reaction.

  The legislative proposal recognizes official Uruguayan state records listing his birthplace as the department of Tacuarembo on December 11, 1887.

  The initiative, which also designates related activities held within the country as being of cultural interest, must now be considered by the Senate, according to the *Montevideo Portal* website.

  The bill relies on evidence including a registration entry for Gardel at the Uruguayan Consulate in Buenos Aires dated October 8, 1920—a document located here in the Foreign Ministry’s Historical Diplomatic Archive.

  The approval by the Chamber of Deputies sparked reactions in Argentina.  

  Walter Santoro, president of the Carlos Gardel International Foundation, raised objections regarding the use of the consular record as definitive proof.

  “We believe it would have been far more enriching to declare that date as the Day of Carlos Gardel’s Legacy,” he said.

  He also compared the initiative to the Argentine commemoration of that same date—December 11—which was established as National Tango Day to honor the birthdays of both Gardel and musician Julio De Caro. jdt/ga/ool