Last Friday afternoon, the Plenary Hall of Casas Consistoriales of Mazarrón received an act with which was honored the Villa Privilege and was remembered its arrival in 1572 to the town. The nice and historic building was the ideal scene for the celebration of an extraordinary plenary which was opened by the Mayor of Mazarrón, Ginés Campillo. The first council started the act reading the first phrases of the Privilege that 440 years ago signed the King Felipe II and in which was granted the independence to the Houses of the Alumbres of Almazarrón. The spokesmen of the different municipal political groups with representation in the Plenary followed the steps of the Mayor and also read part of the document in a crowed Plenary Hall.

After them, spoke the Official Chronicler of the Villa, Mariano C. Guillén, who read a memorial minutes of this celebration in which stood up the importance that for the town was its independence, making a brief but intense  historical review to the life of Mazarrón since that  7  September of 1572 came to the villa its Privilege. Then, the Mayor Ginés Campillo read to the attendees an elegant speech  in which highlighted that  “with this act we demostrate, one more time, the proud of feeling mazarroneros (…) today will be one of those days that Mazarrón will remember with special affection for being a date in which, hereinafter, many neighbors will have present like the day in that the arrival of our independence was a radical change in the life of our countrymen”, stated the Mayor.

Ginés Campillo highlighted also that this act “should lead us to never forget our past. To have always present that we have been  land of traders since Phoenician times, of miners, farmers and  above all of workers. Of people that have known fight and offer the best of theirself to become to Mazarrón in what it is today. All that work , all these years…have today, more than ever, a real sense. Never before has been decided to put in value our history and never before, our neighbors, may have felt better wrapped up for a  celebration that, at bottom, has been dedicated to all of them. To our familie, to our children and  forefathers and as a precious legacy to future generations”.

Completed his words, the Municipal Plenum  proceeded to recognize the work of the Mayors that have governed Mazarrón with a homage to the first mayors that have managed the town since the entry into force of the present Spanish Constitution. To the Mayors who are here today, and to the family of the mayors that have dead , received a beautiful bronze coin edited for this special occasion. Juan Paredes Acosta, Mariano Yúfera Guirao, Pedro Muñoz Ballesta, Domingo Valera López, José Raja Méndez, José de la Cruz Sánchez Navarro and Francisco Blaya Blaya were the mayors honored; although neither Pedro Muñoz nor Francisco Blaya could be present.

With this recognition was closed the extraordinary plenum and the Mayor then gave the word to the President of the Regional Assembly of Murcia, Francisco Celdrán Vidal. He explained in his amusing speech  how Lorca opposed to the independence of Mazarrón, while Murcia struggled with the lorquinos by taking control of the Houses of Alumbres. Cartagena was displaced in the fight. A situation that “fortunately today is very different as, nowadays, Murcia Region is characterized for its cohesion and for the excellent relationship between its 45 towns”.

It was precisely the president of the Regional Assembly who, at the end of his words, was the first one to sign in the honor book of the Town Hall leaving embodied the recognition of the Regional Assembly to the celebration of the 440 Anniversary of the concession of the Villa Privilege. Also signed in the honor book the Mayoress of Cartagena, Pilar Barreiro Álvarez, who congratulated to the town for this anniversary. Both also received the  commemorative bronze coin of this event. Barreiro was in this act because Cartagena was one of the three towns of which Mazarrón become independent in 1572. Those unable to attend by having to attend various events in their respective towns were Francisco Jódar and Miguel Ángel Cámara; the mayors of the others towns of which the mazarroneros were emancipated and that were Lorca and Murcia.

Once finished this act, everybody went to the Town Hall´s Square where the Theatre classroom  of the Universidad of Murcia carried out a dramatized reading  directed by César Oliva and with script of Isabelle García in which the Mayor of Lorca and the governing of  Mazarrón faced for the quarreling and problems that to the mazarroneros had to move to  Lorca for doing administrative paperwork or others. The commander put peace between them and revealed, finally, that Felipe II had given the Privilege of Villa to the mazarroneros that they would not have to move in the future to Lorca. This theatrical representation put the finishing touch to an afternoon in which our Privilege was the real protagonist.