FERNANDEZ-MADRID, Jose, South American poet, born in Cartagena, Colombia, 9 February 1789" died in Barnes Terrace, near London, England, 28 June 1829. In 1810 the University of Bogota conferred on him the degrees of doctor of laws and doctor of medicine. He was active among those who took part in the war for independence, was elected deputy to the convention of Cartagena in 1811, and then representative to the congress of New Granada. He distinguished himself in the assembly, and became its president. When the government of the united provinces of New Granada was established in 1814, Madrid became a representative of cartagena, and filled the office 1 until 1816. He succeeded Camilo Tortes in the presidency of the republic, 14 March 1816, under critical circumstances. The country was overrun with Spanish troops, and he was obliged to retreat before them to Popayan. He refused to surrender to the Spanish colonel, Latorre, and continued fighting valiantly against superior numbers, until he was finally obliged to resign the presidency to the congressional commission that accompanied him. The patriots were then defeated by Samano, their forces annihilated, and Madrid sought safety in flight, but was soon taken prisoner and transported to Havana in 1816. He lived there several years, supporting himself by practicing medicine, but in 1825 he returned to Colombia. He became the confidential agent of the Colombian government in Paris, and at the time of his death in June 1830, was minister to England.

He published a collection of poems under the title "Las Rosas" (Havana, 1822); two tragedies, "Atala" (1822), and "Guatimozin " (Paris, 1827); and articles on "Cultivation," " Commerce," "The Cultivation and Manufacture of Tobacco in Cuba," and "Goitres" ; medical notes on "The Yellow Fever," which have been translated into French; a metrical translation of Delille's "Les trois regnes de la nature," and numerous other works.

His son, Pedro Fernandez-Madrid, author, born in Havana, Cuba, in 1817; died in Serrezuela, Colombia, 7 February 1875, received his early education in Havana and Colombia, completing it in the University of Oxford, England. After his return to Colombia in 1842 he was president of the state of Boyaea, member of the Federal congress, and for many years sub secretary of foreign relations, but declined repeatedly to accept a portfolio himself, as he preferred to lead a studious life, teaching in different Colleges and at the University of Bogota, where he occupied the chair of philosophy and foreign languages. He was of very delicate constitution, and several years before his death failing health forced him to retire to the small village of Serrezuela, in the mountains, about twenty miles from Bogota, where he died. He contributed several articles to periodicals in Bogota, on international law, and the territorial rights of Colombia in the question of boundaries with the neighboring republics, of which he had made a profound study, and he also published works on "Nuestras Costas Incultas" and " La Costa de Mosquito."