Rafael Uribe Uribe

Rafael Victor Zenón Uribe Uribe (12 April 1859 – 15 October 1914) was a Colombian lawyer, journalist, and general in the liberal party rebel army.

Uribe Uribe is best known for his political ideas in favor of the establishment of Guild socialism and trade unions in Colombia, his diplomatic work and his support of Colombian coffee growers in fighting diseases such as rust. One of his greatest contributions was, along with Benjamin Herrera, the founding of the Republican University that later became the Free University of Colombia. The Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture in Medellín is named after him.

Early years Uribe was born in the small town of Valparaíso, in the Sovereign State of Antioquia (now the Department of Antioquia) at his family's country estate of El Palmar on 12 April 1859. His mother educated him at home and he was reportedly a shy boy. In 1871, Uribe was accepted to the University of Antioquia, then attended a military school called School of the State, where he received martial training. He also studied sporadically in Buga, Capital of the Sovereign State of Cauca (Present day Department of Valle del Cauca) where he also joined the Liberal rebels of Cauca during the Colombian Civil War of 1876 and was wounded in combat.

Capture of Conservative Higher Command On 2 February 1900, Uribe Uribe's troops captured the Conservative Higher Command in a Hacienda named Teran. Between 11 May and 15 May 1900, he fought in the Battle of Palonegro, commanding his own division. The conservatives led by Próspero Pinzón won the battle and Uribe crossed the border to Venezuela.

In popular culture According to an interview given by Gabriel García Márquez to Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza in his book El Olor de la Guayaba (The Guava's Scent), the character of Col. Aureliano Buendía in One Hundred Years of Solitude was loosely based on Rafael Uribe. García Márquez's grandfather was under Uribe's command in the Thousand Days War.

The assassination of Uribe and its subsequent investigation by Marco Tulio Anzola Samper is explored in detail by the Colombian novelist Juan Gabriel Vásquez in his novel The Shape of the Ruins.

The 18th locality of the Capital District of the capital city Bogotá, Colombia is named for Uribe.