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Do you know of any character in history who has a story that feels invented?

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Well, today I'll talk about a woman who literally became a spy to change history.

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I'm talking about Policarpa Salabarrieta, a Colombian woman who stepped into history as a heroine.

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She was born the 26th of January of 1795 in the village of San Miguel de Guaduas,

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which is in the department of Cundinamarca in Colombia.

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she was the youngest of seven children raised by a humble family that had the necessary to live

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and was respected by the village i guess you know the classic story of someone who changed

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history with little and brave actions but this woman's story can be hard to believe

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Policarpa is also called Apola by many or Apolonia the name her father gave her did you know she had

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a fake passport in which her name was Gregoria Apolinaria well there are many stories about her

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name but what I'm trying to say is that she was a rebel and was pretty good at hiding it.

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So let me explain what I'm talking about. At the beginning of the 19th century Colombia was

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suffering a lot of confrontation. Basically Colombian citizens didn't want to be a part of

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the system imposed by the Spanish crown at that time because it wasn't even beneficial for them

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but the Spaniards weren't going to make that easy. So two sides were created, the one of the

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Colombian citizens who wanted the independence of the nation, the patriots, and the people who

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defended the interests of the crown, called royalists. Many figures were involved in this

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movement that resulted with Colombia becoming independent in the end. But getting back to our

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story, La Pola moved to Bogotá, capital of Colombia, by using fake documents. She was a

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teacher in a public school, but she actually did some tasks that would help this revolution get

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ahead. So another of her jobs was to sew for the royalists' wives, and once with them, she would

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listen to their conversations and gather information about the plans of the royalists. I just can't

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believe how incasuous these people were. They completely underestimated the power of this woman,

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and she did many more things like buying war material. Sadly, her story ended when she was

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only 22. Some people she knew that were also involved in these missions were caught, and they

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had documents with her name so they found her too. It's said that the night before her death

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sentence she kept cursing the Spaniards for so long that she ended completely thirsty and when

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one of her guardians offered her a glass of wine she crossed it against them and shouted that she

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wouldn't even accept a glass of water from her enemies. She fought until the very end. It was

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the morning of November 14th of 1817, when she was in the gallow to be executed, and she gave an

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amazing speech. A fragment of it says, see that, although a woman and young, I have enough courage

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to suffer this death and a thousand more. Don't forget this example. Miserable people, I pity you.

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Someday you'll have more dignity. I am dying to defend the rights of my country.

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And she certainly wasn't forgotten, because of her remarkable story and her eternal bravery,

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which have also been captured in poems, books and even cinema.

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On the 10th of January of this year, 2023, a commemorative coin was released for the

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public in honor of the 200 years anniversary from her death.

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I hope you liked the video and this woman's story.

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Bye!