Quintín Lame

Who was Quintín Lame?

Manuel Quintín Lame Chantre was a Colombian indigenous rebel from the early 20th century who tried to conform an independent indigenous republic.

He was born in El Borbollón, Cauca, son of Mariano Lame, of Paez origin, and Dolores Chantre, of mixed indigenous origins. During the war of 1885 his sister Licenia, was raped. His brother Feliciano was killed in the Thousand Days' War. In 1901, he joined the army of the Colombian Conservative Party. In 1911 he started the Indigenous Movement. In 1914 he tried to make the Republic of Indigenas, formed by Cauca, Tolima, Huila and Valle. Because of this, he was arrested. His movement grew and became the "Guerra Racial". In 1921, after spending three years in jail, he joined the Tolima movement. In 1924 he wrote the book "El pensamiento del indio que se educó en las selvas colombianas". He died in 1967 in Ortega, Tolima.