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Cercado, Tarija (Bolivia)

image by Olivier Touzeau, 5 January 2019

The flag

Municipality:

Tarija

See also:

The flag

The mayor of Cercado/Tarija for the years 2015-2020 is Rodrigo Paz Pereira. According to
http://lavozdetarija.com/2017/04/12/rodrigo-paz-se-apropia-de-la-bandera-de-tarija-y-estampa-su-marca-de-tarija-capital/ Rodrigo Paz renamed the entity under the name of Tarija Capital, and created a brand "Tarija Capital" stamped on different items (clothing, walls, advertising spots, police vehicles), and this logo has been added in 2017 on the red and white flag of Tarija.
The bicentenary of the battle of la Tablada de Tolomosa was celebrated on April 2017: the Battle of la Tablada de Tolomosa had been fought on 15 April 1817 near the town of Tarija between the royalist forces under colonel Mateo Ramírez and republican local forces under Eustaquio Méndez allied with the Army of the North under Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid, who took control of Tarija.
On the occasion of the bicentenary, the public institutions have fulfilled the streets of the capital of the department of flags of Tarija. The City Hall of Cercado they has chosen to include on them the logo of "Tarija Capital". Some citizens have expressed their opposition to the mayor Rodrigo Paz because of the use of this logo on a patriotic symbol, using to make propaganda of his management. They asked to the municipal council the withdrawal of the flags of Tarija stamped with the logo of the Alcaldía.

According to http://elperiodico-digital.com/2017/04/14/echart-niega-ultraje-a-la-bandera-de-tarija/ Councillor Alan Echart Sosa defended the Mayor's office saying that there was never a political intentionality, but lack of coordination.
In contrast, the member of the group "Yo Activista", Fannor Gallardo, expressed his annoyance before the media about the use of the logo on the white part of the flag, considering that "it is a lack of civility". "The Autonomic Statute establishes that the Tarija flag must be of two colors, crimson red, and white on the bottom; however, they modify with a slogan that says 'Tarija Capital'," he lamented. The activist questioned that with actions like this, each authority or institution will modify the flag "at will".
The same article recalls that "the flag of Tarija is made up of the red color that symbolizes fire as the blood shed by revolutionaries, while white is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity and cleanliness of this land."

The disputed flag with the logo seems not to have been in use after this incident, it does not appear on photos after April 2017 on https://www.facebook.com/pg/Gobierno.Autonomo.Municipal.Tarija
Olivier Touzeau, 5 January 2019

Another "flag incident" occurred in Tarija in 2017.
According to http://lavozdetarija.com/2017/09/11/arquitectos-piden-al-alcalde-paralizar-el-monumento-a-la-bandera-de-su-plan-integral-de-turismo/ in the global plan for tourism of the municipal government, it was planned to implement the construction of a civic plaza with the largest tarijeña flag in Bolivia. The College of Architects of Tarija have taken a pronouncement to ask the mayor of Cercado, Rodrigo Paz, to stop the project because of a lack of consultations. The president of the College of Architects, Hector Chávez, added that there are lot of traffic jams on the streets where the monument was going to be built, and has asked the mayor to listen to the opinions of the professionals, declaring that "in reality the icon of Tarija is not its flag but the Guadalquivir river" and indicating that "improvised works like this do not respond to the true needs and expectations of the people" and need analysis about their feasibility by assessment committees.

A picture of a demonstration with flags of Tarija can be seen on this article. The flags bear the coat of arms and the word tarija in white capital letters outlined in red below.
Olivier Touzeau, 5 January 2019