Rafael Reyes Prieto | |
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1904 oil painting by Marco A. Salas
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5th President of Colombia | |
In office August 7, 1904 – July 27, 1909 |
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Vice President | Ramón González Valencia |
Preceded by | José Manuel Marroquín |
Succeeded by | Ramón González Valencia |
Personal details | |
Born |
Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Boyacá, Republic of New Granada |
December 5, 1849
Died | February 18, 1921 Bogotá, Colombia |
(aged 71)
Nationality | Colombian |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Sofía Angulo Lemus |
Children | Rafael Reyes Angulo Enrique Reyes Angulo Amalia Reyes Angulo Nina Reyes Angulo Sofía Reyes Angulo Pedro Ignacio Reyes Angulo |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Colombia |
Service/branch | National Army of Colombia |
Rank | General |
Commands | Army Chief of Staff |
Rafael Reyes Prieto (December 5, 1849 – February 18, 1921) was Chief of Staff of the Colombian National Army and President of Colombia (1904–1909).
Rafael Reyes was born in Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Boyacá, Colombia on December 5, 1849. He died in Bogotá on February 18, 1921. Rafael Reyes was the son of Ambrosio Reyes Moreno, who, a widower with five children, and remarried with Ms. Antonia Prieto and Solano, whose union there were four children, namely: Enrique, Maria, Rafael and Nestor. Ambrosio died when the eldest son of his second marriage, Enrique, was five.
His wife Sofia Angulo came from the high society of Popayan and married in 1877, whose union there were six children, namely Rafael, Enrique, Amalia, Nina, Sofia and Pedro Ignacio. In 1898 widower, and refuses to remarry.
After finishing his studies at age 17, he and his siblings constituted an exports company called Hermanos Reyes (Spanish from the Reyes Brothers) that shipped Quina (Cinchona officinalis) from the isolated jungles of the Amazon rainforest and Putumayo River (Colombia) to Europe (Quina was used in the treatment of malaria). After his success in diverse and lengthy explorations, settling towns and discovering unknown rivers throughout the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, the enterprise went into a decline in 1884: several ships sank down, workforce was diminished due to diseases and migration of personnel.Hermanos Reyes came to an end under dramatic circumstances after de death of his three brothers; Elías Reyes died of a heart condition, Enrique Reyes got the yellow fever, and Nestor Reyes, his younger brother, perished under gruesome circumstances in the Amazon, where he was eaten by the cannibalistic tribe of Witoto people. After his brother’s death and the falling prices of Quina, the enterprise of the Reyes Brothers (Hermanos Reyes), came to an end.