Calle Comandante Benítez

The name honours Julio Benítez Benítez, a soldier from Málaga who entered collective memory through his death in July 1921 in the Rif War. Benítez commanded a detachment of about three hundred men at Igueriben, a forward position near Annual. Between 17 and 21 July he held out against the siege of Abd el-Krim’s tribes without relief. When the water ran out, the besieged went as far as drinking cologne, vinegar and ink. With the enemy already on the parapet, he sent by heliograph to the artillery at Annual the order that fixed his memory: to fire on his own position, since defenders and attackers were now mixed together. He fell among the wire on 21 July. Igueriben was the prelude to the Disaster of Annual, one of the greatest defeats of the Spanish army. For that defence he was awarded, posthumously, the Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand. The street is short and quiet, in the heart of the Chopera neighbourhood.