[1]: 131 Carlos Holguín Mallarino was born on 11 July 1832, in the town of Nóvita, Chocó when the region was still part of the department (state) of Cauca.

Both his uncle Manuel María Mallarino and his brother, Jorge Holguín, were Presidents of Colombia, as was his brother-in-law Miguel Antonio Caro, who succeeded him in office.

He then traveled to Bogotá, where he studied jurisprudence and obtained a degree in law at the Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé before his 20th birthday.

[1]: 131 Holguín enlisted in the army and participated in several military actions like the uprising against President José María Melo, the war against Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, and the conservative revolt against Aquileo Parra in 1875.

[1]: 131 During his presidency, Holguín devoted time, energy and resources to the betterment of the nation’s infrastructure, such as the improvement, restoration and development of main highways, railways, shipyards, sea ports, the waterways of the Atrato, Cauca, Magdalena and Nechí rivers, and the electric and telephone grids.

Under Papal arbitration, an agreement was reached in which Colombia was to pay compensation to Cerruti, although in an amount lower than that originally demanded by Italy.