He was born in the Chapel of Guarigua, in the jurisdiction of the town of San Gil, on April 18, 1798. His parents were Mariano Gomez Romano and Lucia Plata. He studied Canon Law in the San Bartolome College of Santa Fe, an institution in which he became Rector during the last General Santander Administration. He was Priest of the Nieves Church and occupied the Episcopal See of Antioquia. “He was a Bishop who belonged to the Liberal Party” wrote Luis Eduardo Nieto Caballero. General Joaquin Posada Gutierrez (111), wrote: “The Reverend Diocese Bishop, Juan de la Cruz Gomez Plata, a liberal Bishop, confronted Cordoba demanding the liberty of priests who have been imprisoned”. He occupied the Antioquentildea Episcopal See for fourteen years. The majority of his pastoral letters were of religious instructions, of the defense of the Catholic Doctrine and the increase of the public peace. He was a member of the Congress of the Republic in 1820 and in the Ocantildea Convention. “He was friend of General Santander, his political colleague and advisor in matters of state”, as afrmed by Nieto Caballero. Gomez Plata was a man of integrity, without fear, reflexive conciliatory and energetic when it was necessary”. He was a renowned theologist, legislator, canonist and orator. There is an Antioquentildea town which proudly carries his name since 1903. He was a Member of Congress from 1827 to 1844. He became President of the Senate in March 1842. He wrote the project of law of March 29, 1842 of the Emancipation of Slaves which was approved by General Pedro Alcntara Herrn, President of the Republic. Gomez Plata wrote:
“Most Excellent Sir: I informed the Senate yesterday the reasons that the Honorable House of Representatives has accepted the project of Emancipation, agreed in Article 1. The law of 1821 is a solemn anniversary of Independence. The Honorable House will not ignore the slaves who wish their liberty…..” Yours truly, Juan de la C. Bishop of Antioquia and President of the Senate. Congress nally agreed to the article referred in this letter and became law on May 29, 1842. It was signed by Juan de la C. Bishop of Antioquia and President of the Senate, J. Mrquez, President of the House, Jose Maria Zaiz and Pastor Ospina Secretaries, P. A, Herrn, President of the Republic and Mariano Ospina, Secretary of Interior and Foreign Relations. (112)
Remember, my friend, the reader, that it corresponded to the Minister to the Holy See, Ignacio Snchez de Tejada, to support the names, in Rome, of the ones to be chosen for the Episcopal Seats. Monsignor Gomez Plata was one of them. He was consecrated on January 17, 1836, by Archbishop Mosquera. Bishop Gomez Plata was very attentive to the problems and needs of the Republic. He was vigilant of the rights and privileges of the clergy. He is also accused as the first one to promote the intervention of the clergy into politics. He defended the Church during the government of Toms Cipriano de Mosquera who used to say: “I order it or I shoot it”. Bishop Gomez wrote a violent letter to the Civil and Military Chief of Antioquia, Colonel Salvador Cordoba, when the latter threatened to expel all the Parish Priests opposing him. “You must start by expelling me, because from now on, I am going to oppose you, with all the forces nature has given me. I only see on the Civil and Military Chief, an oppressor of the Church and the Clergy”. His character and political ideation made him a leader of the opposition against the despotic government of General “Masca chochas”. The only essentials for the Sangilentilde Bishop were the right, liberty, justice, moral strength and the protests which scared the despots. Bishop Gomez Plata was a great gure, as per Father Gonzalo Uribe “He passed through darkness without shades, through errors without tarnish and through great emotions without shaking”. His spirit did not have cracks, only one banner, Country and Religion. Juan de Dios Arias states that when the Bishop died, he left all his belongings, his books and and one thousand gold pesos to the Guanent College. In such testament, he manifests that his place of origin was San Gil.

JUAN JOSE CORDERO

This Father of our Independence is little known. He was born on May 1, 1783. The historian Gustavo Otero Muntildez states: “The ideas nourished since his adolescence with the example of his ancestors who intervened fervently in the Comunera Revolution since its initiation in Charal and Mogotes”. Juan Jose Cordero was one of the chiefs of the mutiny who red, by force, the Spanish Corregidor Juan Valdes Posada, in Socorro, on July 10, 1810. Then, when Morillo’s pacifying invasion of 1816 was getting close to Ubate, Cordero joined the liberating army commanded by General Serviez. He obtained the rank of Sergeant during the Battle of Cabuya de Cqueza. He was taken prisoner and brought to the Vice royal capital, imprisoned and tortured by the Council of Purication. He escaped and avoided the death penalty. He befriended General Santander and continued to help the liberating cause, until his death at the age of forty-two, on August 24, 1825.

MARIA ANTONIA SANTOS PLATA

The national heroine Maria Antonia Santos Plata came to this world on April 12, 1872. Her parents were Pedro Santos Rueda and Petronila Plata, both from San Gil. Pedro was the founder of the Municipality of Pinchote and in its chapel baptized his daughter. Some historians claim her birthplace to be Cincelada and Coromoro, places where she participated in the guerrilla, others Charal, others Socorro, because, there she was shot by a ring squad or Pinchote where her baptism certicate appeared. The truth is that the girl Antonia was born in the house “Monte Brujas”, property of the Santos Family, as stated by the descendant, Juan de Jesus Santos. This house is located in the Monte Brujas Barrio of San Gil. The Sangilentildea Parish belonged to the Vice Parish of Pinchote in 1782, the time of birth of the heroine. The Presbyter Luis Fernando Sarmiento y Otero convinced her father Pedro, a God-fearing Catholic, to baptize his daughter at the Vice Parish of Pinchote instead of the San Gil Parish. Since Pedro was the founder of Pinchote, who better to be baptized there than the daughter of the founder of the town.
According to a copy of the baptism certicate given to me in 1957, courtesy of Arturo Silva Rodriguez and Rito Manuel Bustos, Mayor of Pinchote and his Secretary, the paternal grandparents were: Isidro Manuel Santos and Francisca Meneses the maternal grandparents: Pedro Antonio Plata and Juana Rodriguez. Her godparents were Casimiro Gomez and Cacilda Plata.
The education of Antonia was typical of the women of a notable family. Her description by biographers is: “Of singular beauty, tall, slender, oval face, beautiful black eyes, white skin, aquiline nose and thick lips”. The picture which appears in this work, an oil from the artist Luis Alberto Acuntildea, was taken from this description. (113) In 1817, the Liberator Simon Bolivar stimulated the apparition of guerrillas in the national territory. One of them, the Coromoro Guerrilla belonged to the Casanare and was headed by Fernando Santos, brother of Antonia, and formed by her nephew Ramon Santos, her brothers-in-law, Gabriel Uribe and Tadeo Rojas, and workers of the Santos family farm. Its headquarters was the Santos Home in San Gil. Antonia Santos was the soul of the guerrilla. She was always seen on horseback, like an Amazon, during its operations, heading its bellicose actions. She exhorted and stimulated with her presence, boldness, and bravery. Even though the Spanish authorities tried to underrate her guerrilla activities, they offered two thousand gold pieces for her capture or death.
One day, while the guerrilla was in Tunja and Antonia was ill in Charal, troops from Socorro, commanded by Captain Pedro Agustin Vargas, without any consideration to her sick state, she was taken from bed along with her younger brother Santiago and fourteen year old sister Elenita. They were all assassinated by Colonel Lucas Gonzlez from Socorro. Elenita was shot attempting to flee through a window of the Charal Church. No historian has ever mention this incident nor the biography of Elenita. Antonia was tortured during her imprisonment and later shot by ring squad, with two other unfortunates Pascual Becerra and Isidro Bravo, on July 28, 1819. on the current site of her statue in Socorro. The historian Jose Dolores Monsalve states that Antonia Santos was “a symbol of the Colombian Soul, her personal feelings did not include in her conduct. She is the example of heroism, abnegation and valor all the way to the scaffold”. Berta Camacho de Gomez stated: “She is larger to her countrymen’s eyes, and every century she will be crowned with another halo of immortality”. Antonia Santos is compared with Policarpa Salavarrieta and Mercedes Abrego in the ght for independence.

MANUEL GONZALEZ

The General and Father of our Independence, Manuel Gonzlez, was born in San Gil, in 1798 and died in Ocantildea, in 1841. He served in the armies of liberty in the great campaigns of Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Panam and Colombia. Jose Manuel Rojas Rueda (114), gave a biographical data of General Gonzlez who participated in the Battle of Alto de Aratoca, in 1841. It states: “In this historical site, there was a great battle between the Revolutionary Forces led by the Colonel of Independence, Manuel Gonzlez, and the Government’s commanded by General Pedro Alcntara Herrn and Toms Cipriano de Mosquera”. At the end of 1840, the Provinces of the South of Santander had rebelled against the Government. Tunja was under the command of General Gonzlez. The brave chief declared this territory, Pamplona and Casanare in war, as a Federal State. Gustavo Arboleda states: (115) “When Gonzlez’s Rebellion was known in Bogot, hussars under Colonel Manuel Maria Franco were dispatched against him. Gonzlez defeated Franco on September 30, 1840”. The intrepid Sangilentilde General marched over Bogot, like a century earlier, the Comunero Jose Antonio Galn had done. The then President Mrquez left to Popayn to seek help from Generals Pedro Alcntara Herrn and Toms Cipriano de Mosquera General Domingo Caicedo occupied Bolivar’s throne and with Colonel Jun Jose Neira, organized the defense of Bogot. Arboleda narrates: “The revolutionaries formed a column of 800 men and near the Buena Vista Hacienda had a battle on October 28, 1840. The Government forces well supplied, fed and rested, triumphed”. The defeated revolutionaries fled to San Gil followed by the armies of Generals Pedro Alcntara Herrn and Toms Cipriano de Mosquera. A nal battle took place on January 9, 1841 at 4 p. m. at the Sebastian Peak of the Aratoca Heights 400 were taken prisoners with 300 rifles. General Antonio Obando, a Father of Independence, was also taken prisoner. He had been one of the victors in Boyac on August 7, 1819. There is a curious report of Generals Herrn and Mosquera: “After the disaster of San Sebastin, the chief of the rebellion, General Gonzlez, withdrew through a long journey, where he died of malarial fever, near Ocantildea, on March 21, 1841, at 10:30, at night., twelve days after the defeat”. According to the historian Alejo Amaya (116): “The cadaver was buried with its correspondent honors, in the cemetery of the City of Ocantildea, on March 23, 1841”.
Let the historian Joaquin Posada Gutierrez tell us the other side of the coin: “The re-apparition of General Obando to the Rebel cause was a signal to start revolutionary movements like Colonel Gonzlez’s in the Socorro Province. The Velez Movement was immediately suffocated by government troops commanded by Colonels Juan Jose Neira and Manuel Maria Franco. Neira was injured and returned to Bogot. Franco was defeated by Gonzlez which was disconcerting in Bogot. When the Sangilentilde General marched over Bogot, artisans, teachers, youth with their long hair and priests, all formed the soldiers of the infantry to defend the city. On October 28, 1840, General Neira shouted ‘Charge’ to which General Gonzlez responded: ‘With their suicidal advance’. This was the political call which many years later and before the nefarious April 9, 1948, Jorge Eliecer Gaitn made in his speeches to try to recover power”.
As always, with our armed conflicts, the forces of legality triumphed over the revolutionary and subversive ones. The greatest demonstration of grief occurred during General Neira’s funeral. “Not even his enemies have tarnished his memory”. General Gonzlez, the intrepid military ofcer who could have changed our Colombian political history, and been as important as Mosquera, Herrn, or Neira, lays, totally forgotten, in the Ocantildea Cemetery. That city could pay homage by transferring his ashes to his native home. The Bogot Catholic Cemetery has a stern mausoleum of an elevated column with the words “Neira” has the mortal remains of this other great soldier, as Bolivar, Santander, Soto, Gomez and all the martyrs of 1816. General Gonzlez was Commander of the Bogot Armory, when President Mrquez transferred and named him Governor of Socorro where Gonzlez decided to raise arms against the government.
When mentioning Bishop Juan de la Cruz Gomez Plata, we saw how he confronted Colonel Salvador Cordoba, Governor of Antioquia. This Colonel pronounced himself against the central government, on October 8, 1840. When he knew of the General Gonzlez urising, Cordoba took control of the Medellin Armory. The people opposed and supported the legitimate government of New Granada. Bishop Gomez Plata had an important role in this confrontation against General Cordoba.

RAFAEL OTERO NAVARRO

He was born in San Gil on May 29, 1819, the fourth son of Fernando Otero and Isidora Navarro. He was educated in the San Jose de Guanent College, which Rector was the Presbyter Jose Pascual Amador. Otero Navarro went to the Republic’s capital to study law. Later, he established himself in Concepcion where he married the twenty year old Natalia Wilches, sister of General Solon Wilches. Otero Navarro became Circuit Judge of Mlaga and Pamplona and Superior Judge of San Gil. Rafael Otero Navarro became Representative to the Congress of the Provinces of Garcia Rovira and Pamplona in 1850, 1851, 1853, 1856 and 1857. He was a decisive factor in the implantation of the Federal System. He was a delegate of the Constituting Assembly in Pamplona on October 16, 1857 which created the Sovereign State of Santander with respectable gures such as Dmaso Zapata, Antonio Vargas Vega, Eustorgio Salgar, Zaldua, Leonardo Canal, Narciso Cadena Vicente Herrera and others. Zaldua and Salgar became Presidents of the Republic. That same night Manuel Murillo Toro became President of the State.
Felipe Perez stated: “No other code in the world had more liberal character and principles of government proper for the people”. (117) Otero Navarro was the first Secretary of the Government of Pamplona and of the first Governor General Eustorgio Salgar. In 1862, he participated in the Constituting Assembly which elected Aquileo Parra and Pedro Quintero Jcome, President and Vice President, respectively, of the Santander State. The changes to the Constitution of 1857 were in force until 1880.
Otero became Acting President of the Santander State during the absences of the titular Eustorgio Salgar. Otero gave a report to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Santander. Among his recommendations was the foundation of a university. He had in mind the Guanent College which had Faculties of Medicine and Law. But rivalries among cities did not make it possible for such a project to be realized. Otero was elected, by direct vote of the people, Magistrate of the Supreme Tribunal of Socorro, as it was established by the Constitution of the State, for four consecutive periods, for thirteen years, until his death. Otero left among his papers, poems, the history of the San Jose de Guanent College and a study of the life and customs of the Santandereana ant. Some of these papers were not published and were lost. (118) Otero was a magistrate in the Socorro City, when he died on February 13, 1879, at the age of sixty. His brother-in-law, Solon Wilches, was the President of the State. Pedro Elias Mantilla, Director of the Newspaper Diario de Cundinamarca of Bogot, commented about Otero’s death: “A careful look for a man who could replace Rafael Otero with all his qualities, is unequal. No other individual like him, worthy of Plutarch, with his inimitable virtues, like such a man, never dies, because, he serves as an example and will light from heaven”. Otero’s remains stayed in Socorro, for awhile, and, then, they were dumped into a common fossa. Descendants of this illustrious Republican were Julio Enrique Otero, a Mayor and father of Jorge Otero Gomez, a jurist and writer of history, and Carlos Manuel Otero Gomez, a novelist, poet and journalist from San Gil, Luis Fernando Otero, physician and parliamentarian, Luis Alfredo Otero Muntildez, Alonso Otero, a physician and poet, and Hector Moreno Otero, all distinguished professionals.