Trelew

For other uses, see Trelew (disambiguation)}}}.

|} Trelew is a city in the province of Chubut, in the Argentine Patagonia, with a population of about 89,000 as per the 2001 census [INDEC]. The city has a small commercial center, several neighborhoods, and some villas miseria (shanty towns), in which the houses are made of tin metal or pressed cardboard. The living conditions in these villas are very harsh, because winters of −10 °C are common. As of 2005, unemployment is high and the city is losing population.

The Argentine Navy maritime patrol aircraft P-3 Orion are based at the Base Aeronaval Almirante Zar near Trelew, from where they survey the long Atlantic coast.

History

Trelew's foundation is linked with Welsh settlement in Argentina, the leaders of which were Captain Sir Love Jones-Parry of Madryn and Lewis (Luis) Jones, who acted as spokesmen to deal with the Argentine government at the beginning in the 1860s.

Trelew was established in 1886 as head station for the railway track that linked the Lower Chubut River Valley to Puerto Madryn, with railway building equipment and 400 settlers arriving on July 28 of that year on the steamer Vesta. The town was named Trelew in honour of Lewis Jones, tre meaning "town" in Welsh and Lew being an apocope for Lewis.

The 1972 massacre

Trelew was the scene of a massacre in 1972. A breakout of political prisoners at the federal penitentiary resulted in the death of one guard and the attempted flight of about 100 individuals who opposed the military dictatorship which followed the overthrow of President Arturo Illia. A small group of prisoners succeeded in commandeering a plane and flying to safety in Chile. The rest submitted to the authorities and were returned to a military prison, where about 18 were gunned down in cold blood (three survived). The town of Trelew was searched by the military and town members were seized and taken to a prison in Buenos Aires, at Villa Devoto. Virtually the entire town went on strike and succeeded in securing the release of the prisoners at Villa Devoto. These incidents were documented in the book La Pasión según Trelew, by Tomás Eloy Martínez, which was originally published in 1973, but was then suppressed by the dictatorship of the Proceso, and reissued in 1997.

External links

[City home page] (in Spanish)
[Municipal information] - Municipal Affairs Federal Institute (IFAM), Municipal Affairs Secretariat, Ministry of Interior, Argentina.
[A brief history] (school project)
[Activities around Trelew]

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