Comandante Fern�ndez Department, Chaco Province, Argentina

Last modified: 2021-12-23 by rob raeside
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• Presidencia Roque S�enz Pe�a Municipality

• Chaco municipalities
• Chaco
• Argentina

Presidencia Roque S�enz Pe�a Municipality

The municipality of Presidencia Roque S�enz Pe�a (locally known as S�enz Pe�a; 96,944 inhabitants in 2010, therefore the 2nd most populous municipality in the province) is located in the center of the Chaco Province, 170 km from Resistencia.

Presidencia Roque S�enz Pe�a was established on 1 March 1912 by Carlos D. Fern�ndez, commander of the 6th Cavalry Regiment, who granted plots to six Spanish colonists of Andalusian origin. The settlement was built on a site known as Campo Largo, located at Km 173 of the Barranqueras-Met�n railway.

The colony was set up to grow cotton "Mamita", a cultivar bred by the agronomist Augusto Schulz at the Colonia Ben�tez Agricultural Station, which was awarded the 1st prize in an exhibition held in Spain in 1905. In 1914, the Czech colonists Sasvata and Novotny sold in Resistencia the first cotton harvest from S�enz Pe�a, initiating the cotton boom in the town. In the 1940s, S�enz Pe�a was the first cotton producer in Argentina; the Cotton National festival was initiated in the town in 1947.

The municipality of Presidencia Roque S�enz Pe�a was established on 21 September 1923 and inaugurated on 16 November 1923.

Roque S�enz Pe�a (1851-1914) was Deputy for the Buenos Aires Province (1876-1878). After his resignation, he served as a Colonel in the Peruvian army during the War of the Pacific (1879-1883). Back to Argentina in 1880, S�enz Pe�a appeared as the favourite candidate at the 1892 presidential election; his opponents convinced his own father, Luis S�enz Pe�a, to compete, so that the son withdrew and the father was elected. In the next years, Roque S�enz Pe�a withdrew from politics and served as a diplomat; in 1910, he announced he would compete in the presidential elections. Seventeenth President of the Republic in 1910-1914, Roque S�enz Pe�a significantly contributed to the democratization of political life by the electoral reform prescribed by Law No. 8,874 of 10 February 1912 (aka as S�enz Pe�a Law).

The flag of Presidencia Roque S�enz Pe�a is prescribed by Municipal Ordinance No. 7,519 of 1 March 2013.

The flag is white with a green right-angles triangle at upper hoist and a light blue right-angled triangle at lower fly. In the middle of the flag is placed a golden yellow emblem.

The flag, selected in a public contest, was designed by 23-year old Roy Pablo Mil�n.

The green triangle represents the cropped fields and the high ecological value of the local mount and of the municipal ecological complex, the town's green lung.
The blue triangle represents the thermal water as a source of health.
The white and blue field recall that the town belongs to the Province of Chaco and to Argentina.

The emblem is made of three elements representative of the town's history:

• The railways shaped the municipality, representing its origin and identity established from cultural plurality.
• The cotton boll in the middle of the emblem is a symbol of progress; the town is located in the center of the Province of Chaco, rich in cotton fields;
• The wavy lines recall the calm of the thermal water, which has for the town a great identitary value and are the base of tourism.

• Detailed account of Roque S�enz Pe�a's presidency
• The flag of Roque S�enz Pe�a Municipality at the website of "Diario Chaco", 4 March 2013
  reported by Ivan Sache, 05 Jan 2014