AGENCIA EFE celebrates its 75 years with a photographic exhibit from the other half of the world
05 May 2014 | Quito (Ecuador)
EFE.
- The contents of the exhibit “75 years in photos” which has been inaugurated in Quito is just a small sample of the extraordinary wealth of images which make up the Company’s photographic archives
AGENCIA EFE began today the American celebrations of its 75th anniversary with the inauguration in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, of a photographic retrospective. Quito is known as “the half of the world” because it is very close to the zero degrees latitude.
Efe’s Chairman, Mr. José Antonio Vera, chaired the inauguration of the exhibit at the cultural center Itchimbía, which is located on a hill which commands the town and which will host until March 30th the 75 large-size photographs which reflect the great events which were covered all over the world by the news agency’s graphic reporters.
In his speech, EFE’s highest-ranking officer reviewed the news agency’s history and observed that the exhibit at Quito is just a small sample of the extraordinary wealth of images which make up the Company’s photographic archives.
The first news agency in Spanish and the fourth in the world
Mr. Vera highlighted the close relationship which Efe, the first news agency in Spanish and the fourth in the world, holds with Latin America.
'It is true that we come from Spain, but we have a real presence all over Latin America, we have a wholly Latin American orientation', he stressed when he noted that Efe is, by excellence, the news agency in Spanish language all over the world.
Its Latin American orientation also defines “a world vision which is different from that of other news agencies” and which is expressed in the coverage which it gives in Spanish to the Latin American authorities and celebrities anywhere in the world, he added.
The business attaché at Spain’s Embassy in Ecuador, Mr. Christian Celdrán, highlighted the high quality of the photographic show which was selected from the about 15 Million images which make up Efe’s graphic archive.
The images which are on exhibition from today at Quit are a symbol of the role played by AGENCIA EFE’s professionals “as witnesses of all kind of events which have marked our lives since its creation in 1939', stated Mr. Celdrán.
EFE, a referent for news agencies in Spanish
The exhibit also reflects the “reasons which have made AGENCIA EFE a referent for news agencies in Spanish”, observed a Spanish diplomat.
In turn, the Director of Quito’s metropolitan cultural center, Ms. Victoria Novillo, highlighted that the photographic exhibit will allow those who see it “to dust off the archives in their memories'.
Ms. Novillo, in her speech when she proceeded to officially inaugurate the exhibit stated that the capital’s town council took the decision of hosting the exhibit because it “thinks fair and adequate to pay homage to the graphic and journalistic work carried out by AGENCIA EFE during its 75 years of life'.
Celebrities such as the film actor Mario Moreno 'Cantinflas', the guerrilla fighter Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, and the writer Gabriel García Márquez are the protagonists of some of the images included in this exhibit, called 'EFE, 75 años en fotos' (EFE, 75 years in photos).
The exhibit 'EFE, 75 years in photos'
The exhibit also hosts such events as the meeting between Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco in 1940, the terrorist attacks against New York’s Twin Towers in 2001, Haiti’s devastating earthquake in 2010 and the election of Francisco as the Pope in 2013. Ecuador is also present in this selection, with images such as the detention of President Rafael Correa at the police’s hospital on September 30th, 2010, images from the Amazon, the activity of the Tungurahua’s volcano, and graphic testimonies of the international triumphs of Ecuador’s sportspersons, among others.
The exhibit, which will visit several Latin American countries, constitutes a historical and journalistic trip through the world, which seeks to make known the history and work from this Spanish multimedia news agency, which is present in the American continent since the 1960s.
The exhibit 'EFE, 75 years in photos' has enjoyed the support given by Spain’s Embassy in Quito and by Quito’s town council, and has been sponsored by Repsol, Banco Pichincha, Copa Airlines, Diario El Telégrafo, the restaurant Casa Damián and the Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial.
Agencia EFE and Grupo SEPI
AGENCIA EFE belongs to Grupo SEPI, a corporate holding which includes a total of 16 state-owned companies in which it has direct, majority shareholding participations, with a workforce of more than 75,000 professionals in 2012; it also includes 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.