Vargas Swamp Lancers

Vargas Swamp Lancers
Vargas Swamp Lancers
Monumento a los Lanceros
Artist	Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt Eng. Guillermo Gonzalez Zuleta
Year	1970
Type	sculpture
Location	Boyacá, Colombia

Vargas Swamp Lancers, or Monument to the Lancers (Spanish: Monumento a los Lanceros), is a large sculptural complex realized by Colombian artist Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt and by engineer Guillermo Gonzalez Zuleta in the department of Boyacá (Colombia) as a memorial for the Battle of Vargas Swamp. It is the largest monument in Colombia.

This monument depicts the attack of the 14 lancers commanded by Colonel Juan José Rondón. It is 33 m high and was dedicated in the 150th anniversary of the Colombian Declaration of Independence (1970).

The Lancers

On July 25, 1819, while marching towards Santafé, the Republican army of Simón Bolívar, exhausted after passing across the Pisba paramount, faced a Spanish regular army commanded by Colonel José María Barreiro in what would be known as the Battle of Vargas Swamp. Bolivar's forces included the Llanero cavalry squadron of Llano Arriba armed with lances.

The terrain was better suited for the Spanish troops, and Bolívar's army faced adverse odds. After initial clashes between the infantry of both sides, the Spanish cavalry attempted a flanking attack on the republicans. At this moment Colonel Juan José Rondón a hero of the Battle of Queseras del Medio led his small detachment of 14 lancers and charged Barreiro's horsemen at a point where the Spanish regulars were crowded onto a narrow track through swampland. This sudden counter-attack by the lancers of the Llano Arriba squadron, as portrayed in the sculpture, was a decisive point in the winning of the battle. Bolívar's main force moved up in support of the lancers and Barreiro's army, after suffering 500 casualties, fell back covered by the 2nd Numanicia Battalion as a rearguard.^[1]

The 14 lancers (15 including Rondón) were:^[2]

Lieutenant Colonel Juan José Rondón
Captain Julián Mellao
Captain Valentin García
Captain Miguel Lara
Captain Domingo Mirabal
Captain Caledonio Sánchez
Lieutenant José de la Cruz Paredes
Lieutenant Rozo Sánchez
Lieutenant Pablo Matute
Lieutenant Pedro Lancheros
2nd Lieutenant Bonifacio Gutiérrez
2nd Lieutenant Saturnino Gutiérrez
2nd Lieutenant Miguel Segovia
2nd Lieutenant Pablo Segovia
2nd Sergeant José Inocencio Chincá

The monument

The monument designed by Arenas Betancourt and Colombian engineer Guillermo Gonzalez Zuleta, is a bronze sculpture, depicting the 14 soldiers and their horses, suspended in the air and framed in a concrete sculpture.

References

^ Hooker, Terry. The Armies of Bolivar and San Martin. pp. 10–11. ISBN 1-85532-128-9.
^ Riaño, Camilo (1969) La Campaña Libertadora de 1819, Bogotá, Editorial Andes, p. 235.