Speaking at the World Council of Azorean Houses in Uruguay, the President of the Azorean Parliament called for permanent academic, cultural, scientific and professional exchanges that would transform the relationship between the islands and their diaspora from a cherished inheritance into a living opportunity for future generations.
The geography of the Azores has never ended at the shores of its nine islands. For centuries, it has continued across oceans, taking root in the communities of Brazil, Uruguay, the United States, Canada and other countries where generations of emigrants transformed distance into belonging. Yet the passage of time presents a new challenge: how can a relationship sustained for so long by memory, family and tradition become equally meaningful to younger generations whose experiences, ambitions and identities have been shaped far from the islands of their ancestors? It was precisely this question that Luís Garcia, President of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, placed at the center of his address in San Carlos, Uruguay.
Speaking at the opening of the 28th General Assembly of the World Council of Azorean Houses, Garcia proposed the establishment of a permanent transatlantic exchange network connecting young people living in the Azores with young people of Azorean descent throughout the world. His proposal envisions opportunities in higher education, scientific research, cultural institutions, professional training, entrepreneurship and business, creating relationships that extend beyond occasional visits or commemorative gatherings. Presented during the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Azorean autonomy, the initiative reflects a broader effort to redefine the role of the diaspora in the Region’s future.
At the heart of Garcia’s proposal is the conviction that younger generations must have the opportunity to develop their own relationship with the Azores, rather than simply inherit the emotional attachments of their parents and grandparents. He suggested that exchanges could include spending a week at a business, university, research center, cultural institution or even the Azorean Parliament. Such experiences would allow participants to discover the contemporary realities of the islands while developing professional contacts, intellectual interests and personal relationships that might continue long after their visits had ended.
The proposal represents an important shift in how the relationship between the Azores and their diaspora might be understood. For much of the twentieth century, that relationship was sustained through family correspondence, religious festivities, cultural associations and the emotional rituals of return. These connections remain essential, but Garcia argues that they should be complemented by practical opportunities for younger generations to participate in the academic, economic and cultural life of the archipelago. The islands, in his view, should be presented not merely as the homeland of previous generations but as a territory of contemporary possibilities, with growing interests in knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurship and its strategic Atlantic position.
Garcia emphasized that the initiative need not depend upon the creation of an extensive new bureaucracy. Instead, he proposed building upon existing networks, bringing together the institutions of Azorean self-government, the Houses of the Azores, diaspora representatives, universities, research organizations and business associations. A shared communication platform could connect interested young people with available opportunities, allowing institutions on both sides of the Atlantic to identify potential participants and establish partnerships. The essential requirement, he suggested, is not another complicated administrative structure, but a sustained commitment to cooperation.
Particular responsibility would fall to the Houses of the Azores, whose familiarity with the communities in which they operate makes them valuable intermediaries between the archipelago and its descendants abroad. Garcia described these organizations as authentic embassies of Azorean identity, recognizing their longstanding contribution to the preservation of language, traditions and cultural belonging. He also challenged them to expand their role by presenting a more complete picture of the Azores as they exist today, especially to younger people whose understanding of the islands may be shaped primarily by family memories or occasional visits.
That distinction is significant. The Azores remembered by emigrant grandparents are not identical to the Azores encountered by their grandchildren. The Region has undergone profound political, educational, economic and social changes since the establishment of autonomy in 1976. Universities, scientific institutions, cultural organizations and emerging areas of economic activity have expanded the possibilities for cooperation. Connecting young Azorean descendants to these developments could help create relationships founded upon shared interests and future ambitions, without diminishing the emotional significance of their ancestral heritage.
The President of the Azorean Parliament also renewed his support for examining the possibility of institutional representation for the diaspora within the Regional Legislative Assembly. Such a proposal would introduce a political dimension into a relationship traditionally expressed through cultural, familial and associative channels. Garcia suggested that the connection between the Region and its communities abroad deserves consideration not only as a matter of heritage but also as a question of institutional participation, although the specific mechanisms for such representation remain to be defined.
The World Council of Azorean Houses, established in 1997, occupies a central place in this vision. Nearly three decades of cooperation among Azorean associations in different countries have created a network of personal relationships, institutional experience and cultural knowledge. Garcia argued that this existing foundation offers an exceptional opportunity to begin a new phase of engagement, one in which the preservation of Azorean identity is accompanied by practical collaboration in education, research, culture and economic development.
His remarks in Uruguay formed part of an institutional visit to Brazil and Uruguay associated with the 50th anniversary of Azorean autonomy. The setting itself carried historical significance. San Carlos belongs to a South American landscape shaped in part by Azorean migration, where the presence of island descendants remains woven into the cultural history of local communities. Addressing representatives of Azorean Houses there, Garcia placed the future of the diaspora within a longer history of migration, adaptation and belonging.
The challenge now is to ensure that the next generation has reasons to remain connected that are meaningful within its own experience. A young person of Azorean descent may feel affection for an island never visited, but a research placement, cultural residency, university exchange or professional opportunity can transform that affection into firsthand knowledge. Similarly, young people living in the Azores may discover through exchanges with diaspora communities new professional networks, international perspectives and possibilities for collaboration.
The importance of such a network would ultimately depend upon its continuity. Isolated exchanges can create memorable experiences, but permanent relationships require coordination, accessible information, institutional commitment and opportunities that respond to the interests of participants. Garcia’s proposal offers a framework for that ambition, while leaving the practical design and implementation to future cooperation among the organizations involved.
Fifty years after the establishment of regional autonomy, the discussion also raises a larger question about the meaning of Azorean identity in the twenty-first century. If autonomy gave the islands new political instruments through which to shape their destiny, the diaspora represents an enduring human dimension of that destiny, extending across countries, languages and generations.
The Azores need not be understood solely as the place from which earlier generations departed. They can also become a place toward which younger generations turn—not necessarily to settle permanently, but to study, work, create, collaborate and participate in a shared Atlantic future.
For Luís Garcia, the challenge is to give those possibilities an enduring institutional foundation. For the diaspora, it is an invitation to imagine belonging as something more than remembrance.
And for the generations still to come, perhaps the most meaningful bridge across the Atlantic will not be the one that takes them back to the islands their ancestors left, but the one that allows them to discover, through their own experiences, what they and the Azores might yet accomplish together.
Based on a Press Release from ALRAA. The Photos is also from ALRAA.