Marco Fidel Suárez

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Marco Fidel Suarez (1855–1927) was a Colombian political figure. He served as the president of Colombia between 1918 and 1921.

1 Early life
2 Presidency
3 Influence
4 Popular culture
5 External links

[edit] Early life

He came from a very poor background, born in a two-room hut in Hatoviejo, today the town of Bello, adjacent to Medellín in the highland department of Antioquia. An illegitimate child at a time when official records always distinguished between "natural children" and "legitimate children" (and the former status was a disadvantage for life), his mother was a laundress; his wealthy father refused to recognize him or provide for him in any way. Since his mother was unable to pay for him to attend the local primary school, he stood at a window of the school in an effort to observe the lessons. After a time he began to yell out answers to the teacher's questions when the other pupils couldn't answer. Eventually, the teacher, suitably impressed, invited him to attend class without having to pay.^{[citation needed]} Later on he joined a Catholic seminary but did not attain the priesthood as the seminary was closed.

He became a well known and distinguished philologist, writer and teacher. In the 1870s he participated in the civil conflict that took place in Antioquia, fighting on the side of Colonel Braulio Jaramillo, attaining a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant.

[edit] Presidency

As president he implemented the North Star policy which linked the foreign policy of Colombia with that of the United States. He was harassed by conservative opponents who politicized his illegitimate birth, and attempted to depict him as corrupt. His son died while studying in Pittsburgh, and he was forbidden from repatriating the body using State funds. At his initiative, income tax was established by law in 1918.

[edit] Influence

The house where he was born and lived in as a child is preserved as a museum.

[edit] Popular culture

It is a point of pride for Colombians that, supposedly, "more poets than soldiers have occupied the Presidency"; as a man of letters, Suarez falls into the former category.

Various popular stories are told about him. During a debate in Congress, an opponent referred to his illegitimate birth, and he responded thusly: "Sir: I am a child of love, it is true. You are a child of obligation."