La Piedad

La Piedad de Cabadas

Location of La Piedad in Michoacán
Municipality La Piedad
Government
 • Mayor Jose Padilla Alfaro
Population (2010)[1]
 • Total 99,837
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)

La Piedad de Cabadas is a city and its surrounding municipality (La Piedad municipality) located at Coordinates: 20°20′N 102°01′W / 20.333°N 102.017°W / 20.333; -102.017 in the north-west of the Mexican state of Michoacán, bordering Jalisco and Guanajuato. The original colonial name was San Sebastián. It is bordered by the town of Santa Ana Pacueco, Guanajuato. Both towns straddle the Lerma River. La Piedad's population was 99,837 inhabitants in the 2010 census (250,000 including its metropolitan area). The municipality has an area of 284.11 km² (109.7 sq mi). It is bordered by the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato.

Limits

La Piedad, "north door" of the state of Michoacán, surrounding the Lerma river, has limits at the north with the municipalities of Degollado, Jalisco and Pénjamo, Guanajuato; at the east with the municipality of Numarán, Michoacán; at the south with the municipalities of Zináparo, Churintzio, and Ecuandureo, Michoacán; and at the west with the municipality of Yurécuaro.

The municipality is connected through roads and highways with cities in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Guanajuato, and of course, the rest of Michoacán.

Distances and average driving times:

History

In the 12th century Aztecas moved away from Aztlan looking for a new land to settle. In this travel they founded several towns. Zula (meaning quails territory) was one of this towns established on the shore of the Lerma river.

On 1380, Tariácuri purepecha's king, conquered the town of Zula and named it Aramutaro, which means place with caves.

Almost two centuries later, Antonio de Villarroel serving Nuño de Guzmán took control of the town on the San Sebastian's day of 1530 (January 20), so renaming the town as "San Sebastián de Aramutarillo".

From 1530 to 1687, San Sebastian was in total oblivion, victim of slavery and ignorance; nevertheless there were two historic facts, which changed course for the town, one political affair and another religious matter.

The religious matter refers to a finding of a branch from a tree resembling a Christ on the cross. This happened the midnight of Christmas Eve on a place called Buena Huerta. The towns in its surrounding asked for the Christ image to be taken to theirs churches. San Sebastián de Aramutarillo was selected to keep the Christ image. After that, the Christ image was called "Señor de La Piedad" (Lord of piety).

The political affair was the movement of political offices from Tlazazalca to San Sebastian de Aramutarillo. This causes that many people came to offer merchandise, crafts, etc. In this way the town was officially founded in 1692, when Juan López de Aguirre named it as La Piedad.

Attractions

Places of interest include the town center with its beautiful kiosco (bandstand) built with quarried stone, the gateways, and the Señor de La Piedad church, which boasts perhaps the biggest dome in the country. Also of note are the Cabadas Bridge and the 30-metre-high El Salto waterfall. The local zoo and "La torre de la gaviota" located at the Sun City neighborhood, are also places of interest in La Piedad.

There are also urban parks such as Morelos Park and La Placa park. The city is famous because of its colorful Rebozos, and the singer José Alfredo Jiménez made it more famous with the song "El Perro Negro" ("The Black Dog").

There are hotels from 3 to 5 stars in the city.

Industry

La Piedad is a hub for agricultural products. The town was once known as the center of the Mexican pork industry, and still plays an important part in that industry. However, La Piedad has recently moved its economy towards textiles. Major textil manufacturers include Olmeca, Marval and Manriquez. Surrounding towns are Santa Ana, Yurecuaro, Degollado, Numaran, and Ecuandureo. La Piedad is also the headquarters for veterinary pharmaceuticals company LaPisa and industrial turbine manufacturer Turbomaquinas and Famaq. Also there is an important candy factory named Cabadas and sausage factories like Nu-tres, Delta and Bafar (former Parma). Most companies are family owned and operated. These are Saldaña and García, the latter owns Turbomaquinas S.A. de C.V., FAMAQ, Turboaleaciones S.A. de C.V. and the former owns Grupo Kasto.

There are 569 companies registered in the municipality, which puts La Piedad in the top four cities in the state with the greatest number of companies, after Morelia, Uruapan, and Zamora.

Ferromex Railway and Kansas City Southern de México crosses La Piedad allowing other companies to settle around in the future.

Education

Currently the municipality has pre-school institutions, elementary, middle and high school, and the following 6 colleges:

Additionally there is a House of Culture, the cultural center piedadense and the Higher School of Music.

Media

Politics

Mayors

Notable citizens

Many famous athletes and celebrities were born or lived in La Piedad, among these Ramon Morales, midfielder for F.C. Barcelona football team as well as his brother Carlos Morales, midfielder for Santos. The frontman for Regional Mexican group "Los Razos de Sacramento y Reynaldo" Sacramento Ramirez is also from La Piedad. Jimmy Gazcon Musician and Singer living in North of California (born in the barrio of "perros bravos") Started with Grupo Los Juniors 1977- and one year later was a keyboardist of Grupo Zula funded with Ramon Hernandez Plodo (aka) "el pato". Jimmy also was keyboardist of Grupo Parlamento on 1982.

Arts / Shows

Politics

Sports

Religion

Sports

In the city there are basketball and soccer (male and female) leagues, there are wrestling exhibitions, and the city has been the finish of the Ruta Mexico (cycling). There are two public sport centers, clubs with tennis courts, a Lienzo charro, and the Juan N. Lopez stadium.

Outside the city are the Alianza, Mercantil and Azteca clubs, where there are football fields and swimming pools.

La Piedad had a football team in Mexico's First Division in 1952-53 season, and again in 2001 Winter and 2002 Summer seasons.

Previously, C.F. La Piedad played in Ascenso MX.

Traffic

La Piedad is located close to the border of three states, Michoacán, Guanajuato and Jalisco. There are three highways entering this city: Mexico highways 110, 39, and 90.

Highway 110 goes west and takes you to towns like Yurécuaro, Tanhuato, Vista Hermosa, Briseñas y La Barca, and the free-toll route to Guadalajara. Highway 39 runs south of La Piedad to Zamora, this highway goes to the toll highway 15, which goes north-south, from Nogales to Mexico City. Highway 90 runs north of La Piedad to the state of Guanajuato.

Sister cities

La Piedad has one sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI)". December 14, 2006.
  2. ↑ "Online Directory: California, USA". Sister Cities International. Archived from the original on 2008-01-16.
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