POLICARPA SALAVARRIETA

BY SARA JIMNEZ M.

HISTORICS DATES
Mara Policarpa Salavarrieta Ros known as
La Pola was a Neogranadine seamstress
who spied for the Revolutionary Forces
during the Spanish Reconquista of the
Viceroyalty
of
New
Granada.
The
historians dont know when she was born
exactly, but the they think that was in
1795. The popular version is that she was
born in the municipality of Guaduas,
Cundinamarca, between 1790 and 1796.

POLICARPAS LIFE
- In 1802 a smallpox epidemic broke out in the capital, killing
thousands, including Policarpas father, mother, brother Eduardo
and sister Mara Ignacia.
- She was lived with her sister Catalina, and after Policarpa went
to Santa Fe of Bogota, where she worked as seamstress enabling
her to gain access into the homes of royalists in Bogot, where
she obtained information to pass on to the insurgents. She was
said to have illegally distilled aguardiente, and that in 1817 she
plotted to persuade royalist troops to defect to the republican
cause.
- The great love of her life was Alejandro Sabarain, a rich men and
Spanish soldier, who gave the life for Policarpa and his ideals.

REVOLUTIONARY
- Like many other women, she
entered the prisoners cells to
take food to the soldiers, where
she informed the soldiers of the
movements and plans of the
rebel troops.
Policarpa
also
secretly
recruited young men to the
Revolutionary
cause;
with
assistance from her brother.
Together, they helped increase
the number of soldiers the

CAPTURE AND DEATH

- She was arrested in 1817 and on 14
November was shot dead in the main
square, Bogot. She was around 20
years old. She became a national
heroine.
-

When tried by the Viceroy, she was

asked if she was a conspirator. She
replied "yes" in a loud, clear voice.
She was condemned to death with
other seven compatriots.

COMMEMORATION

QUOTES
- Dont cry for my; cry for the slavery and prison of your
depressed compatriots; use you as example my destiny.
Raise you and resist the affronts that you suffer with so
much injustice.
- Assassins, you are capable of killing a woman. Tremble;
crown your attempt. Soon there will come the one who
will avenge my death.
- Vile soldiers, turn the weapon against the enemies of
your mother land. Indolent people. Diverse it would be
today your luck, if you knew the price of the freedom!
See that though woman and young woman, exceeds me
value to suffer the death and thousand more deaths.

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~
afzseb/partner/translation.php?lang=en&translatorId=3&personId=100
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policarpa_Salavarrieta
https://eyesoncolombia.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/policarpa-salavarrieta-colombias-1st
-heroine
/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux9shW2QhI8