Mexico Commemorates the 197th Anniversary of the Victory of Tampico
To commemorate the triumph of Mexico’s forces over the Spanish forces, a ceremony was held this Saturday for the 197th anniversary of the Victory of Tampico of 1829, which took place in southern Tamaulipas and northern Veracruz.
From the Angel of Independence in Mexico City, state authorities conducted a flag-honoring ceremony and performed the Mexican National Anthem, accompanied by the Band of the Heroic City and Port of Altamira, Tamaulipas. The Tamaulipas Anthem and the Anthem to the Victory of 1829 were also performed, as the historic event is considered a milestone in terms of national sovereignty.
“The Victory of 1829 is our first great victory against a foreign intervention in the life of Mexico as an independent nation and perhaps the only one among all those we have endured that, thanks to the national unity demonstrated through actions, allowed foreign troops to surrender on Mexican soil, handing over flags and weapons before departing defeated toward the nations and governments that had sent them,” commented David Granados Ramírez.
Commemoration of the Victory of Tampico Rescued
The president of Rescate Histórico de México Asociación Civil said that 24 years ago, the citizen-led project that rescued the Victory of 1829 as the country’s most important historical event was established, turning it into an “element of unity and local identity” that contributes to the progress of the victory and society.
“This victory unites us all like the great Pánuco River, Tamaulipas and Veracruz residents, inhabitants of Tampico, Ciudad Madero, Altamira, Pueblo Viejo, and Tampico Alto, places that can proudly say that they participated in the great Victory of 1829,” he stated.
He announced that his nongovernmental organization will present tourism projects and products aimed at consolidating a Victory Route throughout all the municipalities of the two states involved. He therefore announced the creation of an organizing committee among the five cities and all people and institutions wishing to collaborate in organizing the Bicentennial of the Victory of 1829 in 2029.
“Tampico Entered National History”
For her part, Tampico Mayor Mónica Zacil Villarreal Anaya recalled that in 1829, Mexico was just beginning to stand on its own, because the war for Independence had not yet ended and the Kingdom of Spain attempted to recover the territory it had lost through an expedition of more than 3,000 men that landed on the coast of Cabo Rojo, near Tampico Alto, Veracruz.
“That was when Tampico and our entire region entered national history forever. The Mexican Army and the National Navy organized the defense of our territory, but that victory was not written solely with the weapons of the soldiers. It was also written with the hands of our people, with the fishermen who knew every movement of the river, with the farmers and artisans who joined the defense,” she stated.
Thus, the municipal leader said that they are heirs to a city that learned to rise in the face of adversity; a city that has faced wars, epidemics, floods, hurricanes, and profound economic and social transformations and that has always found in its people the strength to start again: “That is also what it means to be from Tampico.”
She stated that after the surrender of the Spanish forces on September 11, 1829, the flags handed over by the invading army reached Mexico City, where they were received as testimony to a victory that no longer belonged solely to Tampico, but rather to the entire country.
“Today, from the Column of Independence, I want to invite all the men and women of Tampico and the inhabitants of the area, on both banks of the Pánuco and Tamesí rivers, to recover this pride, to learn our history, to take care of our cities, to work for them, and to remember that Tampico is not merely the place where we live. Tampico is the history we share,” Villarreal Anaya declared.
Representing the municipal president of Altamira, Armando Martínez Manriquez, Rosa Irma Luque Pérez emphasized that the 1829 historic event, in which Mexico faced and bravely defeated Spain’s second attempt at invasion, permanently consolidated national sovereignty.
“That year, when Mexico’s sovereignty was threatened once again, the response came not only from military strategy, but also from the nobility and strength of its people (…) Today we defend Mexico by protecting families, caring sensitively for our children and older adults, and working with love so that no one lacks well-being and hope,” expressed the president of the Altamira DIF.
At the conclusion of the messages, Silvia García, president of the Centro Tampico de México Asociación Civil, asked the members of the presidium to lay a floral offering, followed by a guard of honor and a minute of silence in honor of the heroes who participated in this historic event.
Source: eluniversal
