Antonio Nariño


Antonio Amador José de Nariño y Álvarez del Casal was a Colombian ideological of the independence movement in New Granada as well as one of its early political and military leaders.

Early Life

Nariño was born to an aristocratic family. He was the third son of Vicente Nariño y Vásquez, a Spaniard from Galicia, and Catalina Álvarez. His father had moved to New Granada in 1751 as Official Royal Accountant of the Matrix Arcs of New Granada, and was later promoted to Major Accountant, an important role that he played up to his death in 1778. Nariño's mother was the daughter of Manuel de Bernardo Álvarez del Casal, one of the fiscales of the Royal Audience. Nariño and his numerous siblings grew up surrounded by books. Details about his early life are scarce, but apparently he studied in the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé. He married Magdalena Ortega y Mesa in 1785, with whom he had six children. By then, he was already a merchant and he was a very active participant in politics. In 1789, he was appointed as ordinary major of Santafe, as well as General Treasurer of Tithes. By 1793 he had open his own print shop, and obtained a license from the government to be allowed to print, which would later bring him trouble.

Early political activity

Nariño was intellectually curious and admired the political ideologies of the leaders of the French and American Revolutions. In his impressive library there was a portrait of Benjamin Franklin above the mantle. In his youth, Nariño was a strong influence among the progressive young people of Bogotá, Colombia, hosting secret political gatherings that he called "The Sanctuary," where the need for independence and the means of achieving it were discussed. Attendees included later notables,, Luis de Rieux, Manuel Torres and Francisco Antonio Zea. Nariño was one of the most outspoken and articulate participants at these meetings, and was widely respected by his fellow revolutionaries.
In 1794, Nariño procured a copy of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man", which was being distributed by the French Assembly. He translated the Declaration of the Rights of Man from its original French into Spanish and printed several copies from his own private press. He then circulated these translated pamphlets among his politically like-minded friends. Copies of the pamphlet were distributed to all corners of the continent and created a stirring in the political mentalities of the time. The government soon discovered the material and any copy that was found was burned. Nariño was arrested on August 29, 1794, as were many of the fellow attendees of his Sanctuary meetings, and underwent trials during the rest of the year and the next one. His attorney,, was arrested as well, so no other lawyer wanted to defend his case, and he and his followers were sentenced to ten years of imprisonment in Africa for his leading role in the political group and was exiled from South America. In addition to this all his property was confiscated. Nariño had previously worked as a tithe collector and was also accused of fraud resulting from this activity.
Nariño managed to escape in Cadiz, however, and then fled to Paris in 1795, where he devoted himself to the study of the French Revolution and its aftermath. This convinced him of the idea that centralized government was a superior form of government. After spending some time in France, Nariño went to England to find economic and military support from the British but when he was denied it, he decided to return to Santafé. He traveled in disguise, but eventually he found himself forced to surrender to the authorities on July 19, 1797. In prison he contracted tuberculosis. He was finally released in 1803, due to his health, and he recovered little by little.
By 1809, however, following the unrest all around the colonies over the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, many people started to meet clandestinely to discuss independence. Some of these conspirators, among them Andres Rosillo y Meruelo, started discussing a coup to overthrow the government and establish a republic in its stead, and the name of Nariño started circulating. Hearing of said rumors, viceroy Amar decided to crush the rebellion before it started, and Nariño found himself arrested yet again when insurrections started to break all over the American colonies. He was translated to the prison in Cartagena de Indias, although he managed to escape briefly, but was recaptured on December 20, 1809 in Santa Marta. Nariño remained imprisoned in Cartagena, and was about to be sent to Puerto Rico, but he was freed in June 1810, following the city's declaration of independence. Following his release from prison, he had to wait for a few months in Cartagena before returning to his family. In December, 1810, Nariño returned to Santafé, and became deeply involved in the creation of a sovereign state, independent from Spain.

The Aftermath of the Declaration of Independence and The Foolish Fatherland

Following the formation of Juntas all over the country, profound divisions became evident when trying to determine what type of government should be placed instead of the Spanish crown. In particular, disagreements on whether there should be a single state in the place of the old New Kingdom of Granada or whether the provinces should become autonomous and independent states became a matter of heated debate. The provinces, led by the province of Cartagena, called for a federal solution that gave them equal rights, and were not willing to submit to authorities sent from the capital just like they had submitted to Spanish authorities in the past. In contrast, the province of Cundinamarca, which held the former viceroyal capital, Santafé, was the richest and most populous province, and assumed that it would inherit the authority of the old regime, its leaders fearing the loss of power and privileges that would come with a federalist government. When the Cartagena junta called for a separate General Conference in Medellín, where each province would be represented in proportion to their populations, the Supreme Junta of Santafé decided to counter by inviting each province to send a delegate to form an interim government while a general congress was summoned to establish a Constitutional Assembly for the whole New Granada.
Nariño returned to Santafé just on time to participate in the organization of the Congress of the United Provinces of New Granada, being appointed secretary. The congress was irregular from the start as it was formed by delegates from barely a handful of provinces, and was deeply divided on whether the cities of Mompós and Sogamoso, which had sent delegates, should be considered provinces. In the congress, held between December 22, 1810, and February 2, 1811, Nariño was the leader of a push to establish the Congress permanently in Santafé, a proposal that was rejected by the provinces, which saw in this a push for deferral to Santafé, Following profound disagreements, the Congress was dissolved barely more than a month later, when the members stopped attending the sessions.
As provinces were already busy establishing their own autonomous governments, under the lead of Jorge Tadeo Lozano, the Junta Suprema in Santafé called for a constitutional assembly for the province. In March, 1811, the province convened a "Constituent Electoral College of the State of Cundinamarca," which promulgated a constitution the following mont declaring the creation of the Free and Independent State of Cundinamarca, with Lozano as president. The constitution followed the model of the Constitution of the United States, and established Cundinamarca as a Catholic and constitutional monarchy, under the absent Ferdinand VII.
While the constitution was mostly federalist, centralist ideas were evident in its writing, and it provided for the eventual annexation of other provinces which would then have to obey the provincial constitution. Recently widowed Nariño, who was appointed as Mayor of the city of Santafé on August 30, 1811, and who was a fervent centralist, started pushing for a strong centralist position from the newspaper he created, La Bagatela, which he started publishing on July 14, 1811. In La Bagatela, Nariño became a ruthless critic of Lozano, whom he accused of indecisiveness. The aggressive criticisms by Nariño and his followers led to a riot in the city on September 19, 1811, following which president Lozano and his vice president were forced to resign. Fearful of popular rioting, the legislature elected Nariño as president and conceded to his demands that increased the influence of the executive power.
The "Congress of the United Provinces," meanwhile, started meeting again. Despite Cundinamarca's opposition, the Congress finally achieved an agreement and delivered the Act of Federation of the United Provinces of New Granada on November 27, 1811, a heavily federalist act. The act provided a lot of autonomy to each province and an extremely weak president who would be subordinate to the congress. This only made the differences between centralist and federalist ideas even stronger. Nariño and his followers became ardent opponents to federalism and to the congress, and convinced that the economic and political power of Cundinamarca would allow it to dominated and unify New Granada. Nariño convened an assembly to revise the constitution of the state and make it even more centralist, and then decided to annex the surrounding provinces of Tunja, Socorro, Pamplona, Mariquita, and Neiva, but was mostly unsuccessful on both enterprises. Nevertheless, harassment led to the members of the congress escaping to Leyva and finally to Tunja.
Soon, the Cundinamarca province became embroiled in Civil War against other provinces, particularly Tunja, where the Congress had settled. Nariño ordered General Antonio Baraya to defeat the federalist leaders in Tunja, but Baraya decided to switch sides and support the federalist forces, and many important leaders like Santander and Caldas joined him. Baraya and the rebels with him signed an act that declared Nariño an usurper and a tyrant, and pledged loyalty to the Congress. Nariño used the opportunity to request extraordinary powers from the legislature of Cundinamarca, which allowed him to be appointed as a dictator. On November 26, 1812, Nariño left with his army to conquer Tunja. On December 2, 1812, his army faced a federalist army commanded by Antonio Ricaurte and Atanasio Girardot in the Battle of Ventaquemada, and was soundly defeated, having to retreat back to Bogota. The federalist troops, however, only started pursuing more than a week later.
Following the defeat, and the subsequent declaration of independence from the Province of Socorro, Nariño resigned as soon as he arrived to the city, but not finding a suitable replacement, he was reinstalled as dictator. Nariño prepared to defend the city, which was sieged on December 24. Nevertheless, on January 9, 1813, in the Battle of San Victorino, Nariño's troops proved superior and the federalist armies were completely defeated. In June 1813, he was appointed dictator for life, and the following month, the Republic of Cundinamarca finally declared independence from the Monarchy.

Southern campaign

In July 1813, General Nariño began an intensive military campaign against the Spanish and Royalist forces in the south, intending to reach Pasto and eventually Quito. Nariño's forces, known as the Army of the South, numbering 1500 to 2000 men, managed to capture Popayán in January 1814 after defeating the Royalist forces in the area in a series of initially successful battles.
After stopping to reorganize the city's government and his own forces, he pressed on towards Pasto. Historians have speculated that, had he not stopped at Popayán but actually decisively pursued the fleeing Royalist army, he might have been able to successfully capture a relatively undefended Pasto.
As things happened, the constant raids of Royalist guerrillas, the harshness of the terrain, the lack of promised reinforcements from Antioquia, and the delays in bringing up his army's artillery contributed to weakening the morale of many of the troops under Nariño's command, when they had practically reached the gates of Pasto.
After being wounded during combat, a false rumor of his death was spread, and most of the remaining soldiers scattered, only some 400 returning to Popayán. Nariño, left practically alone in the battlefield, attempted to hide, but surrendered himself when Royalist scouts found him. He was taken into Pasto in May 1814, and then sent to the Royal prison at Cádiz via Quito.

Later years

Nariño was freed in 1821 after the revolt of Rafael del Riego, and returned to his home country, Colombia, now independent from Spain after the republican victory at the Battle of Boyacá.
Nariño was one of the candidates for election to the presidency of Gran Colombia in 1821, which he lost to Simón Bolívar by the significant margin of 50 to 6 votes in the Congress held at Cúcuta, finishing second. He also lost the election for vice president, with Francisco de Paula Santander eventually defeated by a 38 to 19 vote margin after several heated rounds of voting. Santander and others had been victorious in battle, while Nariño was not, and his popularity had been severely affected. This is also the year where a constituent assembly met in Cúcuta to draft a constitution for the new state.
Nariño returned to Santafé, now officially called Bogotá, in 1821, defeated politically and ill. He was appointed military commander, a nominal charge without effective power. By then, he had lost the popularity he had enjoyed in the city during the Foolish Fatherland times. As he had done before with La Bagatela, he decided to create a newspaper: "Los Toros de Fucha", to publish his opposition against Santander and his government, but unlike Lozano, Santander was far from weak, and Nariño instead of returning to power came to be interrogated by Santader. His enemies did not want him to be in power because of his origin from Cundinamarca. To make sure he did not get elected they accused him of malfeasance of public funds, cowardice, and treason, but Nariño managed to defend himself. Tired and ill with tuberculosis, he decided to quit his public roles and move to Villa de Leyva. Nariño died there on December 3, 1823, having become a national hero of Colombia.
He is mentioned in the last stanza of the Colombian national anthem. At the foot of his memorial statue in Bogotá he is quoted: "I have loved my country; only History will say what this love has been." The presidential palace of the Republic of Colombia, Casa de Nariño or Palacio de Nariño, was constructed at the site of his birthplace and named in his honor. The department of Nariño was also named in his honor.
Nariño's face has appeared in the $10 and $100 Colombian peso banknotes.