The flag of Villavicencio was adopted on October 23, 1970. This same day the other insignia of the city was also adopted: its coat of arms. The flag of Villavicencio symbolizes the great wealth of this city, both in land and rivers.
Additionally, it also wanted to represent the great struggle of the people to achieve independence from the Spanish Crown.
The Villavicencio flag is made up of three horizontal stripes of equal size. The first stripe is bright blue, the second stripe is green, and the third stripe is red.
Villavicencio is a city and a municipality in Colombia; It is the capital of the department of Meta. It was founded on April 6, 1840 and today it is considered the most important city in the eastern plains.
This municipality is known as "The door to the plain" for its location on the historic road from the Colombian interior to the vast savannas that lie between the Andes mountains and the Amazon forest.
As one of its most distinctive features, this is a prominent element on your flag.
History
This flag was designed by the Colombian artist Hernando Onofre. The emblems of Villavicencio were formally adopted on October 23, 1970.
This happened when Rito Antonio Mariño Rodríguez was the mayor of the city. Before that time, Villavicencio had no official symbols.
This city is located in the Orinoco region, where the eastern plains begin. Most of the region is getting flatter as you move away from the Andes.
They call it "The Gate of the Plains" since the roads south of Villavo lead to Las Acacias and San Martín, the first historic city in the plains.
Due to this, they wanted to strongly represent these elements in their flag. The idea when creating the flag was that this emblem would serve as a symbol that characterized Villavicencio.
On the other hand, the rivers in this area are also very characteristic. The most important are Guatiquía, Guayuriba, Negro and Ocoa.
Additionally, there are other important sources of water, such as Parrado, Gramalote, Maizaro, La Unión stream, Grande, Honda stream, Buque, Rosablanca and La Cuerera.
For that reason, the designer also wanted to incorporate and reflect on the flag the many rivers that cover this territory.
Several of these hydrological sources are also tributaries of the important and imposing Orinoco River.
Finally, they also wanted to pay tribute to their independence heroes. During the Colombian War of Independence, the native llaneros of this area played a crucial role.
The llaneros were the inhabitants of what was then Villavicencio, a completely isolated area with no settlements because the surrounding mountains made access quite difficult.
They fought in the War of Independence. That is why they wanted to be included in the Villavicencio flag, to give them a tribute.
Meaning
Hernando Onofre had the task of capturing the most significant elements of this territory so that its inhabitants felt identified with its flag.
For that reason he decided to use colors that represented this particular Colombian area.
Blue stripe
To begin, he decided to place a bright blue stripe across the top of the flag.
This color symbolizes water; more specifically, it refers to the many rivers and the immense importance of hydrography in this region.
Blue also represents the bright sky of Villavicencio.
Green stripe
Next is the green strip. This strip is very important since it represents what most characterizes this city: its green and large plains or plains.
This color also refers to agriculture; the base of the economy of this territory are agriculture and livestock. These activities would never have been so successful if the plains did not exist.
Historically, crops and livestock have been developed in these fields since the inhabitants of Villavicencio make the most of their lands.
The most important agricultural products are rice, grains, milk, livestock, pig production and poultry production.
The green color of its flag symbolizes these products that are so important for the development of the region.
Red stripe
The last stripe is red. This color was added to always take into account everything that was fought to have a dignified and free homeland.
Although in this area there were many people who fought for independence, the native llaneros of this territory obtain a special mention.
In fact, this city is named in honor of Antonio Villavicencio y Verástegui, who was a hero of the Independence in Colombia. Antonio Villavicencio was assassinated in the reconquest period.
The intention of the red strip is that its inhabitants never forget how much their ancestors fought for the city and for the country.
The llaneros were experienced horsemen from the plains who fought on the side of the rebels during the war and played a key role in their victory.
They crossed the Eastern Cordillera alongside Simón Bolívar and surprised the Spanish in the plains of Boyacá on August 6, 1819.
Thanks to this, the independentistas were able to take Santa de Bogotá a week later. The red color of the flag honors all the battles these heroes fought.
References
- Villavicencio. Recovered from wikipedia.org
- My municipality. Recovered from villavicencio.gov.co
- History of Villavicencio. Recovered from historiadel.net
- Villavicencio. Recovered from linguateca.pt
- Villavicencio (Meta, Colombia (, Recovered from crwflags.com