Ojen, Historical residents

Bartolome SanchezBallesteros lived between the 17th and 18th centuries. Their descendantsare part of the existing families with surnames Sanchez, Mairena, Garcia, andRodriguez. He was a descendant from La Roda (Albacete), who was established in Ojen duringthe repopulation process in 1571.

He was a prominent member of the community among theresidents of Ojen. He owned one of the medieval mill sites.

He was heir to the chaplaincy and was the son of the priestand pastor of Ojen, Don Lucas Sanchez Ballesteros, who, in his will dated 1807,left all his assets and income, including the mill and the rights of chaplains,to his nephew, Lucas Mairena Sanchez Ballesteros, who was the last owner of themill and was buried in the family plot that existed under the high altar of thechurch in 1864. The mill is the one that now houses the Museum of Ojen.

Antonio GómezFernandez, aka “El Presidente,” was the son of Antonio Toro Gomez, a nativeof Marbella,who was taxing income in the population during the years of the reign ofAlfonso XIII.

In his youth he emigrated to Brazil(Sao Paulo),where he returned in the ’30s. During the periods of the Popular Front and the Civil War, he was president of the local committee the CNT (anarchist politics)and the liaison committee.

He was convicted for his political activism by the nationalforces, initially receiving a death sentence but later sentenced to lifeimprisonment. A group of militia was sent from Malaga in 1937 to retaliate against thosedeemed right by all peoples of the province.

Antonio Gomez faced the risk of his life with the militia,allowing it to exact revenge killings against any neighbor or conservative inOjen. Thanks to its value, one of the local owners, Don Martin, saved his life.

After the arrival of the regime of Primo de Rivera in 1923,which expressed hostility toward the anarchists, in 1924 he emigrated with hiswife and children to Braziland they never returned. Before his death he wrote a report in the form of astory to his grandchildren that recounts the circumstances of the mining strikeof 1917 in the Iron Mine of Marbella-Ojen.

There was plasma around his ideal of social peace and the struggle for human rights. In 1919 he was the first president of the union minein Ojen, called the “Sociedad Minera awakening.”

Lucas Mairena Marquez (Ojen, 1888–Cartagena, 1968). Lucas was the son of Juan and Ana ParraMairena Marquez Gonzalez. He was captain of the Guardia Civil from the mergerof the Carabinieri Corps, to which his father also belonged, as well as one ofhis sons.

Don Martin’s son was mayor in the ’50s and took part in themitigation of Antonio’s sentence, allowing him to return to population, especially to attend the funeral of his young daughter, who died tragically atonly 20 years old.

Because he lost an arm during the war, Gomez was alsonicknamed “El Manco.” He died in 1977, shortly before the democratic processwas clearly decided and the 1978 Constitution.

Lucas was Lieutenant of Carabineers de la Aduana de Algeciras at the start ofthe Civil War. The Carabineers section was integrated into a mixed unit in thePavia Infantry Regiment with the Camp of Gibraltar (companies includeAlgeciras, La Linea, and San Roque), which participated in the conquest of thenational sector of Jimena de la Frontera-Casares integrated in a column underthe command of captain of the regular Herran, with garrison in Larache (MoroccoProtectorate).

He then moved to an exclusive carabineer, which wasestablished in the front line, “Arroyo Vaquero” (Estepona). His section wasresponsible for the post of The Angel (Marbella)in January through February of 1937 by contacting the national forces that hadoccupied Istan before the occupation of Marbella.

After these performances Marquez became a military commanderof Manilva, moving in March to manage the office of Algeciras. For his services, especially forhis work as head of the Office of Algeciras, in 1939 the government awarded himwith several medals (the Order of Italy and Medahuia and the Campaign Medal).

He later received the medal in recognition of San Hermenegildofor seniority of their services. Lucas also helped his family during his tripto Brazilin 1924. Oral testimony by relatives suggests it is probably related to thefact that the garrison events in Marbellain January 1937, at the time of the battle front in this city, came to completethe columns sent by national the Duke of Seville, and even the forces of theCivil Guard of Marbella were struggling against national forces.

These facts are rated as critical history in the nationaloccupation of Marbella at the end of January1937, and the occupation of this position was considered strategic for a fewdays after the occupation of Malaga,whose “fall” had a profound effect on the press and on the morale of theRepublican side.

When he became aware of the internal quarrels, theintervention of Ojen’s proceedings of the first local authorities with thenational regime helped save the lives of his relatives, Antonio MairenaLorente, who was a member of the Liaison Committee Ojen red, and his brothersJoseph and John, who, although they had no political affiliation, had to hideto avoid their deaths.

Jose Mairena Lorente was tortured by the Phalangists andmembers of the local civil guard when they were trying to get him to revealwhere he was hiding his brother. In the process Lucas Mairena Marquez, who wasunable to return to Ojen, sent on his behalf another Carabineer/civil guardfrom Ojen known as Romero paralyzing the pace of these iniquitous acts.

Among the Carabineer infantry commanders were Seville and Cadiz, CapeCommand Carabineers of Malaga between 1917 and 1924, and in 1924 sergeant ofthe guard in front of the Estepona Carabineers, which went to the Brigade in Algeciras.

For years he hid and was part of the “fugitives” who livedin the mountains of the region of Marbella.His family suffered the rigors of persecution and always helped at the expenseof their personal safety.

Gomez finally surrendered in 1944, moving to the districtprison of the town and then to Malaga, where he suffered through sentence ofsix years, after which he was deported from Ojen and moved to La Linea andGibraltar. In the 1960s he was allowed to return to reside in Ojen.

Mairena Jose Parra.Born a natural descendant of Ojen, his paternal family settled in Marbella from the Rock ofGibraltar after the expulsion of the Spanish population by British occupationin 1704.

His father and paternal grandparents were mayors andchairmen of the Board of Local Ganaderos Ojen. Parra was also a descendant ofthe major lineages of people living in Ojen, Marbella, and Coin castles through the 15thand 17th centuries.

His family owned property, including a flour mill, achaplain in the parish of Ojen, a house in the Street of the Knights ofMarbella, land in Coin, the Rock of la Huerta, and the Lightning in Marbella.

He studied at the Seminary of Malaga. In his youth theanarchist doctrine was formed. Following the economic ruin of his family, Parrawent to work at the Iron Mine Rock (Ojen-Marbella), where he played a prominentrole in the organization and preparation of strikes for the years 1917 and1918.