Last modified: 2008-09-20 by dov gutterman
Keywords: la guajira | albania |
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Albania (previously known as Calabacito from the Spanish
meaning Small Calabash tree) is a town and municipality of the
Colombian Department of La Guajira. It was founded on 27 January
1801 and became a municipality by Ordinance 001 of 19 March 2000.
Albania was previously an exclusive enclosed camp site for the
Cerrejon coal mine workers and their families.
The flag of Albania is horizontally devided black-yellow-green
and is charged with a yellow sun on white background that is
placed on the middle stripe next to the hoist.
Sources: wikipedia,
municipal
web site.
Dov Gutterman and Felipe Carillo, 15 August 2008
Translated from municipal
web site:
"The yellow colour and the sun symbolize the energyemitted
by the sun, which enlightens with its light the radiant lands of
our municipalty.
Green symbolizes vegetation and aspiration to a better life in
our municipality.
Black symbolizes the resources provided by the depths of our
land, representing coal, which is the source of income of our
municipality.
White symbolizes peace provided by Jesus Christ."
The image on the municipal website depicts a simpler sun, with
only ten rays, as shown on the municipal coat of arms. Since the wikipedia
images are said to be "based on" the images on the
municipal website, their author might have had some good reasons
to modify them.
The flag is clearly derived from the coat of arms, which is made
of shield tierced per bend black-yellow-green, with the sun in
canton.
The yellow stripe is charged with a black tree, which has been
omitted on the flag, a small calabash recalling the former name
of the place.
The name of the municipality has nothing to do with the European
country of Albania. It was coined in 1937
by Eduardo Londońo Villegas as a tribute to his daughter Alba.
Those who would still call the place Calabacito could be arrested
and fined 5 pesos, allocated to the parish church. The first
policeman of the village, Ambrosio Deluque, was in charge of the
inforcement of the rule.
According to <www.cerrejoncoal.com>,
the Cerrejón mine is the world's largest export open pit mining
operation; it is exploited by the "Cerrejón" company,
the leading coal producer in Colombia (c. 30 Mt exports in 2007,
generating 125 M USD). The mine is linked to the export port of
Puerto Bolívar, the most important coal terminal in Latin
America, by a 150-km railway line. Albania's nickname is
"The Black Princess".
There is also a project of oil prospecting in Salinas, led by a
joint venture set up between Mera Millenium Inc. and Ecopetrol.
Six exploratory pits should be drilled until a depth of 8,000
feet. The prospection sites are located on the lands of the
native Guayacanal community, which should be associated to the
prospection as prescribed by law.
Ivan Sache, 30 August 2008
lagal.gif)
image from wikipedia