Manuel Saturio Valencia

Manuel Saturio Valencia Mena (December 24, 1867 – May 7, 1907) was a Colombian intellectual, lawyer and popular leader who was the last person to be legally executed in Colombia.

Early life Manuel Saturio Valencia Mena was born on December 24, 1867, in Quibdó, the only son of domestic workers Manuel Saturio Valencia and Tránsito Mena. In his youth, he sang in the city's parish choir, and learned Latin and French from some Capuchin monks. In 1899, when the Thousand Days' War began, Valencia reached the rank of Captain in the government forces. He was self-taught, and worked as a music and singing teacher in several schools; as a judge and municipal ombudsman, and was the first black literary figure in the region. Some writers have been criticized for overexaggerating several aspects of his life story, including the level of oppression experienced by blacks in contemporary Colombia and the "mythologizing" Valencia as a martyr.