Virginia Barcones highlights Ruiz Zorrilla’s commitment to social advances in Spain in the second half of the 19th century

• The politician of El Burgo de Osma promoted measures to modernize the country such as freedom of education, the creation of a network of libraries to the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico and Cuba • The delegate has stressed the importance of valuing Castilian and Leonese figures that were relevant in the history of Spain

July 19, 2023.- The delegate of the Government in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones, attended the inauguration of the days ‘Ruiz Zorrilla and the legacy of progressive culture in liberal Spain: Politics, science and education’, organized by the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC), the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP), and the Universidad Española a Distancia (UNED). During his speech, he highlighted the social advances proposed by the Burgense politician in Spain in the second half of the 19th century.

The days held in El Burgo de Osma aim to highlight one of the most relevant political figures of his time, as was Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla (El Burgo de Osma, 22 March 1833 – Burgos, 13 June 1895), and during the Sixennium of Democracy (1868-1874), he was Minister and President of the Government. In particular, the course analyzes the work, culture and scientist and the legacy of their work during the following years.

The delegate of the Government has pointed out that Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla was, first and foremost, a firm defender of democracy, a democracy that at that time was somewhat remote from those we have today. In this sense, he has highlighted his work to promote norms and rights that would improve the lives of citizens, rights that at that time did not exist or were precarious and that today are unquestionable in our system.

In this way, he has highlighted that Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla highlighted in one of his writings: “A people cannot be free if they are not educated enough to know their rights and practice them with full conscience.” And under that premise he promoted some measures in education that allowed the modernization of the country.

In this way, it promoted the Freedom of Education that allowed the opening of educational centers throughout the country as well as the reading culture of citizens through the creation of popular libraries. “The origin of our public libraries,” explained Virginia Barcones.

The Burgense politician dignified the work of the teachers since they began to receive money from the State budget and, likewise, the women of the time also owe them the power to enrol in university and secondary school.

Virginia Barcones has highlighted that, as Minister of Grace and Justice, Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla promoted the creation of the Civil Registry that today is fundamental in our State. At the head of that portfolio he promoted the repeal of the Pena de Argolla. Likewise, in 1973 Ruiz Zorrilla planned the Law of Abolition of Slavery in the Spanish Colonies of Puerto Rico and Cuba, a project that his successors carried out.

Virginia Barcones has stressed the importance of highlighting the figure of Ruiz Zorrilla as part “of the history of Spain”, as well as the contribution of other Castilian and Leonese figures to the history of Spain is “important”. Likewise, he explained that during the course, researchers and scientists will pass through El Burgo de Osma, who will know the town of Burgense “not only the legacy of Ruiz Zorrilla, but also its people, its landscape and its gastronomy”. “We now have the privilege of having a woman from El Burgo de Osma at the head of the Higher Council for Scientific Research and it is important to value those representatives of our land who are at the head of important institutions of our country and contribute to value what we do and we can be proud,” he added.

The delegate of the Government has been accompanied at the event by the president of the CSIC, Eloye del Pino; the director of the course and professor of the UNED, Eduardo Higueras; and the first deputy mayor and councilor of Tourism and Culture of the City of El Burgo de Osma, Miguel Ángel Miguel Andrés.

The president of the CSIC, Eloisa del Pino, considered fundamental the effort to recover history by adding the presence in El Burgo of “politicians who have been very important for our country”. Del Pino has highlighted that in El Burgo they will be “first-line researchers”, on the occasion of these days.

The days that have begun today in El Burgo de Osma will last until next Friday, when the closing ceremony will take place at 3.30 p.m. During the sessions, there will be debates and conferences that will revolve around the figure of the burgense politician, his relationship with other leaders of the time as well as offering a vision of what society was like at that time from a social, scientific or cultural point of view.