![[Flag of Coronel Dorrego District]](../images/a/ar-b-cd.gif)
Last modified: 2015-07-28 by francisco gregoric
Keywords: coronel dorrego | partido de coronel dorrego | dorrego (manuel) | cenci (nora del carmen) | southern cross |
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The District ("partido") of Coronel Dorrego (16,522 inhabitants in
2001; 5,818 sq. km) is located in the south of the province of Buenos
Aires, 628 km from Buenos Aires [City]. It is mostly a rural district, the
main products being grains, maize and soybean. The popular sea resort
of Marisol is also part of Coronel Dorrego.
After the so-called Conquest of the Desert (1879-1884) achieved by
General Julio A. Roca (1843-1914; President of the Republic 1880-1886
and 1898-1904) and the organic unification of the Republic, the
building of the nation was started with the motto "Poblar y educar" (To
populate and to educate). In the province of Buenos Aires, new
districts were formed and railways were built in every directions. In
1886, Tres Arroyos was linked to Buenos Aires via Juárez and Tandil.
Agriculture was developed and immigrants from all over the world came
to settle the southern lands.
In 1887, between rivers Quequén Salado and Sauce Grance, there were 79
landowners, including close friends of Roca and of Carlos Pellegrini
(1846-1906; Vice-President of the Republic, 1886-1890; President of the
Republic, 1890-1892). They had therefore an easy access to Máximo Paz,
then Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires (1887-1890), and
requested the creation of a new village between Bahía Blanca and Tres
Arroyos, which were separated by 200 kms of plains.
The project was presented to the Provincial Congress and accepted by
Law No 1979 of 14 October 1887 creating the Municipality of Coronel
Dorrego, which was confirmed by the the Executive on 29 December 1887.
On 2 January 1888, the Executive commissioned the land surveyor
Baldomero Vidala to draft the map of the village, with the railway as
the center of the settlement. On 28 January 1888, the Executive
appointed a commission made of Roberto Urquiza, Francisco Villanueva
and Ignacio Sánchez to select the exact place of the village. The first
suggestion was to build the village near Las Mostazas, an idea
immediatly abandoned for the existing agricultural estates, La Reserva,
owned by the brothers Miguel and Arturo Villanueva and Coronel Dorrego,
owned by José V. Urdapilleta. Dr. Urdapellita was Judge at the Supreme
Court and a close friend of Governor Paz, so that his domain was
selected as the spot of the new village.
On 9 April 1890, the Resolution proclaming the upgrading of the
agricultural estate Coronel Dorrego as the capital of the district of
the same name was released in La Plata.
Source: Dorregonet website
Coronel Dorrego is named after Colonel Manuel Dorrego (1787-1828).
During the conflict between the Unitarians and the Federalists, Dorrego
originally joined the Unitarians but he later left them for the
Federalists and exiled in the USA for a while. Back to Argentina, he
opposed in 1824 the first President of the Republic Bernardino
Rivadivia and was elected Representative for the Province of Santiago
del Estero at the first Argentine National Congress, where he
contributed to the resignation of Rivadavia. In August 1827, Dorrego
was elected Governor of Buenos Aires. He attempted to end the war with
Brazil, but was forced by the English to accept the creation of the
Eastern Republic of Uruguay. This territorial loss helped the
Unitarians to set up a plot against him; Dorrego was overthrown and
captured by Juan Lavalle, who let him shot in Navarro on 13 December
1828.
A more detailed biography of Colonel Dorrego can be read on: El Ortiba website
Ivan Sache 6 Jan 2007
"La Nueva Provincia", 30 December 2006, reports the celebration on 29
December 2006 of the 119th anniversary of the creation of the district
of Coronel Dorrego. The first act in the ceremony was the hoisting of
the national and provincial flags by the head of the School Council,
Delia Luján Roché, and the District Police Lieutenant Oscar Ortiz. Then
Mayor Osvaldo Crego and the President of the Municipal Council, Dr.
Fabián Zorzano, hoisted the new district flag.
The flag of Coronel Dorrego was designed by Nora del Carmen Cenci,
former Municipal Director for Culture and today municipal employee, as
a submission to the contest "Una Bandera para Dorrego" (A Flag for
Dorrego), which involved 27 proposals submitted by 18 designers. In a
first round, the jury selected three proposals, among which the one
submitted by "Centauro" was unanimuously chosen as the new district
flag. The flag is vertically divided blue ("azul"), light blue
("celeste") and white with a stylized golden Southern Cross in the
middle.
The district website shows a detailed report on the ceremony, with
several photographies of the flags. This is very helpful since there
are no image with the article in "La Nueva Provincia". Moreover, the
description of the flag given in the article does not match the real
flag to be seen on the photographies taken during the event.
As can be seen very clearly on photographies, the flag of Coronel
Dorrego is vertically divided blue-white-light blue with four golden
stars forming the Southern Cross all over the flag (therefore the order
of the stripes given in "La Nueva Provincia" is wrong and the Southern
Cross is not really in the "middle" of the flag).
Ivan Sache 6 Jan 2007
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