Six neighbors and Double Crystal, new distinctions of Villafranca de los Barros

The City Council of Villafranca de los Barros has opened the public exhibition of proposals to award the City Medal, the appointment of Favorite Sons and Adopted Sons to six residents, and the Medal to an association within the municipality. The initiative originates from the Special Commission for Honors and Distinctions and is formalized in seven announcements in the Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz No. 202, dated October 21, 2026.

The procedure is supported by Article 11.4 of the Special Regulation of Honors and Distinctions (BOP Badajoz of 05/28/2018) and Articles 189 and following of Royal Decree 2568/1986, which approves the Regulation of Organization, Operation, and Legal Regime of Local Entities. The mayor, Francisco Jiménez Araya, orders the favorable proposals of the collegiate body, submitted to the Mayor’s Office with the favorable vote of all those present, to be displayed to the public for fifteen days on the municipal notice board and in the provincial gazette.

The City Medal is the highest honorary distinction that the corporation can bestow, while the titles of Favorite Son and Adopted Son are among the highest granted to individuals. The package of recognitions is completed by an announcement published the previous day, October 20, in Gazette No. 201: the appointment of Juan Antonio Espinosa Bote as Favorite Son (Announcement 4148/2026).

City Medal: a pro-European jurist and an exile historian

The Medal is awarded to two figures with international projection. Juan Carlos Moreno Piñero, born in Villafranca de los Barros, holds a law degree from the University of Seville and a doctorate with cum laude honors from the University of Extremadura. His name is linked to the general management of the Yuste European and Ibero-American Academy Foundation and the European Documentation and Information Center of Extremadura, as well as the coordination of the Charlemagne Prize; he has just received the Guadalupe-Hispanidad Award 2026 (Announcement 4160/2026).

Encarnación Lemus López, born in the town in 1960, earned her PhD in History from the University of Seville in 1991 with a thesis on the province of Badajoz and obtained the chair of Contemporary History at the University of Huelva through a competitive examination. She has conducted research at the University of Michigan, the Université Paris Diderot, and the universities of Santiago, Valparaíso, and Puerto Rico, and in 2023 she received the National History Prize of Spain for Ellas. Las estudiantes de la Residencia de Señoritas (Announcement 4161/2026).

Doble Cristal, a decade of inclusive sport and equine therapies

The third City Medal goes to the Doble Cristal Association, founded in Villafranca de los Barros in 2015 to break barriers and promote the integration of people with disabilities and the elderly. The entity has consolidated pioneering equestrian therapy programs and, through agreements with the Villafranca de los Barros City Council, serves the elderly population with assisted therapies to combat unwanted loneliness (Announcement 4162/2026).

Two Favorite Sons posthumously

• Santiago Román Pellicer, known as Santiago Falces, a master of artisanal pastry from his workshop on Calle Larga and co-author of the book History of Extremaduran confectionery and pastry (Announcement 4150/2026).
• Adoración Blanco Bogallo, Dori Blanco, a boccia athlete in the elite of adapted sports, a benchmark for visibility and inclusion in the town (Announcement 4152/2026).

Adopted Sons: an elite athlete and Sister Pilar

David Barroso Bravo, a middle-distance runner for the Spanish Athletics Team and a mainstay of CAPEX de Villafranca de los Barros, was born in neighboring Zafra but received his athletic training in the municipality; the Regional Government of Extremadura has distinguished him as the Best Absolute Male Athlete of Extremadura (Announcement 4155/2026).

María Pilar Cuevas, Sister Pilar, carried out her teaching and nursing work for decades at the Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Carmen and was the main promoter of AMADROVI (Association of Mothers Against Drugs of Villafranca de los Barros) in the eighties, in addition to collaborating with Cáritas; she belongs to the Vedruna order (Announcement 4159/2026).

The publication of the seven announcements opens a fifteen-day period during which the files may be examined before the distinctions become final. In this way, Villafranca de los Barros recognizes, in a single package, pastry, music, adapted and elite sports, historical research, Europeanism, and solidarity associations—that is, the set of trajectories that the corporation considers the hallmark identity of the municipality.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz, No. 202, October 21, 2026, Local Administration (official reference: Announcements 4150, 4152, 4155, 4159, 4160, 4161 and 4162/2026).