Policarpa salavarrieta biography of christopher kennedy

She was captured by Spanish Royalists and ultimately executed for high treason. The Day of the Colombian Woman is commemorated on the anniversary of her death. She is now considered a heroine of the independence of Colombia. The name Salavarrieta is known only by the names her family and friends used. Her father referred to her as Apolonia in his will, which Salvador Contreras, the priest who formalized the testament on 13 December , confirmed.

Her contemporaries referred to her simply as "La Pola," but Policarpa Salavarrieta is the name by which she is remembered and commemorated. Policarpa's date and place of birth are also subject to conjecture in the absence of legal documents.

What happened in the summer of 1967

Her date and place of birth can be surmised from information available about her siblings which, curiously enough, were not lost. In an attempt to reconcile the discrepancies the Colombian Academy of History gave its final ruling on September 10, , in favour of Guaduas, Cundinamarca, as Policarpa's birthplace. Without being titled or of the hidalgo class, Policarpa's family were apparently respectable and well-off, judging by her childhood home in Guaduas, now a museum.

Catarina, the oldest surviving child, decided to move back to Guaduas around , taking her younger siblings Policarpa and Bibiano with her. What is known is that she worked as a seamstress, and is also believed to have worked as a teacher in a public school.