White Bay

Bahía Blanca is an Argentine city located in the south of the province of Buenos Aires. It is the ninth most populous city in the country. It is 627 km from La Plata (provincial capital) and 636 km from the city of Buenos Aires, located in the Pampas region, a short distance from the border with the Patagonian region. It was founded on April 11, 1828 under the name of "Argentine Protective Fortress" by Colonel Ramón Bernabé Estomba.

The city has established itself as one of the most important commercial, cultural, educational and sports centers in the interior of the country. In addition, it has important museums and libraries and its tourist infrastructure includes architectural circuits, walks and parks. It constitutes a transport and communications hub between the economic flows of the southwest of the province of Buenos Aires and the valley of the Río Negro. In addition, thanks to its land and maritime infrastructure and its proximity to the deep-water commercial port located in the neighboring town of Ingeniero White, it establishes relationships at a regional, national and international level.

Given the population growth of the town, it currently forms a continuous unit with other towns in the Bahía Blanca district, forming what is known as Gran Bahía Blanca. According to data from the 2010 national census, the agglomerate has 291,327 inhabitants.

Toponymy

The name of the town refers to the deep and narrow entrance of the sea into the continent and to the white saline efflorescences that cover the low-lying areas in coastal regions close to the town. The first mention of Bahía Blanca is contained in a map from 1804 and shares the designation with that of Bahía de Buenos Cables.^{[citation required]}

Supposed portrait of Colonel Ramón Bernabé Estomba, founder of the city of Bahía Blanca in 1828.

Although the place continued to be called by the aforementioned name, numerous attempts were made over time to change it. A first attempt was conceived by the then minister Juan Manuel Balcarce and provides that the population should be called "New Buenos Aires"; however, in no document has such a name been found in reference to the place. A second attempt was carried out in 1821, on the first anniversary of the death of the hero Manuel Belgrano, and as part of the commemorative acts a commission of neighbors raised a note requesting that the first city to be founded in the southern fields, bear the name of "General Manuel Belgrano City"^{[citation required]}.

Despite the decrees and official provisions, the name that prevailed was the definitive one of Bahía Blanca, imposed and maintained by the inhabitants, and that is how the city has been known ever since.

History

Establishment and foundation

Towards the end of the 18th century, maps did not offer many details of the southern coast of the current province of Buenos Aires. The Spanish government, in 1805, ordered to officially recognize it. Throughout the decade beginning in 1810, some sketches appear that outline the general lines of a bay that, due to the whitish tone of its ravines and the color of its coast, was known as the Bahía Blanca.

After the May Revolution took place in 1810, some Creole citizens began to enter the south of the current province of Buenos Aires for commercial purposes. In 1823 the city of Tandil, located 315 km northeast of Bahía Blanca, was founded.

The first project to found a town in the area dates from December 1823, when the government appointed José Valentín García to go to Bahía Blanca for the purpose of studying, with the personnel necessary for such tasks, the most strategic place in the bay to establish a port.

The second project was in 1824 when General Martín Rodríguez was Governor of Buenos Aires and Ministers of Government and Finance Bernardino Rivadavia and Manuel José García, respectively. On February 16, 1824, a valuable report was published in the "Statistical Registry of the Province of Buenos Aires". The exposed data deepened the conviction of the feasibility of a definitive company. That same year Rodríguez led a military campaign against the indigenous peoples, reaching as far as Bahía Blanca. Vicente Casares, the main promoter of a colonization plan, was with him. On February 26, 1824, Casares was hired to carry out the foundation, establishing then that he would be provided with weapons, tools, construction materials, 20,000 pesos and 100 men for the foundation to take effect. However, the governor considered the project unfeasible and shortly thereafter terminated the contract.

French immigrants, approximately in 1940.

The founding project was promoted once again by President Bernardino Rivadavia during the Brazilian War when the Brazilian fleet tried to occupy Carmen de Patagones in March 1827. Finally, the city was founded as an "Argentine Protective Fortress" by the Colonel Ramón Bernabé Estomba on April 11, 1828, as a fort with the function of protecting the cattle coveted by the original peoples and the coast of the Brazilian fleet.

Early Years

The location of the fort was chosen by the engineer Narciso Parchappe, considering the most propitious place, among other characteristics, due to its proximity to a port. The fort occupied, with its complementary buildings, the four blocks currently included between Estomba-Chiclana, O'Higgins, Brown-Vieytes and Moreno streets. It had a quadrangular shape and had four bastions oriented towards the four cardinal points.

The walls were four meters high and another four meters thick. Each bulwark was sixty-five meters in length, forming an angle of about sixty degrees. On the outside they were surrounded by a moat five meters wide and about the same depth. There was only one entrance to the northwest that consisted of a wooden gate that faced a drawbridge that allowed to cross the moat.

The guns were emplaced on the embankment of the fort. The buildings were arranged in such a way that they left a central patio.

The guardhouse was to the left of the entrance and the Command to the right. The southern bastion had been assigned to the powder magazine. A corral with a palisade had been formed for the horses on the southeast side.

The first years of the fort meant a hard stage for the consolidation of this incipient population, since it had to overcome different situations that endangered its permanence, since it was attacked by raids on repeated occasions. The first raid on the fort occurred on January 30, 1829, a few months after the foundation of the settlement. The original peoples lived semi-permanently in the mountains of the Ventania system, located less than 100 km from the Fort.

From the continuous campaigns to the Desert by the National or Provincial State in order to end the constant indigenous threats, these end up giving way, having registered the last raid on May 19, 1859 under the command of the cacique Calfucurá, preceded by his son Namuncurá and 3,000 other natives.

The Military Agricultural Legion arrived in February 1856 and founded the Colonia Nueva Roma 40 km west of the fortress. This colony was the first location for a group of immigrants with their families under the protection of the fortress, which contributed to the consolidation of the future town, challenging the raids and the virtual isolation of the main provincial centers. However, the colony was abandoned shortly after.

Expansion of the Sud Bay Station in 1910.

Consolidation

After the final defeat of the indigenous people after the military campaign called Conquest of the Desert, which occurred between 1879 and 1884, the European presence in the region was consolidated by receiving large numbers of immigrants from various parts of Europe. The population gradually settled around the fortress.

In the groups of nationalities that were established in the first instance, Italians predominated, who at some point even exceeded the number of Argentine men in the Bahía Blanca district. In second term are the Spanish, and then other nationalities among which the British, Irish and French stand out. On October 22, 1895, thanks to demographic growth and the massive population of immigrants of the time, Bahía Blanca was declared a city.

The Italians quickly formed groups with a highly visible social and economic presence: they created societies that brought them together and that at the same time related them to the environment. The same thing happened with the Spanish, who, also because of a common language issue, logically integrated very easily. The British also adapted very easily; in most cases they represented British investments in the country. All those investments in what were services, and mainly railway development, were amplified by investments in land and consignment houses. There was a very important English presence, which meant the investment of a very large capital in Argentina and particularly in Bahía Blanca, which surrounded everything that was British with great prestige.

Internal migrations were also activated by what people from Córdoba and Santiago del Estero arrived in the city in 1881; This would be supported by the organization of Ingeniero White as a commercial port and by the couriers that arrived at Azul and were combined there with others. The provincial census of the early 1880s showed a population of 2,213 Argentine inhabitants and 988 foreigners, adding the inhabitants of rural and urban areas.

The arrival of the Ferrocarril Sud in 1884 and the Rosario Railway in Puerto Belgrano in 1922 initiates the progress of the city by establishing land communication with Buenos Aires, Rosario and the rest of the interior of the country and achieving an outlet to the sea by enabling a dock in Ingeniero White, for an important region dedicated to agriculture and livestock. In 1886, the first Mayor, Mr. Teófilo Bordeu, was elected.

20th century

At the end of the 19th century, given the accelerated economic and demographic development of this city, and also due to its great distance from the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, the idea arose of creating a new province, from which Bahía Blanca would be the capital, although it did not prosper.

The trade in leather and wool also continued to grow, and in 1897 the Mercado de Frutos Victoria was opened, a work linked to the railway and port services and which contributed to urban reordering. The houses of commerce are multiplying, in their number and in the variety of items. Wholesale houses appear for the supply of the south of the province and for the Patagonian territories. They close the salting room, the fat stores and several establishments dedicated to food manufacturing.

The city is expanding its plot and new occupation trends are being seen. On the one hand, the laying of the tracks of the Ferrocarril del Sud and the presence of its passenger station will expedite growth towards the southeast and will make the shopping center move along Calle San Martín.

Around 1909, construction in the city and in the first surrounding towns began to have a feverish pace. The Municipal Palace is inaugurated and a new station is erected on the Ferrocarril del Sud. The Club Argentino and La Previsora are completed for the 1910 centenary celebrations.

In 1930, stable radio broadcasts arrived and two years later the Ingeniero White Power Plant was inaugurated, leaving aside the old Loma Paraguaya plant. Also in Ingeniero White, the first grain elevators would change the appearance of the port as well as its functional possibilities. The social, political and economic change of the 1940s will bring with it the search for a chalet-style home that will take place in various parts of the city and on various scales.

Cultural life also evolved and the Instituto Tecnológico del Sud was inaugurated and soon after the Universidad Nacional del Sur, in 1956, an entity that represents a renovating organization, with the inclusion of non-traditional and regionally appropriate careers. With this there was a turnaround in the social composition of the city and a demographic change, because the settlement of local teachers was achieved, as well as the return of those who had emigrated at the time. Professionals and students from other places arrived and the number of young people who left to study at other universities decreased considerably.

During the 1980s, two events occurred that changed the economic configuration of the town, until then mainly oriented towards agriculture. Bahía began to acquire an industrial profile, mainly with regard to the chemical and petrochemical industry, when the Bahía Blanca Petrochemical plant was built in 1981 and the construction of the Neuba 2 Gas Pipeline and the Luis Piedrabuena Thermoelectric Power Plant in 1989.

Architecture

In neoclassical style, the Municipal Theatre was inaugurated in 1913.

The main commercial, banking, institutional and hotel activities take place around Plaza Rivadavia, the oldest recreation center in the city, making up the Bahiense microcentro, with buildings from the turn of the century standing out XX like the cathedral, neoclassical style, seat of the Archdiocese of Bahía Blanca and many other buildings that make up the historical center of Bahía.

One of the busiest avenues in the town is Avenida Leandro N. Alem, which begins at the Municipal Theater, continues through the entrance to the largest park in the city, Parque de Mayo, and ends at the ring road.

Argentine Club.

The population is compactly distributed around the downtown radius in about a hundred neighborhoods, some of which have marked characteristics, their own commercial, cultural, and social centers. The city of Bahía Blanca is crossed by the Arroyo Napostá, whose route towards the mouth has been piped in a large part of the urban route. The peripheral strip surrounds the center, without a precise limit it extends to the railroad tracks, the Napostá Stream and the Maldonado Canal. This sector together with the center occupy the most important area of the plain. The predominant constructions are those of neighborhoods planned in blocks or multi-family housing towers.

The area of ports and industrial park: it is located to the south on the low and flooded coast of the bay, it is a space separated from the urban sector by a strip of unoccupied land, with isolated facilities and crossroads. On the coastline is the Thermoelectric Power Plant, the port complex and the Petrochemical Pole in the Industrial Park.

In recent years, the urban growth of the city has led to the population of new areas where important commercial activity is also carried out, such as Avenida Cabrera, where the Bahía Blanca Plaza Shopping mall, among other businesses, is located. the Paseo del Sol shopping center and important automobile dealerships in the country.

Green spaces

There are 113 green spaces in the city in total, among which we can highlight the Parque de Mayo, the Parque Independencia (where the botanical garden is located), the Paseo de las Esculturas, the Paseo de la Mujer and the Plaza Rivadavia, the most important and oldest in the city. Within the structure of the city, the location, treatment and dimensions of the areas that make up the so-called green structure are determining factors for their contribution to the quality of urban life.

May Park

Parque de Mayo is one of the most important green and recreational spaces in the city. It has an area of more than 60 forested hectares and has a health track, soccer field, softball field, an amphitheatre, bike track, bike paths, children's games and an artificial lake with fish and ducks where you can ride a boat. two-seater pedal boats Curved and zigzagging lines predominate in its layout, inviting you to walk through it and delve into its eucalyptus landscape inhabited by Burrowing Parrots.

Napostá Stream

Paseo a la vera del Arroyo Napostá

One of the recreational areas of the city is the recently landscaped banks of the Napostá stream, which originates in the Sierras de la Ventana. A bike path has been built on the sector to organize circulation. The walk includes a portion that skirts Parque de Mayo until it reaches the casing of the stream on Casanova street. The stream was piped for approximately one kilometer to prevent residents from depositing their waste there, thus wasting a water course in the middle of the town. On the first 300 meters of the casing is the Paseo de las Esculturas, decorated with works made with recycled railway scrap, carried out during the 1st National Monumental Sculpture Symposium held in the city.

Rivadavia Square

Plaza Rivadavia

The current square is located in front of the land where the Argentine Protective Fortress was located, a fort that gave rise to the town. This space acquired different connotations over time: a vacant place, an animal pen, a promenade surrounded by iron gates, and finally it has functioned as a public square since 1902. Since 1880, when it was still a closed promenade that has the name of "Plaza Rivadavia", in honor of the first Argentine president, Bernandino Rivadavia. It features a French cut design with bilateral symmetry; that is to say, it has a central monument with its materialized diagonals. At the same distance are the monuments donated by foreign entities in opposite directions.

Almirante Brown Maritime Park

The Almirante Brown Maritime Park has an area of approximately 50 hectares and is adjacent to the Bahía Blanca estuary, the town's waterfront. It was established in 1978 and there is a large swimming pool and a campsite in a sector known as "Balneario Maldonado".

Vicente Boronat Park

This park, located in the northeast of the city and connected to Parque de Mayo, Paseo Napostá and Paseo de las Esculturas, is characterized by its favorable location, the artistic expressions that surround it and its history.

Starting in the 1940s, the park was home to Villa 17 de Agosto, also known as Palihue Chico, which presented a notable contrast between its precarious homes and the luxuries of the nearby Palihue neighborhood. During the last dictatorship, in 1976, Juan Castillo, Pablo Fornasari, Zulma Matzkin and Mario Tarchitzky were shot on Catriel Street, commemorated years later with a monument in front of that same street.

The floods caused by the overflows of the Arroyo, led to the piping of the Napostá and the eradication of the neighborhood, forcing the inhabitants to move towards Villa Hardin Green. In homage to a promoter from the Bella Vista neighborhood, the name is assigned and finally, in 2009, the park is inaugurated.

Nature Reserves

Municipal Coastal Reserve

The Municipal Coastal Reserve is located adjacent to Brown Park and was established in 2006. It covers an approximate area of 319 ha and is located 4 km from Rivadavia Square. From the phytogeographical point of view, it is located in the Pampean Province and the Espinal Province. For this reason, it is possible to find different plant formations, such as xerophilous forest, steppapsamophilous, halophilous steppe, grass steppe and marshes. The species of zampa crespa, chañar, black bush, stained glass, espartina, and jume, among others, stand out especially. On the other hand, the intertidal zone is occupied by large crabbeds with little or no vegetation, densely populated by burrowing crabs.

This sector was part of the Belisario Roldán landfill and until 2010 no remediation tasks or enhancement of the area were carried out. It was not until 2011 that a partial cleaning was carried out and a 300 m long promenade was built, as well as a parking lot at the end of the route and an edge boardwalk to deal with the waves. However, due to various difficulties, the sector is once again in a state of abandonment.

Cave of the Lions Reserve

The Cueva de los Leones reserve is a private reserve that consists of almost 30 hectares located in the north of the town, next to Route 33. It was established in 2013. It is located 11 km from the center of the city and is part of the Pampas Phytogeographic Province. It consists of an erosive escarpment located at the distal end of the South Ventanic Plain.

Gaviota Cangrejera Nature Reserve

The Islote de la Gaviota Cangrejera Natural Reserve is a provincial reserve located in front of the port of Ingeniero White, within the Villarino district, constituted in 2011. The 1600 ha islet is home to the largest breeding population of the Cangrejera Gull since 70% of its world population reproduces, representing a key site for its conservation. Other species of nesting birds also stand out, such as the kelp gull, with the highest concentration of active nests in its entire distribution, the white heron, the white heron, the cattle egret and the brown oystercatcher.

Bahía Blanca, Falsa y Verde Nature Reserve

The Bahía Blanca, Falsa y Verde Natural Reserve is a provincial reserve founded in April 1998. It is located to the south west of the Province of Buenos Aires, in front of the city of Bahía Blanca and about 650 km from the Capital del País, approximately 15 km from the city, on the Bahía Blanca estuary and multiple islands that are found there. The area covered by the reserve covers the islands Zuraitas, Bermejo, Trinidad, Embudo, Wood, Ariadna and adjacent islets, in an area of just over 300,000 hectares, while the complementary area of banks and water amounts to 1,800,000 ha.

Transportation

Railway station.

Railway

The city has rail services through the Bahía Blanca Sud Station, belonging to the General Roca Railway. The train connects Bahía Blanca with the Plaza Constitución station located in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Passenger trains from the state company Trenes Argentinos arrive at the station.

The other railway stations in the city, Bahía Blanca Noroeste and Bahía Blanca of the Rosario to Puerto Belgrano railway, are unaffected.

Long distance bus

Bus terminal.

The new bus terminal in the City of Bahía Blanca, 2 km from the Bahía Blanca Sud Station, connects the city with other cities in Argentina and neighboring countries. It is an important infrastructure of the city and allows the movement of passengers connecting the north of the country and the Patagonian region. The terminal was inaugurated on November 8, 2008.

Urban transportation

Access from Cabrera Avenue.

The city has 18 bus lines that cover practically the entire municipality and its surroundings. The companies that provide the service to travel are:

• Transportation El Villarino: Line 319

• Fournier Tracker (Lemos and Rodríguez S.A.): 500, 505, 507, 513, 514, 519.

• Company Transport Bay SAPEM: 502, 504, 519A.

• Company Transport Automotor San Gabriel S.A.: 503, 506, 509, 512, 513 Express, 516, 517, 518.

Air transportation

Airport Commander Espora.

Comandante Espora Airport, inaugurated on June 16, 1939, serves the city of Bahía Blanca and its area of influence. It operates with domestic flights. The airport is located 12 km east of the city.

Geography

Bahía Blanca is located on the border of the Pampean Region and Patagonia, when the undulations of dunes and unevenness that herald northern Patagonia begin to be seen. The first elevations reach between 200 and 500 meters, with the exception of the Sierra de la Ventana area, which reaches 1,200 meters. The proximity of the sea gives it its own characteristics, through its free coasts that face the wind, its proverbial visitor. The climate varies as you move away from the coast, already leaving for the Patagonian zone, becoming moderately temperate to dry and more windy.

With the concupiscence of a superior urban city, reference is often made to Bahía Blanca, to locate cities with an important development and that have nothing to do with it. This is how it is said that Coronel Dorrego or Coronel Pringles are in Bahía Blanca, or that Monte Hermoso, Punta Alta and Pehuen-Có are part of their common land, nothing further from reality.

It is more precise to speak of the White Bay when we refer to it, mainly to these last three autonomous cities (in most cases more than 50 years ago) rather than to the name of the city in order to avoid serious misconceptions.

Sea and mountains no more than 120 kilometers away allow you to enjoy attractive landscapes during rest and free time. The proximity of the resorts of Monte Hermoso and Pehuen-Có, as well as Sierra de la Ventana, attract locals and tourists from different parts of the country.

Climate and relief

White Bay Climogram.

The city offers the panorama of a plain with unevenness that descends towards the coast, while to the northeast there are terraces 70 meters high, offering a view of the city. In contrast, crowning its sector of maximum decline, the sea is cut out, as a natural limit in the form of a bay, to which the city owes its name, together with the whitish vision that can be seen from the sea due to the abundant salinity of the soil..

The climate of the city itself is temperate, sub-humid with moderate temperatures and high variability. In the area of influence it becomes dry towards the west. According to the Köppen climatic classification it is pampean or humid subtropical, Cfa, since the average temperature exceeds 22 °C in the warmest months and there is no dry season.

The average annual rainfall is 600 mm, however there are important variations within the area. The rainiest months are: February, March, October and November. The annual average relative humidity is 68%.

The winds are generally moderate, with an average annual speed of 23 km/h, with a maximum monthly average value of 26.6 km/h registered for December and a minimum value of 20.9 km/h registered for May. Most of them come from the north and northwest in summer and from the south and southeast in winter.

The indigenous inhabitants designated the bay as Huecuvú Mapú, that is to say "Land of the evil entity" or "Land of the Devil", due to the aggressiveness of its winds, respiratory diseases, the lack of rain and the extreme cold. On the one hand, the temperature could drop to -12 ° with a thermal sensation that exceeded -20° (as happened in 1988) and on the other, the sweltering heat reached 44° with a thermal sensation that reached 50° (as in 2005)^{[citation required]}.

Average White Bay climate parameters (1961–1990, extreme 1970–2014)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	43.8	40.6	38.8	34.5	32.8	27.8	27.0	32.6	32.1	34.9	38.4	42.2	43.8
Average temperature (°C)	30.6	29.5	25.9	21.6	17.5	13.8	13.7	15.9	18.4	21.3	25.6	28.9	21.9
Average temperature (°C)	23.0	21.9	18.7	14.6	11.0	7.9	7.6	9.1	11.4	14.4	18.4	21.4	14.9
Temp. medium (°C)	15.7	14.9	12.6	8.9	5.9	3.2	3.0	3.6	5.3	7.9	11.2	14.2	8.9
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	2.4	2.4	-1.5	-3.4	-6.4	-9.8	-11.8	-7.9	-7.3	-4.5	-1.5	0.5	-11.8
Total precipitation (mm)	61.8	67.1	89.6	62.9	32.7	25.5	29.6	27.9	45.3	70.4	61.8	70.8	645.4
Precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)	7	6	7	6	6	5	6	5	6	9	8	8	79
Hours of sun	300.7	254.3	195.3	192.0	127.1	111.0	111.6	145.7	156.0	201.4	249.0	266.6	2310.7
Relative humidity (%)	52	56	65	70	73	74	74	67	64	65	58	53	64
Source No. 1: NOAA, Agricultural Risk Office (extreme values)
Source No. 2: National Meteorological Service (days of precipitation), UNLP (hours of sun)

Education

National University of the South

Universidad Tecnológica Nacional.

Bahía Blanca offers the different cycles and modalities in education: preschool, primary, secondary, special education schools, tertiary and university education. The educational equipment includes a significant number of state and private establishments -depending on the Province or Nation- that covers the current demand.

The city's mid-level establishments offer different orientations: humanistic, commercial, agricultural and technical (with different specializations).

In addition, university education in the city has a regional scope. The proposal of academic courses taught in the two national universities of the town (Universidad Nacional del Sur and Universidad Tecnológica Nacional) is wide and varied, having incorporated new careers and postgraduate courses in recent years. In turn, the city has a headquarters of the Provincial University of the Southwest.

An analysis of the composition of graduates from this level of education shows that most of them belong to careers of a scientific - technical and administrative - accounting nature, at the same time that humanistic careers have been experiencing high rates of growth in its participation in that composition. These houses of higher studies carry out important research and extension work through agreements entered into with other universities and organizations, both national and foreign. It should also be noted that they are the venue for congresses, courses and seminars in various disciplines that make them a benchmark in the region.

Culture

The Municipal Theater

The Municipal Theater of Bahía Blanca constitutes one of the most outstanding cultural centers of the city and the region; which is positioned as one of the ten most important theaters in the country, with an average of 300 high performances per year. quality. It was inaugurated in 1913 with the staging of the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Antonio Marranti's Italian Company. The architectural style of the coliseum corresponds to French Academicism, a beautiful exponent of its type.

Panoramic view of the Municipal Theatre and Plaza Payró, cultural epicentre par excellence of Bahía Blanca.

Museums

There are several museums in the city that include the Museo del Puerto, the Museum and Historical Archive, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Ferrowhite Workshop Museum, the Science Museum, the Fortín Cuatreros Museum, the Sports Museum; where permanent and temporary exhibitions take place. Pieces of art by renowned local and Argentine artists belonging to the city's heritage are displayed.

There is an oil on canvas painting by Benito Quinquela Martín, "Proa al sol" It is located in the mayor's office. Other exhibitions are held periodically at the Rivadavia Library, the Chamber of Commerce, the House of Culture and the French Alliance, where they are organized on the responsibility of the different managers. There are at least two excellent associations of local and regional plastic artists, the Asociación Bahíense de Artistas Plásticos and the Asociación de Artistas del Sur, two very active promotional workshops and exhibitions throughout the year also in charge of organizing multiple cultural activities..

A very peculiar and very interesting museum is that of the Army in its Command of the Third Army Division in which a miniature recreation of the original fortress is on display, as well as an interesting collection of old maps, documents and pieces next to one of the most important and most unknown in the history of libraries in the region: this same museum and that of the Salesians, the San Francisco Javier Province (head of the Salesians of Don Bosco for all of Patagonia) have fantastic collections with many priceless documents related to the conquest and civilization of Patagonia, almost entirely made by the Army and the Salesians.

The Bahía Blanca Army History Museum is open to the public with guided tours available by appointment.

The Argentine Naval Aviation Museum, dependent on the Argentine Navy, is the most important of its kind in the country. It has its direct antecedent in the Aircraft Exhibition Center that operated on a property adjacent to the Comandante Espora civil Aerostation. Participates in the tourist circuit of the city of Bahía Blanca, carries out traveling exhibitions to different locations at the request of interested parties and prior authorization from the Argentine Naval Aviation Command, on whom it reports administratively, receives and provides guided tours of its facilities to the institutions that request it.

Libraries

Popular Library "Paper Bow Tie#34;

Popular Library "José Hernández "

Popular Library "Mariano Moreno N#34;

Popular Library "Roberto J. Payró N#34;

Popular Library "Bartolomé Miter "

Popular Library "Daniel Aguirre#34;

Popular Library "Gabriela Mistral#34;

Popular Library "Luis Braille#34;

Popular Library "Mariano Moreno N#34;

Popular Library "Eduardo Mallea#34;

Popular Library n#34;Engineer Domingo Pronsato#34;

Popular Library "Simón Rodríguez Y#34;

Villa Duprat Popular Library and Drinking Library

Popular Library "Bernardino Rivadavia#34;

Popular Library "Jorge Luis Borges#34;

Popular School Library "Germán García#34;

Popular Library "South Rosario"

Library "Martín Allica"

Library "Concepción Urdinola de Pedernera"

Local celebrations

Memory Sites

In the city of Bahía Blanca you can find various memorials that commemorate events and violations of human rights that occurred during the XX Century.

Memory Site "La Escuelita#34;

In Bahía Blanca, the most significant clandestine detention center and where the most people were kidnapped, was called “La Escuelita”, located on the premises of the V Army Corps, which was demolished in 1979 to hide the crimes committed in the place. It has been in operation since 1976. Political activists, union members, legislators, teachers, students and workers were kidnapped there. Many of these people were killed, however there are others who are still missing, including pregnant women who gave birth in captivity and whose babies were taken.

Between 2011 and 2012, the Fifth Army Corps Case tried the crimes committed against 90 people during the last military dictatorship. The defendants were 13 ex-military officers, 4 ex-police officers and 2 ex-prison service agents. The same year that the trials were taking place, "La Escuelita" was marked as a site of Memory within the framework of the Investigation and Memory program of the Ministry of Human Rights of the Nation.

Naval Prefecture Memorial Site in Ingeniero White

During the last Argentine civic-military dictatorship (1976-1983), a Clandestine Detention Center (CCD) operated in a former dependency of the Argentine Naval Prefecture (PNA), where men and women, both Bahienses and Whitenses, They were arrested due to their political, union and social militancy. Among them were workers from the National Grain Board, from the Thermoelectric Power Plant, from the Buenos Aires Province Energy Directorate, from Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), other port workers and residents of the area. Said detention and torture center, operated in a building that belonged to the PNA, and which is located in Ingeniero White. This was a transit center, where the Prefecture carried out the kidnappings. After the kidnappings, the victims were transferred to other CCDs, such as the 181 Communications Battalion. Some of the kidnapped people were released, others legalized in the Villa Floresta and La Plata penal units, and others are still missing.

In 2019 it was marked as a site of memory in the city of Bahía Blanca by the Human Rights Secretariat of the province of Buenos Aires and the Federal Network of Memory Sites.

Mural tribute to the disappeared in Bahía Blanca

Image and location of the mural.

The event referred to in this tribute deals with the disappearances of three young Catholic militants: Elías Sánchez, Alberto Paira and Adrián Carlovich. They went to their respective neighborhood school (School N°57) and were assassinated during the last civic-military dictatorship of Argentina due to his political and religious leanings.

This mural is located on the corner between Bouchard and Bermúdez. This was one of the many proposals promoted by the Communist Party of the generation following that of the reprisals and of the current one, some of whom lived in the neighborhood, who summoned the neighbors who had been companions of Alberto and Adrián in the Christian groups or the Union of Secondary Students.

Murals of The Small Work

In October 2011, within the framework of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the San Pio X Scout Group of Bahía Blanca and promoted by an investigation carried out within the framework of the Provincial Youth and Memory Program, a series of conferences were held memory, promoted by the members of the group, where four victims of the State genocide were remembered: Elizabeth Frers, Horacio Russin, Eduardo Ricci and María Clara Ciocchini; who were members of the community "Guía Scout San Pio X and Santa Juana de Arco". The adolescent victims, in addition to having in common their participation in the scout group, were also militants in the Union of Secondary Students (UES), the Peronist Youth (JP), the Peronist University Youth (JUP) and Montoneros in the first half of the 70's.

In memory of the four disappeared young people, on October 8, 2011, 4 artistic works were placed, made up of hand-painted mosaics by children and adolescents from the Community and companions of the disappeared from the 70s; in turn they were accompanied by the Art Memory Collective team. An attempt was made to capture in the works a vital moment in the lives of the victims of State terrorism. From the day of the act, they continue to be presented at one of the group's headquarters, in Italia 1133 Bahía Blanca.

Monument of the Catriel street massacre

On Saturday, September 4, 1976, in an abandoned house, Pablo Francisco Fornasari, Juan Carlos Castillo, Zulma Matzkin and Mario Manuel Tartchitzky were assassinated.

To remember this fact, a few meters from Boronat Park there is a monument, a plaque, a poster and several murals to commemorate this massacre remembered as the false shooting of September 4 that occurred on Catriel street and to commemorate the four young men murdered by the Army.

"Watu" Cilleruelo Street

The main internal street of the Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS) bears the name of "Watu" Cilleruelo, after the murder of the young man from Rio Negro who studied engineering at that same university, was a member of the Communist Federation and participated in the reorganization of the University Federation of the UNS. "Watu" was assassinated by Triple A, on Thursday, April 3, 1975, in the corridors of the university. This fact was what opened the way to state terrorism in the academic world of Bahía.

Human Rights Day is also commemorated every April 3 at the UNS, to keep alive the memory of David "Watu Cilleruelo and the circumstances surrounding his murder.

Square of pencils

Square of pencils

The Plaza de los Lápices, located on the linear promenade on Cuyo street in Bahía Blanca, commemorates La Noche de los Lápices. In this series of repressions, ten students were detained and tortured; among them, four survived, but the other young people are still absent. Those who were never located are remembered in this sculpture, in which each of the included pencils represents a disappeared person.

In total there are six concrete columns of different colors, designed by the landscape architect Horacio Miglierina. They were located in the linear park built during 1993 from the Bosques de Cultura program, created by a municipal ordinance of 1992. Several of them have been intervened with messages written by citizens, since from the beginning the objective was to let the Plaza de los Lápices was a place where people could make their own comments, as long as they were related to the event to which the sculpture alludes.

Baron Hirsch Monument Memorial Site

On July 19, 1994, there was an attack at the headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), located in the city of Buenos Aires. Four days after the attack, in the city of Bahía Blanca, a crowd of approximately 4,000 people gathered with a banner that read “Bahía Blanca for life against terror” in Rivadavia square in front of the donated monument. by the Israeli community on the centenary of the city.

This concentration that took place around the monument of Baron de Hirsch, which was inaugurated on April 11, 1928, produced a new meaning of the Jewish presence in Bahía Blanca.

Monument to the fallen in Malvinas

In 2005, the municipality of Bahía Blanca erected the monument to those who died in the South Atlantic conflict, at the request of war veterans. The agreed place for the location became part of the linear route of the public promenade, which includes the Paseo de la Mujer, the Plaza de los Lápices and the Bosque de la Paz. The monument to the fallen in Malvinas has been erected looking towards the south of Argentina where the Malvinas Islands are located.

The monument is a cenotaph covered entirely in travertine marble and is made up of two lateral rafts and a central waterfall. Each tray contains eight foaming water jets, each corresponding to a light fixture.

The monument has around it identification notes of each Bahian soldier who fell in the Malvinas. In these gigantographies are located the portraits of each one of the fallen who, almost like human figures without a body but with a head, accompany the passers-by on the zigzagging path of the public walk. The panels, which at night function as a luminous sign with a black background, are made up of color photos chosen solely by the families.

Symbols

Shield and Flag

Shield

Flag

The shield of the city was created by Municipal Ordinance on May 18, 1943. The author of the shield was Enrique Cabré Moré, then the Honorary Director of the Museum and Municipal Historical Archive. It is made up of a Roman anchor that symbolizes the port tradition of the city; a Christian cross, integrated into the anchor, which represents the Catholic condition of the town; the entrance to the white sea recalls the toponymy of the first marine charts that would derive in the name of the city; the military origin of the city is represented by a fort on which an Argentine flag flies, recalling the beginnings of the city of Bahía Blanca; the color "golden yellow" symbolizes love for the homeland, the "light blue" the peace and well-being of the people, the "green" or "sinople" the faith and hope in the future, the "blue" the duty of the citizens to ensure the safety of homes, the color "white" or "silver" symbolizes solidarity, "red" defense before justice, and "black", the encouragement to the development of arts and sciences.

The town's flag was created by Pablo Martínez Haller, who was only 10 years old at the time of its creation, in December 2012.

Anthem

The Hymn to Bahía Blanca was written and set to music by Carlos Alberto Leumann and Pascual De Rogatis, artists who, curiously, were not from the city. The work was premiered at the Municipal Theater by the orchestra conducted by maestro Luis Bilotti and the choir of the Escuela Normal Mixta participated in the gala to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the city on 11 April 1928.

Economy

Puerto de Bahía Blanca.

Puerto de Bahía Blanca.

Bahía Blanca is an important commercial center, handling exports of grains and wool from the southern province of Buenos Aires and oil from the province of Neuquén. Its seaport is one of the most important in the country, being the only one that has a natural depth of more than 10 m.

Along the bay, the ports are: Puerto Galván for oil and chemicals and Puerto Ingeniero White specialized in grains. Bahía Blanca has the most important petrochemical pole in the country located between both ports. Puerto Belgrano, 29 km to the southwest, is the most important naval base in Argentina. In addition, the city is the third most important railway junction in Argentina (after Buenos Aires and Rosario), accessing numerous branches that connect it with a large part of the Pampas region and northern Patagonia. The development of the railway was of great importance in the historical development of the city.

Bahía Blanca is the largest petrochemical center in the country, with a participation of 87% in the provincial production and which also concentrates 64% of the national production. The Petrochemical Pole probably causes the greatest environmental pollution - especially atmospheric - in the entire country, but to date, no epidemiological studies or responsible environmental surveillance or monitoring have been carried out to assess and evaluate the negative impact on the health of its workers and nearby resident neighbors.

Ingeniero White Port

Petrochemical pole.

7 kilometers from the shopping center is the Port of Ingeniero White and the town of the same name.

The port complex covers 25 kilometers on the north coast of the Bahía Blanca estuary. It has a modern beacon with 62 luminous buoys powered by solar energy. Inside the estuary is the Port of Ingeniero White with a draft of 45 feet. The recently inaugurated 270-meter-long Multipurpose Dock, the Puerto Galván docks and the Flammables Post complete the facilities.

The port system offers a direct outlet to the Atlantic Ocean from the only deep-water port in the country, with docks that allow all kinds of ships and merchandise to operate, and the first autonomous port in Argentina. In addition, it has a radarized traffic control system, unique in Latin America.

The Port of Ingeniero White has historically been a grain port due to its proximity to the main agro-export areas of the country. Today it also covers the operation of the chemical and petrochemical industry, and mainly exports raw materials. There, 1,100,000 annual tons of granulated urea and 750,000 annual tons of ammonia are generated, in addition to commercializing other nutrients. A multi-use Nature Reserve that includes several adjacent islands and islets, located NW of the main channel, allows research for the rational use of natural resources in order to conserve the ecosystem.

Health

The health facilities of Bahía Blanca are made up of both public and private establishments of medium and high complexity that serve the population of the commune and also the area of influence. The public establishments are the Municipal Acute Hospital “Dr. Leónidas Lucero» and the Interzonal Hospital «Dr. Jose Penna». The private ones are the Southern Italian Regional Hospital, the Spanish Regional Hospital, the “Dr. Matera» (OSECAC), the Hospital of the Medical Association «Dr. Felipe Glasman» and the South Private Hospital. The capacity of the hospitals is 569 beds, with the care of approximately 1,720 professionals.

There are also outpatient clinics where different specialties are attended, including diagnostic imaging (computed tomography). Primary health care, as well as preventive care, are also in charge of the 45 Municipal Health Units, distributed in the different neighborhoods of the city.

The Penna hospital is one of the public hospitals in the Province of Buenos Aires that guarantees compliance with the new assisted fertilization law that establishes free coverage in the province of Buenos Aires for women between 30 and 40 years of age with infertility problems.

Sports

Bahía Blanca is a city with an important sporting activity. Through its programs, the Sports Directorate under the Secretaría Promoción Social de la Municipalidad de Bahía Blanca seeks to fulfill a sports-social function, offering the possibility of carrying out sports, recreational and leisure activities to all sectors of the community. In addition, it is the national basketball capital according to Law 27,380.

Football

Olympus Stadium, the most outstanding football club in Bahia, having competed 14 seasons in First Division.

Professional soccer is formed with the participation of clubs in the Liga del Sur, based in Bahía Blanca, together with other teams in the region and, in addition, some of the teams participate in national competitions. These are:

• Olympus - Third Division
• Villa Mitre - Third Division
• Sansinena - Third Division
• Liniers - Third Division
• Federal Tyre - Fourth Division
• Club Bella Vista - Fourth Division
• San Francisco - South League
• The Harmony - South League
• Pacific - South League
• Freedom - South League

As regards amateur soccer, the University club has organized an internal 9-a-side soccer league since the 1970s with the participation of 80 teams divided into 6 categories (A, B, C, D, E and Veterans). Since 2019 it also has a women's league, with a total of 28 teams.

Basketball

Friendly meeting between the selection of the city of Bahía Blanca and Yugoslavia.

Throughout its history, Bahía Blanca has been referred to as «The capital of Argentine basketball» and this is because it is the city with the most basketball players in High competition has given the country, many of them standing out at the national level as well as in teams of the European Basketball Federation (FIBA Europe) and even in NBA teams. In addition, the first people to play basketball in Argentina were members of the crew of several American ships that arrived in this city in 1910.

The most notable event in the history of local basketball is the victory of the Bahian national team over Yugoslavia, which had just been undefeated champion in the 1970 World Cup, on July 3, 1971 when the Norberto Tomás de Olimpo stadium was inaugurated. The most outstanding player that day was Alberto Pedro Cabrera, a player for Estudiantes.

The most important clubs are Estudiantes, who occupied for many years a place in the first national division, the National Basketball League; Bahía Basket, successor team to the previous one, currently competes in that division; Olimpo that competes in the second division (Argentine Basketball League); Pacífico and Bahiense del Norte, the club where the famous basketball players Emanuel Ginóbili and Alejandro Montecchia started. There are also other clubs, including 9 de Julio, Leandro N. Alem, Argentino, Barracas Central, Estrella, Independiente, La Falda, Liniers, Napostá, El Nacional, Pacífico, Puerto Comercial, Pueyrredón, San Lorenzo del Sud, Sportivo Bahiense, Speed and Resistance, Villa Miter and Whitense. These 21 clubs are affiliated with the Bahiense Basketball Association, founded in 1929. This association organizes local basketball first and second division tournaments and lower division tournaments (under-21, youth, cadets, infantile, pre-infantile and mini -basketball).

The longest basketball game in history took place in the city of Bahía Blanca and lasted 46 hours. It began on Friday, September 14, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. and ended on Sunday, September 16 at 5:00 p.m. at the Club Pacífico Stadium and the result was the "white" on the "blue", by 3,193 to 3,114. The purpose of the meeting was to raise funds for DUBa (Discapacitados Unidos Bahienses) and it took place within the framework of the National Basketball Festival with the participation of more than 100 teams. The referee Marcelo Zabala remained in the stadium during the 39 hours that the courtship lasted, which is why his name also went to the Guinness Book of Records.

Handball

University, club with more championships achieved.

Under the name of "Asociación Bahiense de Hándbol" a civil entity was established on September 19, 1980 with the corporate purpose of promoting the practice of indoor handball and associating within it the entities that practice it, in order to coordinate the action of all of them in favor of dissemination and organized practice. Its first president was Knud Knudsen. Already in 1983 the association had 6 affiliated clubs: Universitario, Estudiantes, Villa Mitre, San Lorenzo del Sud, Instituto Avanza and La Armonía.

In 1986, by a resolution of the Argentine Handball Confederation, its name was changed to «Asociación Bahiense de Handball». In 2001, Federico González, from Club Universitario, became the first Bahian to play in the Junior World Cup in Switzerland with the Argentine national team shirt.

In 2006, the Association hosted the National Adult B Tournament, in which more than 25 teams participated representing various points throughout the country. In 2007, the Association organized the National Adult B Tournament again, in which the local club Centro Andaluz obtained second place and won a place in the National Adult A Tournament.

In 2009, the San Francisco club and the Sarmiento club, from Pigüé, joined the Association. In 2011 the Don Bosco School was added. Finally, in 2012 the National University of the South was incorporated.

Since 2008 Club Universitario participates in the National Handball League.

Softball

The city of Bahía Blanca is one of the three most important softball arenas in Argentina, along with Paraná and Buenos Aires. The First Division teams that make up the Bahiense Softball Association (ABS) are El Nacional, Liniers, Indios, Universitario, MBB and Diamantes. In addition, other clubs participate in lower categories. According to the results in the Annual Club Tournament, it can be affirmed that the town presents three teams among the eight best in Argentina: El Nacional, Liniers and Indios.

The discipline brings together around 200 players who liven up the days developed on the fields that the city has. The ABS has two stadiums in Parque de Mayo, while the El Nacional club has its official stadium at the facilities on 14 de Julio street.

The city has several local players who make up and have made up the Argentine National Team. It is also worth noting that in the period 1995-2009, the coaching staff of the Argentine National Team was headed by Edgardo Solís from Bahía. Under his technical direction, the Argentine National Team obtained its best result up to then by obtaining the Bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. In 2019, when Argentina became world champion for the first time, Juan Cruz from Bahia joined the team Zara and Federico Olheiser.

Rugby

The headquarters of the Rugby Union of the South (URS) is located in this city. The most important clubs are: Argentino, Universitario, El Nacional, Sociedad Sportiva and Palihue Rugby - Hockey Club.

The greatest exponent of Bahia rugby is Bernardo Stortoni, a Sociedad Sportiva player, who reached the highest level of world rugby and wore the national team jersey on several occasions.

Other sports

In Bahia you can practice and learn chess in two clubs: Club Amigos del Ajedrez and Círculo de Ajedrez. Polo is practiced in different places in the area, the best-known fields being those found in the Rural Society of Bahía Blanca and the Argentine Club. Golf can be practiced at the Palihue Golf Club, which has 3 9-hole courses, plus a 9-hole pitch and putt course, making it the most important golf course in the region.

Regarding swimming, the city has an important offer of swimming pools in different clubs, both indoor and outdoor, some of which measure 25 meters in length, a semi-Olympic pool size. As far as volleyball is concerned, there are local tournaments for this sport, one for women and the other for men. Local tennis presents important exponents worldwide, being Guido Pella the most outstanding, champion of the Davis Cup 2016. In paddle tennis, the city also has important athletes worldwide, standing out Juan Mieres Petruf and Miguel Lamperti.

Media

Bahía Blanca has numerous local news outlets, including the newspaper La Nueva (formerly called "La Nueva Provincia"), the one with the largest circulation in the region. In recent years, numerous local digital newspapers have emerged, including La Brújula 24 and bhi.com.ar. With regard to local open television, there are three channels in force that broadcast journalistic media in Buenos Aires and present local productions: Telefe Bahía Blanca (former Channel 9) that broadcasts Telefe content; Channel 7 that broadcasts El Trece and Channel 11 that broadcasts to Public Television. It should be noted that the Open Digital Television (TDA) signal is available in the town, with an offer of more than 20 channels, including the previous ones. In addition, those that have cable television service have exclusive channels depending on the operator, Cablevisión has its local signal called Somos Bahía and Bahía Visión Color has Channel 4. As for radio signals, there are more With 30 FM stations and about 10 AM stations, LU2 radio has historically stood out.

Communication and public content

The municipality, through different media (local media, social networks, posters and street signs, digital platforms, among others) is in charge of public communication in an efficient and transparent way so that awareness and dissemination of information prevails. transparent news without neglecting the contributions of citizens that allow establishing a two-way communication from the use of new technologies. The objective of this is to strengthen the idea of a municipality at the service of the people. [2]

The Compass 24

La Brújula 24 is a digital newspaper from the city of Bahía Blanca which, in turn, has a radio station on FM 93.1 that has its headquarters at Paraguay 496 in that city. Its responsible editors are Germán Sasso and Martín Noir, their collaborators Juan Tucat, Leandro Grecco, Emanuel Olaya, Emanuel Niel and Franco Bahl. [3]

This newspaper has a strongly criticized section called “La Brújula Investiga” where anonymous complaints are received from the citizens of the city regarding issues such as drug trafficking and/or complex crimes. The objective of this is to use journalism as a means for the prosperous development of the community, in a transparent way where all voices are taken into account. [4]

Since 2022, the Radio alternates its Local Cycles with the Retransmission of Mucha Radio 94.7FM.

FM From the Street

This station was born in the city of Bahía Blanca in 1989, to later be consolidated as a cooperative since 2006. It is made up of communicators, members of social organizations and various political and cultural sectors with the aim of promoting a space that covers topics silenced by the other media with more power in the city. On the FM 87.9 frequency, its founders created it under the motto "fed up with so much monopoly" allowing it to give voice to invisible sectors and actors. After almost three decades on the air, in April 2018, the National State granted them the final license for the LRM 920 frequency.

With more than 100 associates, the station was gaining ground in the world of media, and currently has its own news portal (delacalle.org) as well as a space in the La Panadería Cultural Center where they are in charge of carry out seminars, debates, training, shows and workshops for the Bahian community.

FM De la Calle, since its inception, has carried out journalistic coverage for crimes against humanity committed during the last Argentine dictatorship in Bahía Blanca and the region. They were present during the trials and collected reports from victims and perpetrators that allowed them to have a complete record and give an account of the civil complicity and the sectors of power that, at present, continue to preside over spaces of power. [5]

Demographics

Population

Plan of the metropolitan area of Bahía Blanca.

The last national census reported 291,327 inhabitants (Indec, 2010). Its current population magnitude places it as the seventeenth most populated center in Argentina and the fourth in the province of Buenos Aires, behind Greater Buenos Aires, Greater La Plata and Mar del Plata.

The Bahian population is a typical example of the demographic composition of the Pampas region of the country: after the colonial period and the second half of the century XIX, Bahía Blanca experienced demographic growth due to the massive establishment of European immigrants of the time in the region, for this reason currently the vast majority of the city's population is made up of Argentine descendants of Europeans, including predominantly Italian, Irish, British, Spanish and German.

Evolution of the number of inhabitants in the city of Bahía Blanca (1869-2010)

Source: INDEC

Great White Bay

Gran Bahía Blanca is understood as the extension of the city of Bahía Blanca through neighboring towns. INDEC used this name in some reports, although it currently simply calls it Bahía Blanca. The urban agglomeration of Bahía Blanca is also made up of the neighborhoods of Villa Harding Green and Villa Stella Maris; plus the towns of Ingeniero White, Grünbein, Villa Espora and Villa Bordeau.

In the 1991 census, the agglomeration had 260,096 inhabitants; while for the 2001 census, 274,509 inhabitants were registered. This magnitude represents a slight increase of 5.54% that corresponds to the emigration of the inhabitants of Bahía Blanca. Currently, the conglomerate is inhabited by more than 300,000 people.

Religion

Cathedral «Our Lady of Merced».

Although there are no official statistics, it is assumed that the vast majority of the city's inhabitants are practicing Catholics although there are Protestant churches and a synagogue. There are also Muslims in the city, but there are no mosques.

The city is the seat of the Archdiocese of Bahía Blanca. Its façade is a neoclassical cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mercy. The archbishop since July 29, 2017 is Friar. Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa. The Archbishop heads the local chapter of the relief and welfare organization Caritas, which is supported by the help of Catholics and non-Catholics, as well as non-governmental organizations. In addition, the city has two emeritus Bishops: Monsignor Guillero Garlatti and Monsignor Néstor Navarro.

Parishes of the Catholic Church in Bahía Blanca

Deployment of the Armed Forces

This section is an excerpt from Annex:Deployment of the Argentine Armed Forces § Bahía Blanca.[chuckles]edit]

Argentine Army

Units of the Guar Ej Bahía Blanca	Abbreviation
Command of the 3rd Army Division « Lieutenant General Julio Argentino Roca»	Cdo D Ej 3
Communications Battalion 181 "Major Sergeant Santiago Buratovich"	B Com 181
Army Aviation Section 181	Sec Av Ej 181
Intelligence Battalion 181 “Captain Juan Ferreyra”	B Icia 181
Information Centre 181	CRI 181
Hospital Militar Bahía Blanca « Army surgeon Dr. Marcelino Vargas»	H Mil Bahía Blanca

Twin cities

• Ashdod, Israel
• Fire fighting, Cuba
• Fermo, Italy
• Chios Island, Greece
• Jacksonville, United States (1967)
• Reus, Spain
• San Isidro, Peru
• Talcahuano, Chile

Friendly cities

• Christchurch, New Zealand
• Saint Nazaire, France
• Santos, Brazil

Notable personalities