Juan José Reyes-Patria Escobar

Juan José Reyes-Patria Escobar (1785–1872) was a Colombian politician and military leader.[1]

Juan José Reyes-Patria Escobar
Born(1785-07-02)2 July 1785
Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Boyacá
DiedDecember 10, 1872(1872-12-10) (aged 87)
Corrales, Boyaca
NationalityColombian
OccupationPolitician, military leader

Early life

Juan José Reyes-Patria Escobar was born in July 1785 in Santa Rosa de Viterbo (Boyacá). He was the son of the landowner Manuel Ignacio de los Reyes Forero and María de la Luz (Cruz) Escobar y Torres. He was formally educated in Tunja, Boyacá, where wealthy families sent their children to school, and dedicated himself to trade between Sogamoso, Boyacá and Cúcuta, Boyacá. Trade between the towns of Sogamoso and Cúcuta, while lucrative, was also difficult and risky. Geographically, abysses were frequent sites of theft with robbers willing to keep everything or part of the traded goods. Caravans of muleteers were equipped with weapons were formed to defend their belongings.

Career

Commercial and travel activity were conducive to open the mind to new ideas from European Enlightenment.[2] When the cry of the Independence of 1810 was given and all of Spanish America rebelled against the mother country, Juan José Reyes entered to serve the armies of the First Republic participating in various war actions.[3] He entered the Colombian patriotic army arriving as a lieutenant in 1814, and subsequently becoming captain in 1818 , lieutenant colonel in 1819 , colonel in 1828, and general in 1852 . Reyes-Patria served under the command of Custodio García Rovira and Antonio Baraya until the Reconquista , when he had to take refuge in Casanare and Apure with José Antonio Páez and Ramón Nonato Pérez. He fought in Gámeza, Boyacá and Pantano de Vargas, organized by the Vargas battalion by order of Simón Bolívar and was sent to Barinas, Venezuela.[4]

On 11 July 1819, Gámeza was the scene of one of the epics of the feat that conquered freedom for Colombians. This battle is commemorated by the inhabitants of Gámeza in a special way every 11 July. In the main park of the municipality there is a monument to Reyes Patria and the indigenous chieftains Gamza and Siatoba. Simón Bolívar bestowed him with surname of Reyes Patria in honor of his heroism in the development to create New Granada.[5][6][7]

Reyes-Patria was military commander of Ocaña, Santa Marta, and La Guajira, and governor of Riohacha between 1821 and 1824, governor of Casanare in 1828 and fought for the federal cause in the Colombian civil wars of 1840 , 1851 , 1854 and 1860.[8]

Personal life

Reyes-Patria was married to Micaela Valderrama Suárez and had six children. His descendants include Domingo Tibaduiza.[9] In 1863, General Reyes Patria, took refuge in the meekness and goodness of his home, to live the memories of his heroic and sacrificed existence for the sake of freedom, from which he left a writing with the name of "My memories."[10] In the town of Corrales, Colombia, the old general and hero of the independence, changed his life as a regular revolutionary for that of a fervent Catholic dedicated to the study of the Bible and philosophy. Reyes-Patria lived in a historical home in Corrales, which is today being converted into a genealogical museum for the people of Tundama Province.[11]

Death

He died in the town of Corrales, Boyacá on 10 December 1872. His mortal remains are kept in a marble cenotaph.

References
  1. "General Juan José Reyes-Patria". Blog de Genealogia e Historia (in Spanish). 2 February 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  2. Papel periódico ilustrado (in Spanish). Imprenta de Silvestre y Compañia. 1884.
  3. Baraya, José María (2 December 2017). Biografías militares:: O, historia militar del país en medio siglo (1874) (in Spanish). Luis Villamarin. ISBN 978-1-982043-77-3.
  4. Tiempo, Casa Editorial El (2 July 2010). "En Gámeza se escenificó combate que antecedió a batallas cruciales de la Independencia". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  5. Rosenthal, Joshua M. (2012). Salt and the Colombian State: Local Society and Regional Monopoly in Boyacá, 1821–1900. University of Pittsburgh Pre. ISBN 978-0-8229-7798-8.
  6. Uribe-Uran, Victor M. (1 March 2000). Honorable Lives: Lawyers, Family, and Politics in Colombia, 1780–1850. University of Pittsburgh Pre. ISBN 978-0-8229-7732-2.
  7. Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: F-O. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-33538-9.
  8. Vida y hazañas del prócer Juan José Reyes Patria (in Spanish). Academia Boyacense de Historia. 1985.
  9. González, María Teresa Suárez González; Hacienda, Boyacá (Colombia : Dept ) Secretaría de (2002). Así es mi Boyacá: el altar de la patria de todos los colombianos (in Spanish). Casa Editorial El Tiempo. ISBN 978-958-8089-79-9.
  10. Dixon, Jeffrey S.; Sarkees, Meredith Reid (2 October 2015). A Guide to Intra-state Wars. SAGE. ISBN 978-0-87289-775-5.
  11. 1871 a 1875 (in Spanish). M. Rivas. 1875.
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