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countersigned by Congress and published in the Official State Bulletin. The
signing took place at the Island Cabildo of La Palma on 26 May 1979 in the
presence of ambassadors from the signatory countries and the Presidency of
the Government Minister (then José Pedro Pérez-Llorca). It was the first time
that Spain had signed such a high-level treaty in the Canaries. From that
moment the doors of the Observatories of the Instituto de Astrofísica de
Canarias were formally opened, and have remained open ever since, to the
international scientific community, and the Observatories began to be populated with latest-generation telescopes and instruments.
Astrophysics had triumphed, as borne out by today’s splendid panoramas
at Teide Observatory and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, where telescopes now flourish.
Fig. 11.2 Placard in the outskirts of Valverde (El Hierro) protesting against the installation of military radars on the summit of Malpaso. The banner reads: ‘No base, no
radar. El Hierro for peace.’ (Credit: Flickr/José Mesa)
F. Sánchez