Last modified: 2020-11-14 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-cc-mi.gif)
Flag of Miajadas - Image by Ivan Sache, 21 March 2020
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The municipality of Miajadas (9,773 inhabitants in 2017; 12,075 ha) is located in the geographical center of Extremadura, on the border with the Province of Badajoz, 70 km south-east of Cáceres and 40 km south of Trujillo. The municipality is made of the town of Miajadas and of the colonies of Alonso de Ojeda (327 inh.) and Casar de Miajades (289 inh.), established in the 1960s by the National Institute of Colonozation, as part of Plan Badajoz.
Miajadas was prseented in Expo Zaragoza 2008 as Europa's Capital of Tomato (the Italian town of Parma has the same claim). While 90% of the spanish tomatoes are produced in Extremadura, Miajadas is the national leader for exported canned tomatoes. More than 600 families are employed during the harvest period (July-Septmber). The Nestlé factory exports 70% of its production to France, Germany and Italy; Gallina Blanca exports 80% of it production to Italy.
[EuropaPress, 5 September 2008]
Miajadas is the home of the world's biggest tomato, a sculpture of more than 4 m in diameter surmounting a big pole erected on the road to Madrid.
[España Bizarra, 4 January 2014]
Miajadas is the birth place of Saturnino Martén Cerezo (1866-1945), the brigade general who commanded the "Last one of the Philippines" during the siege of Baler (1 July 1898-2 June 1899). Not aware of Spain's surrender in December 1898, Cerezo refused to leave the besieged fortified church until definitively convinced that war was over. Out of the 50 defendors, some 30 survived and were considered as heroes, both in Spain and Phillipines.
The siege of Baler is often considered as the last episode of the Spanish colonial empire.
[Royal Academy of History]
Miajadas was in 1938 the scene of a crime that became internationally known thanks to Radio España Independiente, emitting from Moscow. Valentin Corrales Vázquez, a poor young gardener, had a romance with María González Acero, the daughter of José González Díaz, one of the most influential Phalangist leaders in the area. Claiming that "Valentin is not a man worth marrying a señorita", González threatened to kill him. On 18 August, after María and Valentin had been seen in a ball organized in the neighboring town of Almoharín and duly reported to González, the infuriated father organized an ambush on Valentin's way back to Miajadas with his brother, his son, relatives and friends. They killed Valentin and buried him secretely in the cemetary. Two of the murderers went to the brothel led by Andrea Jiménez, who destroyed their blood-stained clothes.
Valentin's bicycle was found abandoned on the scene of crime but its owner never showed up again, opening the way to all kind of allegations and conjectures. One month later, another young man of the village who also returned from Almoharí,n and had witnessed the murder, hidden behind a figtree, confessed to his father: "Valentin will never come back, he is buried in the cemetery".
The nine murderers and the brothel's tenant were trialed three years later in Cáceres. The three González were sentenced to 30 years in jail, while their complices were sentenced to 2 to 30 years.
Valrntin's murder soon became the topic of a popular song famous all over Extremadura, saying:
Ivan Sache, 21 March 2020
The flag of Miajadas, adopted on 10 April 2000 by the Municipal Council and validated on 25 June 2002 by the Assessing Council of Honors and Distinctions of the Government of Extremadura, is prescribed by an Order issued on 13 January 2003 by the Government of Extremadura and published on 11 February 2003 in the official gazette of Extremadura, No. 18, p. 1,865 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3. Red, charged in the center with the municipal coat of arms.
The drawing attached to the Order as Appendix I shows the flag as square. A drawing showing the flag as rectangular was published as a Correction issued on 26 February 2003 by the Government of Extremadura and published on 8 March 2003 in the official gazette of Extremadura, No. 29, p. 3,498-3,499 (text).
On the flags in actual use (photo,
photo,
photo,
photo,
photo,
photo), the coat of arms is outlined in yellow.
The "rehabiltated" coat of arms of Miajadas, adopted on 10 April 2000 by the Municipal Council and validated on 31 May 2001 by the Assessing Council of Honors and Distinctions of the Government of Extremadura, is prescribed by an Order issued on 18 June 2001 by the Government of Extremadura and published on 2 August 2001 in the official gazette of Extremadura, No. 89, p. 8,657 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Gules a castle or port and windows azure surmounted by two lions rampant argent. The shield surrounded by a Royal crown closed.
![[Flag]](../images/e/es-cc!mi.gif)
Rejected flag proposal - Image by Ivan Sache, 21 March 2020
The municipality of Miajadas, via its People's University and Center of Historic and Ethnographic Studies, commissioned Pedro Cordero Alvarado, the author of several flags and arms of municipalities in Extremadura.
The oldest known coat of arms of Miajadas appears on the seal used by the municipality to seal official documents in 1876.
The town was reconquered by King Ferdinand III the Saint, therefore the castle representing Castile.
The proposed flag is a banner of arms. The height of the castle is 3/4 of the flag's width while the height of the lions is 1/2 of the flag's width. The lion closest to the hoist is separated from it by 1/24 of the flag's length.
[Municipal website]
Ivan Sache, 20 March 2020
