Presidents
(Arranged chronologically by their administration)

Presidents of "La Nueva Granada"

José Ignacio de Márquez Barreto (1793-1880)
Presidential term: 1837-1841)
Born in Ramiriquí.

Presidents of "La Confederación Granadina"

General Manuel María de los Santos Acosta (1827-1901)
Presidential term: 1867-1868
Born in Miraflores, province of Lengupá.

José Santos Gutiérrez Prieto (1820-1872)
Presidential term:1868-1870
Born in El Cocuy.

Clímaco Calderón Reyes (1852-1913)
Presidential term:1882
Born in Santa Rosa de Viterbo.


Presidents of the Republic of Colombia

General Rafael Reyes Prieto (1849-1921)
Presidential term: 1904-1909
Born in Santa Rosa de Viterbo.

Enrique Olaya Herrera (1880-1937)
Presidential term:1930-1934
Born in Guateque

General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1900-1975)
Presidential term:1953-1957
Born in Tunja.

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A Hero During the Independence Days

Antonio Ricaurte (1786-1814)
On March 25, 1814, during the bloody battle of San Mateo, Ricaurte set fire to an Army arsenal to prevent the Spanish Army's victory. He lost his life in the huge explosion.
He was born in Villa de Leyva in 1786.

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Writers, Poets and Intellectuals
(Arranged by date of birth)

Mother Francisca Josefa del Castillo (1671-1742) – Author.
Mother Francisca Josefa's works have been greatly evaluated by very important writers. She was a mystical author during the period of the Spanish domination.
Her Autobiography as well as her book Affections and other of her writings, are of an incalculable human, religious, and literary value.
She was born in Tunja in 1671.

Julio Flórez (1863 -1923) – Poet.
He was one of the most distinguished and appreciated poets of Colombia.
Some of his poems are in his books The Dead (people) Standing Up, The Lyrical Frond and Gold and ebony.
Shortly before he passed away, he was proclaimed The Poet of the Nation.
He was born in Chiquinquirá in 1863.

José Joaquín Casas (1866-1951) – Writer, poet, lawyer, educator and journalist.
Renowned writer Casas was also an excellent speaker and translator. He was the founder of the Colombian Academy of History and Director of the Colombian Academy of the Spanish Language. Some of his books are: Village Chronicles, Motives of El Quijote and Songs to My Hometown. He was born in Chiquinquirá in 1866.

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Mainly remembered for his book Idola Fori . Torres was the founder and editor in chief of El Impulso, El Republicano, La Crónica and La Opinión Pública . newspapers. Along with José Camacho Carrizosa, he co-founded El Nuevo Tiempo. His poems are found in his book titled Poetic Work. He was born in Santa Rosa de Viterbo in 1867.

Vicente Casas Castañeda (1886-1968) – Poet and writer.
A great educator and poet of religious orientation with a modernist classical style, he was awarded for his poem Mother of Mine. Other of his books include The Love of the Light. He was born in Chiquinquirá in 1886.

José Umaña Bernal (1899-1982) – Poet, playwright, journalist and lawyer.
He was a writer, great speaker, literary critic and a columnist for El Tiempo newspaper. With his comedy The Good Love , Bernal won the first prize at the Colombian Theatre Contest in 1927.
He was the author of beautiful poems. The Institute of Hispanic Culture published his Unfinished Anthology. He was born in Tunja in 1899.

Jorge Rojas (1911-1995) – Poet, translator and essayist.
Rojas held a Master's degree in Economics and Law and was the creator and diffuser of the movement "Piedra y cielo" (Stone and Sky). Among his written works are found Transparent Heart , The Submerged City, Solitudes and Water Rose. Rojas was born in Santa Rosa de Viterbo in 1911.

Álvaro Umaña (1920 -1953) – Poet and journalist.
He had an important career as an editorialist at El Espectador newspaper and a poet who made use of peculiar forms and common topics including childhood, mother, woman and Christ.
One of his best-known books is The Anchored Trees. He was born in Jenezano in 1920.

Rafael Gutiérrez Girardot (1928-2005) – Intellectual, thinker, literate.
He was a professor of literary criticism and theory at the University of Bonn, Germany, and also a lecturer at several American, European and Colombian universities. He was one of the most controversial Latin-American thinkers of the second half of the 20th century.
He received the Alfonso Reyes International Prize from the government of Mexico. He was born in Sogamoso in 1928.

Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza – Novelist, art critic and journalist.
He is the author of Years of Escape, First Words, The Deserter, The Smell of the Guava, The Flame and the Ice and Our Painters in Paris. He was awarded the Plaza and Janes Novel Prize in 1974, and the Simon Bolivar National Prize of Journalism en 1979. He was the director of the television program, Personajes, The writer was born in Tunja, in 1932.

Fernando Soto Aparicio – Poet, short-story writer, essayist and television screenwriter.
Soto Aparicio has been the author of more than 50 literary works comprising of The Rebellion of the Rats, Port Silence and Fifth Commandment amongst many others. Some of his books have been translated into other languages and have received various international prizes. He has written nearly 5,000 scripts for television.
He was born in Socha in 1933 but he grew up in Santa Rosa de Viterbo.

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