José Camilo Clemente de Torres Tenorio (November 22, 1766 – October 5, 1816) was a Neogranadine independence leader and lawyer who also served as president of the United Provinces of New Granada.

[3] Torres was part of a generation that had witnessed the Insurrection of the Comuneros in 1781, and had experienced the independence of the United States in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789.

Antonio Nariño had translated into Spanish the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" in 1794, and had spread the influence of these ideas all throughout Latin America.

This translation led to Nariño being exiled, and many of the students in the Colegio del Rosario were in turn persecuted, including Torres.

[2] Antonio Nariño started publishing a small newspaper called La Bagatela in 1811, where he presented his centralist ideas for the government of the new country.

Meanwhile, king Ferdinand VII of Spain had been restored to power and sent a large army to quell the rebellions and reconquer the lost colonies.

The Spanish army, commanded by General Pablo Morillo led a violent, and successful military campaign that culminated in the capture of Santafé on May 6, 1816.