The Escopeteros de Getares were a Spanish military company that guarded the coast of the Strait of Gibraltar from Tarifa to Algeciras during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The company was formed by volunteers from Tarifa in the vicinity of Getares beach at the time of the British invasion of the Rock of Gibraltar in 1704. In order to prevent possible British landings in the area, this militia was integrated into the army corps under the name of the Getares Riflemen Company in 1705.
Its main mission was to act as a coastguard, preventing the supplying of British ships, warning of the arrival of Barbary pirates and preventing smuggling with Africa or Gibraltar.piratas berberiscos y evitar el contrabando con África o con Gibraltar.
This is a statue of the Escopetero de Getares, work of Rafael Gómez de Avellaneda, inaugurated in 1999 in Algeciras.