Candelario Obeso

Candelario Obeso was a Colombian writer. Considered the forerunner of Black Poetry, his book "Cantos Populares de Mi Tierra" is one of the most important books of Colombian poetry in the 19th century. He wrote about Afro-Colombian knowledge and language, love, and social comedy and translated several literary works.

Born in Mompox (Colombia) on January 12th, 1849, Obeso had a short but busy life and died in Bogota on July 3rd, 1884. The poet led a life of constant traveling and performed multiple jobs: a teacher at a school in Sucre, head of the Cazadores battalion in the war of 1876, municipal treasurer of Magangué and consul of Tours, France, and national interpreter in Panama from 1872 to 1874. 

At 17 years old, Candelario Obeso went up the Magdalena River and took the road to Bogota. He had obtained a scholarship to study at the Military College, founded by General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. The departure from Mompox, the crossing of the Magdalena River, and his arrival in Bogota were related by Obeso in his poetry.

In 1873, he published several of his works in the newspaper El Rocío. As he was a polyglot, Obeso translated multiple literary works into Spanish. Also, he wrote drama, novellas, poetry, and educational texts.

In Bogota, Obeso lived a life of economic struggles and hedonism. Under the pressures of life, the writer drowns his sorrows. Unfortunately, he died at 35 years old, shooting himself in the chest. There is no clear evidence of whether it was suicide or an accident.