Last modified: 2018-10-17 by francisco gregoric
Keywords: mendoza | provincia de mendoza | general alvear | alvear (carlos maría) | godoy cruz | san rafael | tupungato | tunuyan |
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The Province of Mendoza is administratively divided in 18 departments. Inside each department there is one municipality,
Francisco Gregoric, 20 Apr 2008
![[General Alvear municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-m-ga.gif)
The municipality of General Alvear (28,431 inhabitants in 2010) is located in the southeast of the Mendoza Province, 320 km from Mendoza.
General Alvear is named for General Carlos María de Alvear (Carlos Antonio Joseph Gabino del Ángel de la Guarda Alvear; 1789-1852), Of Andalusian origin, Alvear served in the Spanish army from 1806 to 1811, fighting against the French troops in Talavera, Jevenes and Ciudad Real. In September 1811, he met in London Francisco Miranda, aka "The Precursor", and his friends from the "Sociedad de Caballeros Racionales" who aimed at the independence of the Spanish colonies in South America. Back to Argentina with San Martín, Alvear was enrolled in the new Regiment of Horse Grenadiers.
Quickly involved in politic, Alvear presided the Constituent Assembly established in 1813. Back to the army in June 1813, he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Buenos Aires garrison, which increased his power. Alvear contributed to the centralization of the regime and the appointment of Posadas as the Supreme Director. On 23 June 1814, Alvear commanded the troops that seized Montevideo from the Royalist party; during the Civil War, he forced Artigas to withdrew. After Posadas' resignation, the Assembly appointed in January 1815 Alvear as the Supreme Director; overthrown by the revolution of 15 April 1815, he exiled to Brazil and, then, Montevideo, until amnestied in 1822.
Rivadavia appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary in the United Kingdom, and, subsequently, at Bolívar. Eventually appointed Ministe of War and Commander of the Army, Alvear restored his good name during the war against Brazil. He won on 20 February 1827 the Battle of Ituzaingó, whose main outcome was the independence of the Eastern Bank (Uruguay). Alvear ended his long, controversial career as Ministry Plenipotentiary in the USA (1838-1852).
Alvear's son, Torcuato, served as the first Mayor of Buenos Aires, while his grandson, Marcelo, was President of the Republic in 1922-1928.
Diego de Alvear (1825-1887, seemingly a son of General Alvear) was a powerful landlord who owned huge estates in Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, San Luis, Mendoza and the Pampa National Territory. In 1884, he acquired 1,300,000 ha of land in the south of the Mendoza Province,limited by rivers Diamante, Atuel and Salado. Death prevented him to establish there an agricultural colony; his heirs, however, founded in 1901 Colonia Alvear; the colony was planned and organized by the engineer Carlos de Chapeaurouge (1846-1922, author of the first cadastral map of Argentina, 1891-1895). The colony (45,000 ha) included the today's territories of the town of General Alvear and of the urban center of the district of Alvear Oeste, and all the arable lands of the today's municipality, excepted the village of Carmensa. The district of Colonia Alvear was established in 1911, as part of the municipality of San Rafaël. The cumbersome access to San Rafaël and the growth of the colony, boosted by the building of the railway in 1912, prompted its inhabitants to apply for the establishment of the municipality of General Alvear, which was granted by Law No. 635 of 12 August 1914.
General Alvear was the last den of the rural bandit Juan Bautista Bairoletto (1894-1941). After his death during a fighting with the police, Bairoletto, nicknamed "the gaucho Robin Hood" or "the last Romantic bandit" became a legend, illustrated by a novel, a play, a movie and several folk songs Bairoletto's widow, Telma Ceballos, celebrated her 100th anniversary in 2013.
The other local hero of General Alvear is the Russian-born musician Alejo Vladimir Abutcov (1872-1945). A disciple of Leo Tolstoy and a student of Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Abutcov emigrated in 1923 to Argentina; the next year, he acquired an estate in General Alvear, where his project of colony following Tolstoy's principles failed within a few years. Abutcov founded in 1928 a music academy in General Alvear, where he was the sole professor, teaching until his death musical theory and all kinds of instruments to more than 200 students.
The flag of General Alvear is horizontally divided sky blue-gray, the two fields being separated by a thin white stripe. All over is placed a yellow sun.
The flag was selected among nine proposals in a public contest whose results were proclaimed on 7 November 2013. The flag was designed by Maricel Viviana Arriaga (24 years old)), student in Enology and Wine-growing at the Faculty of Agricultural and Industrial Sciences of Cuyo National University. She described the flag as follows:
The municipality of Godoy Cruz (189,578 inhabitants in 2010) is the third most populated municipality in Greater Mendoza.
Godoy Cruz was, according to the local historian Isidoro Maza, settled by Captain Lope de la Peña, soon after he had founded the town of
Mendoza. After his death in 1600, his widow offered his estate to the Santo Domingo Soriano convent; renamed as Chacras de Santo Domingo,
the estate was located in the area of today's Puente Olive. The natives were soon "reduced" by the Dominican monks, without resisting.
It appears indeed that several of them died because of diseases transmitted by the European colonists, while the survivors were
transferred to other colonial estates in Chile in urgent need of manpower.
Tomás de Coria y Bohorquez, lord of he area, erected in 1753 an oratory served by a few missionaries; dedicated to the Spanish
Dominican monk St. Vicente Ferrer, the oratory became the seat of a parish and the center of a village named Villa de San Vicente.
Ib 1810, during the May Revolution, the Government of Buenos Aires appointed the first Mayor of San Vicente. The main square of the town
was set up in 1819 close to the chapel; shops emerged around the place, as well as residences of the local notables, such as the Tomba
family.
Vila de San Vicente was officially established on 11 May 1855, separating from Luján, and organized as a municipality in 1872. The
town was renamed as Villa Belgrano in 1889, but the inhabitants kept the original name in use.
Law No. 472, adopted on 9 February 1909 by the Provincial Assembly, awarded the status of "ciudad" to Villa Belgrano and changed its name
to Godoy Cruz. Tomás Godoy Cruz (1791-1852), the town's namesake, represented Mendoza at the Congress of Tucumán (1815) that proclaimed
the independence of Argentina in 1816, and was subsequently appointed Governor of the Province (1820-1822; 1830, acting, only for 20 days).
His remains were transferred in 1966 from Mendoza to the St. Vivente Ferrer church in Godoy Cruz.
The flag and arms of Godoy Cruz were selected in a public contest, whose results were proclaimed in November 2016. The winning design,
submitted by "APU", is horizontally divided celestial blue-white with a dark red emblem in the center.
The contest was announced by the municipality on 15 July 2016. Individuals or groups representing any institution, private or public,
could contest. Individuals had to be born in the town or to live there for at least two years.
The jury was composed of one member of the Directorate of Communication, one member of the Directorate of Culture (the two
appointed by the municipality), one member appointed by the Cuyo National University, the President of the Municipal Council, and an
historian of Godoy Cruz appointed by the municipality. The submissions were accepted from 25 July to 7 September 2016, the
proclamation of the results being scheduled to 15 September. The submission deadline was postponed to 7 October 2016.
The 40 submitted proposals were presented to the public on 12 October 2016.
Godoy Cruz had no flag; the municipal emblem, adopted in 1994 and deemed obsolete, features a condor with spread wings holding the
provincial shield.
Ivan Sache, 20 Nov 2016
![[San Rafael municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-m-sr.gif)
The Department of San Rafael municipality of San Rafael (187,879 inhabitants in 2009; 31,235 sq. km) is located in the Province of
Mendoza. The department is named for its capital and most inhabited municipality, San Rafael (106,386 inhabitants in 2001), founded on 2 April 1805, and named for its founder, Rafael de Sobremonte (1745-1827), Viceroy of the Río de la Plata (1804-1806).
Javier Martin, "Diario Uno", 17 September 2009, reports that the Department Councillor Jorge García has proposed to launch a contest
for a department's flag before the end of the year. The proposal insists that he has no separatist agenda and thet the department's
flag should be subordinated to the national flag and the flag of the Andes of Mendoza.
Ivan Sache, 17 Nov 2009
San Rafael has chosen the design of the departmental flag. In simple lines and with patriotic colors in the background, the emblem will represent the local landscape, with its plains, mountains, lakes and rivers, among other great attributes that characterize the entire local area, like the sun and the grapes. On November 19, 2010 the Los Andes newspaper reported that:
The municipality of Tunuyán (46,436 inhabitants; 3,317 sq. km) is
located 80 km south-west of Mendoza Province, on the border with Chile, here
the Portillo pass. Together with Tupungato and San Carlos, Tunuyán forms the Uco Valley.
The town of Tunuyán originates in the Totoral estate, founded at the end of the 16th century by Juan Amaro del Campo. The evangelization of the area started in the early 17th century, when Friar Pérez de Espinosa, Bishop of Chile, founded the parish of Uco. The valley was subsequently settled by the Jesuits, who founded the Jesús María and José de Uco estates. In 1770, all the estates in the region were placed under the jurisdiction of the San Carlos Fort, founded by Commandant Amigorena.
The municipality of Tunuyán was established on 30 November 1880.
The flag of Tunuyán, inaugurated on 17 June 2011, was selected in a public contest initiated by two municipal councillors, María Dolores Sánser and Carlos Marinelli. The winner of the contest is Emmanuel Dalmau.
The flag is vertically divided light blue-white-light blue (1:2:1). In the middle of the flag are represented:
![[Tupungato municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-m-tp.gif)
Tupungato department has become on November 2010 one of the few in Mendoza province having its own flag.
The flag, with two blue and white vertical stripes, and with the coat of arms in the middle, was to be presented during the civic parade of the department in November 2010, during which the authorities and the people of this area of the Valle de Uco commemorated the 152 years of institutional life.
The flag was created by Amilcar Maslup (74), and was adopted through Ordinance No. 49/2010.
The coat of arms contains four parts: Tupungato hill (6,800 m), which gives its name to the department; the cross of the Jesuit missionaries; an indigenous sun ; a tower of oil and the fruits of a bountiful land (a bunch of grapes). Two intertwined laurel branches symbolize the traditional friendship with the Tupungato Mountain Infantry Regiment 11 General Las Heras.
Olivier Touzeau, 28 Sep 2011
Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.