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Calamuchita Department, Córdoba Province, Argentina

Last modified: 2021-12-24 by rob raeside
Keywords: calamuchita department | córdoba province | argentina |
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Embalse Municipality

[Embalse municipal flag] image by Ivan Sache, 10 Aug 2013

The municipality of Embalse (15,400 inhabitants in 2010) is located in Calamuchita Valley, 100 km south of Córdoba Province.

Embalse (lit., Reservoir) is located near the bigger man-made lake (5,600 ha) established in Córdoba Province. The date of foundation of the town is 10 December 1911, the day when Exequiel Ramos Mejías, Minister of Civil Engineering, laid down the cornerstone of the dam on river Tercero. Built by the English company in charge of the Argentine Central Railways to protect the railways from flooding, the dam was abandoned in 1917. Engineers Juan Carlos Alba Posse and Santiago Enrique Fitz Simon were commissioned to revamp and increase the dam; it took nearly ten years (1927 to 1936) to achieve the project. The dam is 50 m in height and 360 m in width; a tower of 40 m in height supplies water to a 15,000 hp power plant. The dam's overflow outlet is 300 m in width.

The flag of Embalse is vertically divided blue-green with a half sun in the middle.

The blue half represents the lake and the sky, while the green part represents the natural environment.

The sun represents the nation and the features of the main activities of Embalse: production of energy.

The flag was selected among 25 proposals submitted to a public contest open to the town's pupils and students. The six designs proposed by Lorena Matar, María Laura Luján, the Embalse Volunteer Firefighters Cadets, Loana Torres, Eric Flores and Esther Gil were short-listed. The design by Loana Torres - 8 years old - was eventually proclaimed the new flag of Embalse.

Ivan Sache, 10 Aug 2013

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Los Cóndores Municipality

[Los Cóndores municipal flag] image by Ivan Sache, 21 May 2017

The municipality of Los Cóndores (2,964 inhabitants in 2015) is located in the Calamuchita Department, 70 km south-east of Villa General Belgrano and 120 km of Córdoba.

Los Cóndores emerged around a railway station established in 1913 by the Central Argentine Railways on the Córdoba-Río Cuarto line. The village was originally named for the station, Km 30.450. Subsequently known as El Tala and Modesto Acuña, the village was eventually renamed to Los Cóndores in 1929. The name alludes to the geographical location of the place, close to mountains inhabited by condors.

http://www.vgb.com.ar/los-condores.html - VGB portal

The flag of Los Cóndores was designed in October 2016 by the Association of Volunteer Firefighters of the town, winner of a public contest organized by the municipality. The contest yielded 24 submissions.

https://cordobainteriorinforma.com/2016/10/10/los-condores-ya-tiene-bandera-propia/ - Córdoba Interior Informa, 10 October 2016
http://www.tribunadigital.com.ar/los-condores-tiene-bandera - Tribuna Digital, 11 October 2016

Ivan Sache, 21 May 2017


Villa General Belgrano

[Villa General Belgrano municipal flag] image by Ivan Sache, 18 September 2021

The municipality of Villa General Belgrano (locally, VGB; 8,257 inhabitants in 2010) is located 80 km south of Córdoba.

Villa General Belgrano was established in 1929, as Colonia Paraje "El Sauce" (At the Willow's Colony), by two German immigrants, Paul Heintze and Jorge Kappuhn. Renamed to Villa Calamuchita in 1938, the village welcomed several immigrants from Central Europe (Germans, Swiss, Hungarians, Czechoslovak, Austrians) to establish a colony dedicated to agriculture and cattle-breeding. The project failed because of the harsh environment, but the settlers did not give up. After the visit of a group of German vacationers from Buenos Aires attracted by the beautiful landscape of the area, they built a town in typical Bavarian style. The town was renamed to Villa General Belgrano in 1941.

The municipality of Villa General Belgrano, established in 1953, held its first Beer Festival on 12 October 1957, an event registered as of provincial significance in 1967 and renamed to Beer National Festival in 1980. Mostly known as Oktoberfest like its German model, the festival attracts every year more than 150,000 people. The town is also host of the Viennese Pastry National Festival, organized during the Holy Week, and of the Alpine Chocolate Festival, organized in July during winter vacations.

https://villageneralbelgrano.gob.ar/
Municipal website

The name change from El Sauce to Villa Calamuchita was prompted by problems in mail delivery, mail being often misdirected to another village named El Sauce.
The second name change is connected to an event that occurred on 9 July 1941 in the town. A national flag - other sources say two or three flags - were burned down during the national day. The case was never elucidated. Some say that the flag(s) were burned German seamen held in legal control in the town after the scuttling of the cruiser "Admiral Graf Spee" in Montevideo, in the aftermath of the battle of the River Plate. German settlers who had abused beer were also presented as culprits. A third explanation invokes inhabitants of the neighboring village of Santa Rosa upset by the "privatization" of the name of the valley by the inhabitants of Villa Calamuchita. The local newspapers campaigned against the German seamen; three of them, allegedly seen drunk, were soon arrested and jailed. They admitted having caused some trouble in a pub but denied any involvement in the flag desecration, and were eventually released. Local historians do not believe in the seamen' guiltiness, since they were known as respectful for law and order. They were rather presented as usual suspects by those who actually committed the outrage.
The event prompted the governor of Córdoba to rename the town for the hero of independence and designer of the national flag, General Manuel Belgrano (1770-1820).

https://www.lavoz.com.ar/calamuchita/otro-nombre-bandera-quemada/
La Voz, 19 October 2012

The flag of Villa General Belgrano is diagonally divided from lower hoist to upper fly. The upper triangle is horizontally divided celestial blue-white. The lower triangle is red, charged in base with an edelweiss-shaped sun inscribing a heart, all white.

Celestial blue and white are the colors of the national flag and of the sky over Villa General Belgrano.
Red is the color of the gabled roofs of the buildings of the downtown, used by the main European communities of the town.
The sun, similar to an edelweiss flower, recalls the municipal coat of arms and is featured on the national and provincial flags.
The heart represents people's hospitality and the first immigrants who established the town's early identity in the country's heart center.
The petals, like the wind-rose, represent the cardinal points..

The flag was unveiled on 8 September 2021 by the jury of the public contest "Una Bandera para VGB" (A Flag for VGB) organized by the municipality. The jury, presided by Mayor Oscar Santarelli, was composed of 21 members: the president of the Municipal Council, representatives of political groups, of administrations, of public and privates bodies and association, and of the boroughs that compose the municipality. External assessors were Cristian Baquero Lazcano, designer of the flag of the province of Córdoba, and Jonathan Correa, university technician.
Each member of the jury was invited to select three preferred proposals among the 20 submitted designs. The final ranking was:
1. Proposal by Alberto Seibert, 52 points
2. Proposal by Walter Mauricio Campos, 37 points
3. Proposal by Erica Wilneder, 36 points.

Alberto "Berti" Seibert is an emblematic citizen of Villa General Belgrano, known as one of the town's most talented accordion players and best performer of the Oktoberfest anthem.

https://municipalidadvgb.gob.ar/villa-general-belgrano-tiene-bandera-propia/
Municipal website, 9 September 2021
https://www.cadena3.com/noticia/radioinforme-3/villa-general-belgrano-ya-tiene-su-propia-bandera_304124
Cadena 3, 10 September 2021

The public contest was prescribed by Ordinance No. 2,096 issued on 10 June 2021 by the Municipal Council. Proposals had to be submitted before 30 August 2021.

http://vgb.gov.ar/municipalidad/post-hcd/2096-21-concurso-de-creacion-de-la-bandera-de-vgb/
Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 18 September 2021