May 13, 2024. The Civil Guard Command of Burgos, with an official act carried out in the Cantabrian Avenue Quartering of this capital, has commemorated the 180th. Anniversary of the creation of the Corps, which has been presided over by the Chief Lieutenant Colonel of the Command, Alfonso Martín Fernández, accompanied by the deputy delegate of the Government, Pedro Luis de la Fuente Fernández.
It has also had the presence of numerous civil, judicial and military authorities, including the Mayor President of the City of Burgos, Cristina Ayala, the Minister of Health of Castilla y León, Alejandro Vázquez, the Superior Prosecutor of Justice of Castilla y León, Santiago Mena or the General Head of the San Marcial Division and Institutional Representative of the Spanish Army in the Autonomous Communities of Castilla y León and Cantabria, Mariano Arrazola, in what is his first official act of division.
Lieutenant Colonel Martin Fernandez has reviewed the formation and after greeting the invited authorities has begun the act with the reading of an extract of the founding decrees of the Corps; the first issued on March 28, 1844 by the Marquis of Peñaflorida and the second given in Palacio on May 13, 1844, by The Minister of War, Ramón María Narváez.
During the ceremony, 9 members of the Corps were decorated – two noncommissioned officers, two Corporal 1st and five Guards – and one civilian, all in the category of Cross to the Merit of the Civil Guard with a white badge.
On this very important date, the Civil Guard has given a diploma to a component of the Corps that has been retired during the last year, in recognition of its dedication to the Institution and its professional trajectory.
On behalf of all the honorees, Sergeant Roberto Porras addressed a few words to those present, followed by the address of the head of the Command, Lieutenant Colonel Martín Fernández.
Next, an emotional act of tribute to the Fallen has been carried out, after which the Hymn of the Body has been sung; as a culmination the present Units have paraded: Squad of Gastadores of the Command, Music Unit of the San Marcial Division, Section of Honors of the Command, guide and canine unit, motorcyclist squad of the Subsector of Traffic and SEPRONA.
Body History
The Civil Guard was created on March 28, 1844, by a Royal Decree, as a special Armed Force Corps of infantry and cavalry with the denomination of Civil Guards.
The responsibility of organizing this Corps was entrusted to Marshal de Campo Francisco Javier Girón y Ezpeleta, II Duque de Ahumada, who on April 20 presented a report on the organization of the Corps that caused the immediate repeal of the first Royal Decree, which did not even come into force, and the publication of a new one on May 13, 1844, this date being the one that is historically commemorated.
Our history has been very long since its foundation; initially it was composed of 14 thirds consisting of 39 infantry companies and 9 cavalry squadrons and its first team, 14 chiefs, 232 officers and 5,769 troops.
On September 1, 1844, the day of the appointment of the Duke of Ahumada as the first Inspector General of the Civil Guard, took place the official presentation of the Corps with a military stop before the authorities where 1,870 guards paraded organized in their companies and squadrons demonstrating marciality and showing a new uniformity in which an original hat of three peaks of French origin was distinguished: ‘the tricorn’, which would eventually become one of the representative symbols of the Civil Guard and our country.
After the approval of the military and service regulations, on December 20, 1845, the Civil Guard Card was approved, defined as the true moral code of the Corps, whose precepts are still in force today.
Standing out in the daily fulfillment of his duty, to help and safeguard the citizen, he was granted on October 4, 1929 the title of Benemérita, treatment perpetuated over the years and which has forged the character of the Institute.
In order to provide a better service to Spanish society, throughout its long history, the Civil Guard has created new specialties to cover in the most effective way the competences assigned to it, always in accordance with the times lived.