Portal 2: Personal Information

Policarpa Salavarrieta 

Full name: Policarpa Salavarrieta Ríos

Age: Twenty two years

Nationality: Viceroyalty of New Granada

Birthplace: January 26, 1795 Guaduas, Viceroyalty of New Granada

Occupation

Policarpa Salavarrieta dedicated herself to dressmaking, and little by little she learned about and involved in independence activities, around 1809. On Sunday, July 22, the news of the cry of Independence and the events that aroused and preceded it met in Guaduas. Before the call of enlistment made in the towns to form the militias, as much the brother-in-law of Policarpa as his Bibiano brother was gotten up to the army in formation.

Some time later, Policarpa moved to Santafé, where she was received as a nanny and a lady in need, in January 1812, at the home of Mrs. María Matea Martínez de Zaldúa. Thanks to his ability to sew, he frequently visited the most imposing houses of the capital, which served to clarify in his mind the differences in the class society of the time.

Women were an important factor in maintaining high morale of the Santa Fe, as they actively collaborated in the development of uniforms and jackets, belts for the beasts, cleaning of weapons and preparation of food. They crossed the trenches with food, messages and encouragement. Policarpa Salavarrieta was involved in all these activities. At the end of the siege, on January 8 and 9, the Santa Fe people were triumphant.

For a month he was working with Mrs. Bárbara Romero, clandestinely distilled aguardiente, a procedure he had known since his stay in Guaduas, where the best aniseed in the region was produced.  At the end of 1813, Policarpa returned to Guaduas along with the Zaldúa family and there he remained next to his sister and, apparently, dedicated to teaching.

In 1815, Guaduas was taken by the Spaniards. La Pola then maintained a dangerous position of rejection and continued to collaborate, as far as he could, with the patriot cause. The tasks of intelligence fulfilled them with precision and effectiveness, because, as it was known in the city, could go out freely and enter the sewing of the Spanish ladies where collected useful reports on the movements of Spanish troops.

La Pola was arrested on the night of November 10, held in the Colegio Mayor del Rosario and executed, on November 14, 1817, together with her beloved Alejo and other patriots.