ANTONIO NARIÑO: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, PHRASES - ARTE - 2025

Antonio Nariño (1765-1823) was a Colombian military and politician who had an important role against Spanish rule during the independence process of the old New Granada. He began in politics in his youth years and held various public positions.

Nariño had a broad and outstanding participation in the literary and journalistic field of his time. He was a consistent contributor to the Papel Periódico de Santa Fe, in whose pages he published his essay The fruits of the noble tree. In his house he established a kind of club which he called "Arcanum of Philanthropy".

Portrait of Antonio Nariño. Source: José María Espinosa Prieto, via Wikimedia Commons

Antonio Nariño's military career unfolded through several historical episodes in Colombia. He commanded the well-known Campaign of Nariño in the South, the Battle of the Ejidos de Pasto, among other events.

The political-military performance of this hero has been honored on many occasions and his legacy of freedom continues in force in the American peoples.

Biography

Birth and family

Antonio Amador José de Nariño y Álvarez del Casal was born on April 9, 1765 in Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia, formerly New Granada. The military man came from a family of Spanish descent, educated and from a good socioeconomic position. His parents were Vicente de Nariño y Vásquez and Catalina Álvarez del Casal. He was the third of eight siblings.

Studies

The first years of educational training for Antonio Nariño were in charge of his parents, since due to various health problems he was unable to attend school regularly.

In the childhood years of the hero, his taste for reading was born. After training in the hands of his parents, he continued his apprenticeship at the Colegio Mayor and Seminario de San Bartolomé, in the city where he was born.

Foray into politics and the military

Antonio Nariño's political-military life began in 1781 when he was barely sixteen years old, which was common in the 18th century. At that time he led a military troop that had to stop the armed movement known as La rebellión de los comuneros. There he witnessed the murder of the pro-independence hero José Antonio Galán.

Personal life

Nariño met a young woman named Magdalena Ortega y Mesa at the beginning of his military and political career, with her he began a courtship. In 1784 the couple got married and as a result of love six children were born: Gregorio, Francisco, Antonio, Vicente, Mercedes and Isabel.

Between politics and literature

After a loving parenthesis, the young Nariño was an active part of the political and literary events of his nation. In 1789 he served as an official of the Council of the Indies in the position of mayor with a second vote. Later he was administrator of the archbishopric (between 1791 and 1793) and he was also prefect and provincial alderman.

At that time he began to collaborate with the nascent paper newspaper Papel Periódico de Santa Fe, whose main readers were the viceroys. The weekly newspaper served as a tool for Nariño to present his political thinking. This is how on February 25, 1791, he published his first essay entitled The fruits of the noble tree.

Your literary casino

Antonio Nariño felt from his childhood a special taste for letters and literature. So at the beginning of 1794 he was able to establish the establishment of a kind of literary club-casino in his residence in the Plaza de San Francisco. The main purpose of this group was to share knowledge, both literary and political.

In the "Arcano of Philanthropy" (as Nariño called the literary casino) important intellectuals of the time met. Francisco Antonio Zea, José María Lozano, Juan Esteban, José Antonio Ricaurte, Francisco Tovar and Joaquín Camacho attended frequently. The scarcity of print media promoted constant meetings.

Publication of the

Nariño was considered one of the main forgers of the independence ideas of New Granada. This was due to the fact that at the beginning of 1794 he secretly translated and printed the French document “Declaration of Human Rights” in his Patriotic press.

After that Antonio Nariño was discovered and was imprisoned in his hometown on August 29, 1794. A year later he was sentenced to exile for considering the reproduction of that text as a crime of high treason, for his part the court of the Holy Inquisition it prohibited it in all the colonies of Spain.

Exile and return

The military man was punished with exile on the African continent and during a stop he made in the Spanish city of Cádiz he escaped from his executioners. So he returned to Bogotá incognito in 1797, his relatives asked him to turn himself in to the authorities to seek a discharge from his sentence.

At the end of the 18th century, Nariño surrendered to the security forces of Viceroy Pedro Mendinueta. While behind bars, Antonio agreed with his captors to provide them with information about the conspiracy that he was plotting with other colleagues against the Spanish viceroyalty, this in exchange for quickly leaving prison.

A time in prison

Despite the fact that the military man collaborated with the authorities, he was imprisoned for a longer time. In 1803 the viceregal authority dictated domiciliary regime to him and he went with his family to a property in Santa Fe de Bogotá. Six years later he was again accused of conspiracy and sent to Cartagena.

Nariño was imprisoned in Cartagena for a year until he was finally released in 1810. At the end of that same year Antonio returned to Santa Fe with the aim of joining the Congress of the Provinces of New Granada.

The Congress of the Provinces began its activities on December 22, 1810, and Nariño served as the main secretary.

The Trifle

On July 14, 1811, Nariño founded the newspaper La Bagatela, which opposed the federalist ideas of Jorge Tadeo Lozano. Antonio expressed his centralist thinking in this political weekly with a satirical tone. At the same time he expressed his desire for independence from Spain, which brought him serious problems in the long run.

The writings of Antonio Nariño against the figure of Lozano as president of the Independent State of Cundinamarca produced a social revolt that stripped the politician of the position. Later, Nariño himself was in charge of directing said region of the old New Granada between 1811 and 1813.

Nariño and his Campaign in the south

The well-known Campaign of Nariño in the South took place in 1813, they were the times of the civil war. The objective of the hero was to stop the Spanish forces that tried to invade the nation commanded from Quito. So Antonio left his uncle Manuel Álvarez del Casal in charge of the presidency of Cundinamarca and started the fight.

Nariño and his men faced the royalists led by Juan de Sámano, who was listed as the last viceroy of New Granada. That bloody encounter was named the “Battle of the Ejidos de Pasto”. In a cautious way, the Colombian hero left five hundred reinforcement men in the event of any eventuality.

A confusion

Nariño and a part of his soldiers hid to rest during the battle, after having fought all day. This action created confusion in the rest of the allies who remained in combat, who gave up when they could not find them and withdrew. After that, Antonio Nariño went out to look for them and realized that he was alone.

On May 14, 1814, Nariño surrendered to the military forces of the Spanish Melchor Aymerich. Although he was imprisoned, he received good treatment, something that was due to his military rank and his position as president of Cundinamarca. Nariño's efforts for the armistice (cessation of war) were not well received by the Spanish in Quito.

Prisoner abroad

Antonio Nariño spent a year in prison in the town of Pasto. After his brief stay there, he was transferred to Quito on July 15, 1815 by orders of Toribio Montes, the then president of that region. His friends tried to free him, but their efforts were in vain.

After some time in Quito, Antonio Nariño was taken to Lima to finally be assigned to a prison in Cádiz, Spain. There he was held in a public penitentiary from 1816 until March 23, 1820, the date on which he was released.

Back to the lyrics

Nariño spent time in Europe after having regained his freedom. The hero spent a season on the Island of León, Cádiz, from where he manifested the improper actions of the Spanish Pablo Morillo between 1815 and 1820. At that time he wrote several writings under the pseudonym "Enrique Somoyar".

Some of the texts that Antonio Nariño wrote at that time were: Letters from an American to a friend of his and Representation to the king of various American individuals from Costa Firme and South America residing in Cádiz. The hero did not stop in his creative process and took advantage of every moment to express his thoughts through letters.

In the new homeland

The hero returned to his homeland in February 1821. At that time it was the time of Gran Colombia, founded in 1819 by the Congress of the city of Angostura. Simón Bolívar received Antonio Nariño with open arms and quickly appointed him vice president of the newly constituted nation.

Signature of Antonio Nariño. Source: Antonio_Nariño_signature.jpg: Antonio Nariñoderivative work: Flappiefh, via Wikimedia Commons

Nariño participated in the Constituent Congress of Cúcuta in May 1821 and in July of that same year he resigned his functions in order to reach the city where he was born. In his absence, Congress appointed him a senator (to meet in Santa Fe), but some politicians objected and accused him of various crimes.

In self defense

Antonio Nariño fulfilled his mission of arriving in Santa Fe, and then Congress came into operation on April 8, 1823. Although he was appointed senator, he did not attend the debates because he was preparing his defense. Later the hero made an appearance on May 14 of that year to free himself from the accusations that had been made against him.

The crimes that were imputed to Antonio Nariño were debt and mismanagement of the archbishopric of Santa Fe in 1794, and also surrender to the enemy in Pasto and absence without reason from his homeland after being liberated in Cádiz. Nariño's defense was solid and on May 20 he was acquitted of all charges.

Last years and death

Nariño's life was marked by important political-military actions, but also by hard years in prison. Despite the adverse circumstances, he was able to return to his nation and clear his name of false accusations. However, Antonio fell ill after sitting for a few months in Congress in 1823.

The politician made the decision to withdraw from Congress and went to live in Villa Leyva (Boyacá) to improve his health. Although he improved, tuberculosis quickly began to wreak havoc. Antonio Nariño died on December 13, 1823 at the age of fifty-eight. His remains rest in the Catedral Primada de Colombia.

Literary style

The literary style of Antonio Nariño was characterized by the use of a cultured language according to the time, also very clear and precise. On some occasions he used a sarcastic and ironic tone to oppose certain themes. This famous Colombian wrote mostly about politics, especially about the Spanish viceroyalty.

Plays

- Papel Periódico de Santa Fe. Contributor and writer.

- The fruits of the noble tree. Essay (1791).

- Declaration of the rights of man and the citizen (1793). Translation and publication.

- The Trifle (1811). Newspaper.

- Letters from an American to a friend of his (1820).

- Representation to the king of several American individuals from Costa Firme and South America residing in Cádiz (1820).

- Bulls of Fucha (1823). Newspaper.

Brief description of some of his publications and works

Translation of the

This text translated by Antonio Nariño was based on the original document created in France on August 26, 1789. The critical and Protestant content of the Declaration of Rights… given the injustices and inequalities experienced by a good part of the French, motivated the Colombian hero to pass it into Spanish and publish it in the old New Granada.

Illustration of Antonio Nariño and Francisco Antonio Zea in the printing press. Source: Auteur anonyme, via Wikimedia Commons

On December 15, 1793, Nariño managed to secretly publish the document, even knowing that it had been censored in territories dominated by the Spanish. Antonio's clandestine activity was discovered and for this reason he was imprisoned in August 1794.

Content

The translation work carried out by Antonio Nariño of this document has gone down in history. Through him, the citizens of a territory dependent on the Spanish understood that there was a way to achieve freedom. That was one of the reasons why the Holy Inquisition forbade it.

The text referred to the freedom of man from birth, the right to property and security. He also explained the scope of the laws and the obedience that every citizen should have. He also defended the right to free expression of ideas and worship.

In the seventeen articles of the brief, governments were exhorted to protect citizen integrity.

Fragments of some articles

- Article 1: “Men are born and remain free, and equal in rights. Social distinctions can only be formed on common utility ”.

- Article 3: “The principle of all Sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body, no individual can exercise authority that does not expressly emanate from it ”.

- Article 4: “Freedom consists in being able to do everything that does not harm another; thus the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits other than those that assure the other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. These limits can only be determined by law ”.

- Article 6: “The Law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to attend personally… to their training. She should be the same for everyone, whether she protects or punishes. All citizens… are equally admissible to all dignities, positions and jobs, with no other distinction than that of their talents… ”.

- Article 11: “The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man: every citizen in his conseqüencia can speak, write, print freely; answering yes to the abuses of this freedom in the cases determined by the Law ”.

The Trifle

Oil by Antonio Nariño. Source: Ricardo Acevedo Bernal (1867-1930), via Wikimedia Commons

It was a newspaper with weekly circulation created by Antonio Nariño on July 14, 1811 in Santa Fe de Bogotá. The editorial line of said printed medium was political. The military took advantage of exposing his ideas in opposition to the federalist system, and especially against the politician Jorge Tadeo Lozano, then president of Cundinamarca.

Bulls of Fucha

It was another of the newspapers created by Antonio Nariño in Santa Fe de Bogotá. Its circulation was given for the first time on March 5, 1823 and its main objective was to defend itself from the accusations that were made after returning from Cádiz.

Nariño took advantage of the pages of the printed medium to make sharp criticisms of some politicians, especially Francisco de Paula Santander. In this newspaper he made reference to the phrase "Foolish homeland" to explain the events that occurred in his nation between 1810 and 1816, regarding centralism and federalism.

Fragment of Antonio Nariño's speech before Congress. May 14, 1823

“Lords of the Senate Chamber:

“Today I present myself, Sirs, as a defendant before the Senate of which I have been appointed a member and accused by the Congress that I myself have installed and which has made this appointment; If the crimes of which I am accused had been committed after the installation of Congress, this accusation would have nothing in particular…

“… But far from feeling this daring step, I thank you for having given me the opportunity to speak in public on some points that gave fuel to my enemies for their secret murmurings… today it will become clear and I will owe this to my enemies … Being able to speak without shame of my own actions.

“… Everything that I have sacrificed for the love of the country, I am accused today, I am insulted, with these same sacrifices, I am made a crime of having led to the publication of the Rights of Man, to the confiscation of my goods… Doubting Sirs, that my sacrifices have been for the love of the Homeland, is to doubt the testimony of your own eyes… ”.

Phrases

- "What would be said of some men who, seeing their house attacked by thieves, began to subtly dispute the rights that each one had to live in this room or the other."

- "I venerate only free governments and extend my attention, my courtesy and civility even to my greatest enemies."

- "From the one in charge, no one is ever satisfied with proceeding, because out of anger or pleasure he is criticized for what he does and what he stops doing."

- “Sell my homeland to another nation, remove it from the domination of Spain to hand it over to the hard yoke of the English, with another religion, another language and other customs; that was in my opinion the most vile action I could commit. Before, I would have preferred death to agree to it ”.

- "Triumphs are useless if peace does not crown them."

- "He who is not a good patriot cannot be a true Christian."

- “I know that you come to kill me, and since you are so young I don't want any harm to happen to you. That is why I am giving you these keys so that after you carry out your purpose, you will have time to flee through the window ”.

- “They had told me that I should kill a tyrant, not a great man.” “My God, just God whom man cannot deceive, I present my heart to you; and I am sure that in your eyes I have not committed a crime. Sixteen years of prisons, which have now been renewed in sixteen years of shame and misery, have not been enough to punish the crime, the enormous crime of translating and printing the rights of man.

- "Tyrants hate light and those who have healthy eyes."

References

1. Tamaro, E. (2019). Antonio nariño. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
2. Antonio nariño. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
3. Alzate, F. (2008). Antonio Nariño and The rights of man and the citizen. Colombia: Social Psychology and Human Rights. Recovered from: psicosocialdh.blogspot.com.
4. Giraldo, A. (2010). Don Antonio Nariño. Colombia: Abelardo Giraldo. Recovered from: pinionabelardo.blogspot.com.
5. Antonio nariño. (S. f.). Cuba: EcuRed. Recovered from: ecured.cu.