Juan José Nieto

Juan José Nieto Gil was born on 24 June 1804 near Baranoa, into a poor mixed-race family that made a living from making candles. He taught himself to read, worked as a clerk, then entered politics on the Liberal side. Defeated in a civil war, he went into exile in Jamaica, where he wrote two historical novels. Returning in 1849, he founded a newspaper, proclaimed the abolition of slavery in Cartagena in 1851, governed the State of Bolívar and held the presidency for a few months in 1861: the only head of state of African descent Colombia has known. His official portrait was long whitened. He died in Cartagena in 1866.

In the catalogue 1

• NovelIngermina o la hija de CalamarJuan José Nieto · 1844not translated into EnglishLiterature