POLICARPA SALAVARRIETA

She was as a heroine of the independence of Colombia. She was born 26 January 1795, and she died in 14 November 1817. Policarpa was captured by Spanish Royalists and ultimately executed for high

treason. Because her birth certificate was never found, her legal given name is unknown. The name Salavarrieta is known only by the names her family and friends used.

Her date and place of birth can be surmised from information available about her siblings which, curiously enough, were not lost.

Her siblings were:

-María Ignacia Clara, born in the San Miguel parish of Guaduas August 12, 1789 – 1802

-José María de los Ángeles, baptised in Guaduas on August 12, 1790 - became an Augustinian friar

-Catarina, born in Guaduas, 1791

-Eduardo, born in Guaduas on November 3, 1792 – 1802

-Manuel, born in Guaduas on May 26, 1796 - also became an Augustinian friar

-Francisco Antonio, baptised in the Santa Bárbara parish, Bogotá, 26 September 1798

-Ramón, confirmed in Bogotá in 1800

-Bibiano, baptised in Bogotá, 1801.

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She also appear in the 10000 bill because she was very important

in the story of Colombia

Sergeant Iglesias, the principal Spanish officer in Bogotá, was charged with finding and arresting her. Policarpa Salavarrieta and her brother Bibiano were both arrested at the house of Andrea Ricaurte y Lozano and taken to the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, which had been turned into a makeshift prison.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the independence of Colombia in 1910, the Government of Colombia issued a series of stamps that featured the images of the some of the Heroes of the Independence, including Policarpa Salavarrieta, Simón Bolívar, Francisco de Paula Santander, Camilo Torres Tenorio and others. Between 1903 and 1904 the Department of Antioquia issued a blue 3 pesos stamp depicting La Pola.