General Lieutenant Carlos Palacios Zaforteza takes the Canary Islands Command

General Lieutenant Carlos Palacios Zaforteza has taken the Canary Islands Command, the 23rd of February, in a ceremony of change of command chaired by the Chief of General Staff of the Spanish Army, General Francisco Javier Varela Salas, which has been celebrated at the Canarian Palace of "Capitania General", in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The acts started with a honour formation in the Weyler Square and it continued in the Palace's Salón del Trono with the transfer of authority and the oath ceremony.

In his words, general Palacios gave emphasis to his predecessors' labour, specially to general lieutenant Galán, who has driven the capacities of the units in the Canary Islands, raising its prestige and leaving an indelible mark in the Canarian society. "As someone from the Balearic Islands, I know this feeling of distance from the peninsula, from their people, distance that, in this case, it is felt as superior, but as the illustrious Canary and Spanish man, Benito Perez Galdós, said 'we, the most distanced ones, will be the closest ones to the homeland's heart'; this will be the moral strength which will make us work together each day, increasing the prestige of our beloved Spain".

The event was attended by civil and military authorities, among them, the delegate of the government, Mercedes Roldós; the fiscal chief of the High Court of the Canary Islands, Vicente M. Garrido; and the president of the "Cabildo Insular" of Tenerife, Carlos E. Alonso, among other authorities such as family and friends.