Revolt of July 20, 1810

The Revolt of July 20, 1810[1] was a revolution initiated by the Creoles in the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada against the Spanish Empire that gave way to the Independence of what is known today as the Republic of Colombia.

Despite these events, in the viceregal capital of Santa Fe de Bogotá the Viceroy of New Granada Antonio Amar y Borbón refused to allow for the establishment of a junta despite the repeated requests of prominent educated and illustrated creoles of Santa Fe and deployed troops in conjunction with troops from the Viceroyalty of Peru to put down the revolt in Quito, in Venezuela too the Captain General of the province suppressed the revolt and arrested the conspirators.

Unconcernedly, one of the members of the Royal Audiencia, Hernández de Alba, made his voice heard to say: "Americans are toothless dogs: they bark but they do not bite.

"[4] With the collapse of the Supreme Central Junta of Seville with the capture of the city by French forces, the Spanish government fled to Cadiz establishing the Council of Regency.

With the situation deteriorating in New Granada the council decided to order the destitution of Amar y Borbon, sending a notification with the royal commissioner Antonio Villavicencio.

There they planned an insurrection against the viceroy, this group of conspirators would also try to win over the royal commissioner Antonio Villavicencio who was due to arrive in the coming days for the patriotic cause and at the same time promote a public unrest that would lead to the appointment of the long-awaited Governing Junta.

A crowd began to gather around the store when the situation exploded when Antonio Morales assaulted Llorente, causing a popular tumult of great proportions because it was a market day.

Llorente fled and took refuge in the Morenos' house, located on Calle Real, and then returned camouflaged to his home, but three hours later the fury of the crowd demanded that he be taken to jail for the inferred grievance, at this point the Mayor of Santa Fe, Jose Miguel Pey, attempted to calm the crowd, Pey had entered Llorente's store along with Camilo Torres and Lorenzo Marroquín where the commotion was occurring.

Gathering the crowd in front of the City Hall House, another conspirator José Acevedo y Gómez used his illuminated oratory skills with such mastery that from that moment on he was known as the People's Tribune.

Gómez spoke to the crowd telling them "If you miss this moment of effervescence and heat, if you let this unique and happy occasion escape, within twelve hours you will be treated as insurgents..." and he added, as he pointed with his hand at the door of the city prison: "See the dungeons, the handcuffs and the chains that await you..." A warm salvo of applause closed his speech.

In the capital the Viceroy had a significant number of troops to put down this revolt, the Spanish army units in the city were the Auxiliary Infantry Battalion of Santa Fe and the Viceroy's own cavalry lifeguard squadron along with an artillery squadron armed with many artillery pieces, however these troops were made up of mostly locals who sympathized with the revolt with some officers actively taking part in it these being Antonio Baraya Ricaurte and Jose Maria Moledo who arrested their Spanish commander Colonel Juan de Sámano.