2013; the Spanish state-owned television and radio corporation, Corporación Radiotelevisión Española, which is attached to SEPI, and one public foundation. Equally, SEPI has direct minority shareholdings in a further nine companies, and indirect shareholdings in more than one hundred companies.

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