General
Juan José Neira

«Al soldado legítimo no lo mueve el odio a quien tiene en frente, sino el amor sagrado a las leyes que resguarda a su espalda».

Observe la gallardía de un hombre cuya espada impidió que la capital de la joven república cayera en el caos. Esta escultura inmortaliza al general Juan José Neira Velasco, el ilustre militar boyacense que entrelazó su destino con la libertad de América y la estabilidad de las instituciones colombianas. Visto aquí con su uniforme de gala de alta oficialidad, Neira encarna el valor inquebrantable de un estratega que sirvió bajo el mando de Simón Bolívar en las exigentes campañas del sur y en la liberación de Ecuador y Perú.

However, the golden pages of this bronze monument were written in 1840, during the bloody War of the Supremes. In the decisive Battle of La Culebrera, General Neira brilliantly led the government army, achieving a heroic victory that halted the advance of the rebel troops on Santafé de Bogotá. Although the lance wounds he received in that battle would cost him his life a few months later, his sacrifice preserved the legitimacy of the State. Married to one of the daughters of the celebrated tribune José Acevedo y Gómez, Neira also possessed a sensitive side: he was the protector who risked his own life to hide the poet Luis Vargas Tejada in a cave on his estates after the September Conspiracy of 1828. This work pays tribute to the warrior, the civilian, and the martyr of the law.