Zapata, Felipe (1838–1902)

Felipe Zapata (b. 24 May 1838; d. 28 July 1902), Colombian Liberal journalist and politician. He was born in Bogotá to a family of the Santander elite and attended the Colegio de Piedecuesta in his home region. He was imprisoned after the Liberals' defeat at Oratorio (1860). As a delegate to the Rionegro Convention (1863), Zapata resisted the extreme federalists and the anticlericals among his colleagues. He was a leading opponent of General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera's increasing authoritarianism, a position revealed in articles published in La Unión (March-June 1866) and El Mensagero (November 1866–March 1867). In both these Bogotá newspapers, Zapata chipped away at his opponent with calm logic. He later served in several Liberal governments in ministerial roles and was minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain and France in 1874. Zapata did not hesitate to criticize the foibles of his fellow Liberals. He opposed Rafael Núñez but condemned the Liberal revolutionaries in 1885. He moved to London in that year, becoming a liaison with Francisco Javier Cisneros and British financiers. He died in London.

See alsoWar of the Thousand Days .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ramón Zapata, De los hombres que hicieron historia. Felipe Zapata (El Vidente) (1971).

Helen Delpar, Red Against Blue (1981), pp. 141-142 and passim.

Additional Bibliography

Delpar, Helen. Rojos contra azules: el Partido Liberal en la política colombiana, 1863–1899. Santafe de Bogotá, Colombia: Procultura, 1994.

                                        J. LeÓn Helguera