Every June 20, Argentina celebrates Flag Day. A date that marks the death anniversary of its creator, Manuel Belgrano, a visionary lawyer and military man who dreamed of the independence of these lands and the construction of an inclusive country. Manuel Belgrano is probably the most neglected Argentine patriot in history. He died poor and much-criticized, in the city of Buenos Aires, on June 20, 1820.

201 years ago, Belgrano's brothers had to pay the physician who cared for him with a watch and his tombstone was carved on the marble coming from family chest of drawers.

Belgrano was a forerunner in many aspects, but little of his legacy is reflected in today's Argentina. For example, he was convinced of the importance of protecting natural resources and the environment.

He championed equality of men and women regardless of race, religion or social class. He also considered education to be paramount for the progress of the people, and therefore, he donated his personal fortune for the construction of schools in the north of the country, where the common people had joined him in the battles against the Spanish Royal Army.

The money he gave for the schools, almost two hundred years later is gone, thanks to corruption and bureaucracy.

Belgrano was also the first to appoint women as army captains, as was famously the case with mestiza Juana Azurduy and Afro-Argentine María Remedios del Valle. They also died forgotten and poor.

Belgrano designed the Argentine flag and using light blue and white colours as the symbol for the patriot forces. He added an Inca sun in the centre to stress his dream of integration of all peoples living in the Argentine territory.

The blue and white flag was flown by La Argentina, a ship captained by French privateer Hippolyte Bouchard, who had been hired by the new Argentine government in 1817 to attack Spanish ships and settlements in Central America, and a consequence of this is that Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador also picked blue and white as the colour of their national flags.

VO: Fernando Farías
Production and Web: Silvana Avellaneda - Julián Cortez