Capitán Bermúdez

Capitán Bermúdez is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, located within the metropolitan area of Greater Rosario, (north of Rosario, immediately north of Granadero Baigorria), on the western shore of the Paraná River. It had a population of about 29,000 inhabitants at the time of the 2010 census [INDEC].

Capitán Bermúdez
City
satellite view of Capitán Bermúdez (north), Rosario and the Paraná River
Coat of arms
Capitán Bermúdez Location of Capitán Bermúdez in Argentina
Coordinates: 32°49′S 60°43′W
Country	Argentina
Province	Santa Fe
Department	San Lorenzo
Government
• Mayor	Fabián Varela (Socialist Party)
Area
• Total	12 km2 (5 sq mi)
Population  (2010 census)
• Total	29,218
• Density	2,400/km2 (6,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-3 (ART)
CPA base	S2154
Dialing code	+54 341

The town was founded in 1889, and officially became a city in 1971. Its name is an homage to Justo Bermúdez, a captain of the rebel forces of General José de San Martín during the Battle of San Lorenzo.

The city hosts important industries that make use of environmentally harmful chemicals, including a petrochemical plant and a paper mill. According to studies conducted in the 1990s by Greenpeace, the paper plant (property of Celulosa S. A.) is responsible for contaminating the Paraná River with chlorine-derived chemicals and others (methoxyphenols such as chloro-guaiacol, di- and tri-chloro-phenols, alkylbenzenes, sulfur compounds, long-chain hydrocarbons, and chloroform). Similar charges have been made about the petrochemical plant Electroclor, owned by ICI, which manufactures chlorine.

The town was in the news in 1991, when fragments of the Soviet Union's Salyut 7 space station showered the town after burning up on re-entry. It had overshot its intended entry point, which would have placed its debris in uninhabited portions of the southern Pacific Ocean.