Santiago Pérez de Manosalbas

Santiago Pérez de Manosalbas (March 23, 1830 – August 5, 1900) was a Colombian educator, lawyer, diplomat, writer, journalist, and statesman who was President of the United States of Colombia between 1874 and 1876.

Biographic data Pérez was born in Zipaquirá, Cundinamarca, on May 23, 1830, in what was then the Republic of New Granada. Born to a family of farmers, his parents were Felipe Pérez and Rosa Manosalbas. He was buried in the Batignolles Cemetery in Paris and there he rested until 1952, when his remains were repatriated and buried in the Central Cemetery of Bogotá.

Early life The Pérez de Manosalbas was not a family of means, and Santiago and his brother Felipe Pérez went to the local public school in Zipaquirá, but they excelled beyond their teachers' expectations. When the Director of Public Instruction Lorenzo María Lleras went to Zipaquirá to visit the school, he was impressed by Santiago and Felipe's talent and potential. Lleras decided to help them and took them with him to Our Lady of the Rosary University, where he was the rector. He later took them to the "Colegio del Espíritu Santo", a higher education school, which Lleras had founded. There, Pérez studied jurisprudence and on May 23, 1830, he received his law degree, although he never professed this occupation, as he was a man of letters and politics. He also served as Secretary of the Interior and Foreign Affairs between 1868 and 1870. Later, he was appointed ambassador to the United States.

Writer

Pérez started out early on in his life to write.

Selected works Vivo o muerto, novel in verse. Leonor, legend. El manual del ciudadano, an instruction pamphlet on how to be a good citizen. Jacobo Molai, a drama in five acts based on the life of Jacques de Molay. El castillo de Berkley, a historic drama in five acts composed in verse, based around the Berkley Castle. Economía política y estadística, a recompilation of Pérez’ works as a teacher of economy, published in 2002 by the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

Philology and linguistics As a literate, he wrote the Compendio de gramática castellana por un granadino, which became a required book for the instruction of the Spanish language in Colombia

For all his knowledge of the grammar and essence of the Castilian language, Pérez was elected member of the Academia Colombiana de la Lengua (Colombian Academy of the Language) as one of its original founders, along as other prominent members as Miguel Antonio Caro, and his former student Rufino José Cuervo among others.

Gramática filosófica del Idioma Español Compendio de gramática castellana por un granadino Gramática abreviada de don Andres Bello, written in 1881 in commemoration of the centenary of the great Venezuelan philologist Andrés Bello.

Memoirs Apuntes de un viaje por el sur de la Nueva Granada, memoir form his expedition in the Comisión Corográfica Memoria del secretario de lo Interior y Relaciones Exteriores al Congreso nacional de 1869

Theatre Jacobo Molai, an adaptation of his book of the same name. It debuted on November 15, 1851, in the Colegio Espíritu Santo and directed by his mentor Lorenzo María Lleras. El castillo de Berkley, inspired by his book, debuted on October 13, 1853, in the Maldonado Theater in Bogotá. Nemequene, drama inspired by the Muisca ruler Nemequene, 3rd zipa of Bacatá.

Translations Casarse o no casarse, “To Marry of not to Marry”, English comedy by Elizabeth Inchbald.

Journalism Pérez served as collaborator for the newspapers, El Neo-Granadino (1851), El Tiempo (1856), El Mensajero (1866), El Relator (1893), La Defensa and La América (1880). He published various articles on different topics including politics, literature and economy.