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Founded date: June 21, 1940

Founder's name: Heliodoro Barbosa

Historical review:

Barbosa called "PUERTA DE ORO DE SANTANDER", its privileged geographical location, its colorful valley on the banks of the Suárez River, have allowed it to become the nerve center of a vast region and the roads that converge there have made it a mandatory and one of the most thriving municipalities in the department.

Its first embryo was the town of Cite, today his village, founded by Matin Galeano on May 24, 1539 and which for many years held the category of municipality. Barbosa, emerged for the first time in legal life on October 1, 1939 precisely as a district attached to Our Lady of Cite, but its unusual development, especially caused by its vertiginous commercial growth, led the Department's Assembly to approve the ordinance N: 42 of June 21, 1940, making it the municipal seat.

Its name is a tribute to the Spanish general HELIODORO BARBOSA, who relentlessly fought the Ubazas Indians, residents of the region and who are said to be the most accurate macana bow shooters.

Conquest and Colonization

The main aboriginal nuclei that exist in the lands transferred by Martín Galeano are the following: The agataes, with Chipatá as head, and the clans and ranches in Guavatá, Ubasá, Güepsa and some other points: The yariguíes or lloriquíes, watered by the mountainous area that it runs long behind Velez well to the north; the guanes and chanchones on the eastern bank of the Sarabita river and slopes of the Mochuelo or Fonce; and something else to the east the chalalaes or charalás.

Neither one nor the other were concentrated in large populations. They were clans or family groups scattered here and there, with often dissimilar dialects and customs. That is why Galeano and his people were misled when they started their campaign, they thought they would find great towns and a lot of kindness, and in the end they only found a few groups, although they were fierce and fighting.

The conquerors set foot on these lands for the first time in the year 1539, when the conqueror Martín Galeano, fulfilling the orders of Don Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, to visit the Santanderean mountains in which he had to find some similar to those of Vélez (Spain). Martín Galeano, after having passed through different Guanes territories and fighting several battles with the Indians, in May 1539 camped on the banks of the Suárez River where today is Cite.

The mission was to found the city of Vélez, but circumstances did not allow and after citing several names for this camp they managed to agree and named it Cite. The soldiers camped in this place, exhausted by exhaustion, began to wonder what name they would give him, saying ... "Cite the name comrade, name you comrade." This is how cite was created.

The region was inhabited by the Ubasas Indians who were said to be the most accurate bow arrow shooters and their name Barbosa is in honor of Captain Heliodoro Barbosa, who fought an intense battle with the tribe and fought it relentlessly in which the Spaniards were on the verge of succumbing and after several days of intense battles the Spaniards were victorious, hence Martín Galeano, in recognition of the courage shown by the commander, ordered the erection of a bridge over the Suárez River which he named just Puente Barbosa, planting for the first time this name in the region. Among the first inhabitants of Barbosa who established their plant in these rich regions are the families with surnames Becaría, Escamilla, Ulloa, Moncada, Chaparro and González.

The first mass celebrated in the municipality was held in a family home officiated by the priest Joselin Parada, canon of the city of Tunja; then came the parents Angel Maria Olarte and Father Molina who temporarily to celebrate the masses at the Hacienda de Belchite (Moniquira, Boyacá).

Due to the need for the service, the Salesian Fathers from Tunja came to celebrate the Eucharist in a chapel made of cans, this approximately 50 years ago.

Later came the priests Oscar Horacio Osorio, Arnulfo Arango and Victor López, who in addition to their concern for the Christian life of the people living here were especially interested in the education of the children of the Barboseñas families and for this they founded the parochial schools in 1952 , San Luis Gonzaga and Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús.

Father Joaquín Niño Uran obtained official approval for these schools. Many of Barbosa's studious people have passed through his classrooms and they always remember him fondly. The parish priests have always been in charge of the school with a group or of teachers, accompanied and advised with affection and generosity for 25 years by the teacher Elba Judith Escamilla de Cornejo.

On August 25, 1950, the priest Víctor López arrived in Barbosa, who with his great vitality began the construction of the temple, which was built with the donations of its inhabitants and the insistence of its parish priest. The patron saint of Barbosa was chosen by competition, between the Virgin of Carmen and the Virgin of Fatima, carried out by Father Osorio in 1952, taking into account that whoever participated had to deposit a weight in the urn of their liking; being the winner the Virgen del Carmen.

The priests who have administered the parish of Barbosa since 1940 are: Valentin Mateus, Alfonso Cardenas Arenas son of Barbosa who celebrated his first mass on December 8, 1964. Rogelio Remolina, Jorge Velandia, Ernesto Serrano, Gonzalo Vargas, Pedro Elias Martinez, Mario Pimiento, Jesús Henry Rojas and their coadjutors Moisés Carreño, Jose Espedito Suarez, Gerardo Rojas was characterized by his dynamism and eagerness to ensure the good of the community, so with the help of the community he began the construction of the nursing home “Fundación Hogar Third Age My Home” on June 19, 1986 located two (2) kilometers from the municipal seat on the old road to Bucaramanga.

The advisory committee for this program is made up of: Leonardo Gómez Serna (Bishop of Socorro and San Gil) Manuel Castañeda Caro (Architect) Gustavo Becaria (Consulting Engineer) JORGE VALERO (Surveyor) Ángel Flórez (Assistant) Mario Farfán (Landscape Architect) In 1990 the priest Gilberto Becerra and his curate Edgar Jerez were appointed.

The Christian spirit of the inhabitants of this municipality has been nourished by the guidance of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, who arrived in January 1975. In 1984 the community of the divine teacher arrived and in 1989 this community was replaced by the sisters of Our Lady of Lourdes.



The municipality of Barbosa is located in the extreme south of the department of Santander, on the border with the department of Boyacá, in the province of Vélez and Ricaurte, on the banks of the Suárez River between the mountains that make up the Eastern Cordillera, at a distance of the capital of the country of 285 km and of Bucaramanga 214 km. Territorially it has a strategic location on the main national paved road No. 45 that connects Bogotá with Bucaramanga, for which Barbosa is known as the “Golden Gate of Santander ”.

The municipal seat of Barbosa is located on the left bank of the Suárez River, it has the following coordinates at 05 ° 55 ’57” north latitude and 73 ° 37 ’16” longitude west of the Greenwich meridian. The total area of ​​the Municipality is 46.43 km2, of which correspond to the rural area that is distributed between 1570 meters above sea level, basically in the extreme north of the territory, on the Suárez River, and 2050 meters above sea level on the borders with Vélez and Güepsa.

Limits of the municipality:

Barbosa limits by the north, with the municipality of Güepsa; to the south with the municipality of Puente Nacional, to the east with the Suárez River and the municipality of Moniquirá (Boyacá) and to the west with the municipalities of Vélez and Guavatá. With Vélez, it limits along the Santa Rosa blade, in a length of 7.5 kilometers; towards the extreme SW, with Guavatá for about half a kilometer, to the south with Puente Nacional along the Semiza stream, in a distance of three and a half kilometers, until its inflow with the Suárez River. From there, with the Suárez River in between, it borders the department of Boyacá, which at the height of the Liberty Bridge, on the national road (Tunja-Bucaramanga), describes a wide arc with a north direction.

The length of the eastern boundary on the riverbank is about 14.3 kilometers. The municipality of Barbosa communicates with Bogotá through Chiquinquirá, a paved road for the most part and begins the Carare crossroad (Puerto Berrío, on the Magdalena River). It also has an airport, useful for twin-engine aviation equipment.

Total extension: 46.43 Km2

Urban area extension:

Rural area extension:

Altitude of the municipal seat (meters above sea level): 1610

Average temperature: 21º C

Reference distance: 150

Economy

Main economic sectors of the municipality of Barbosa. Examining the information provided by the Chamber of Commerce of the city of Bucaramanga for the year 1999, and comparing its behavior in relation to the national case, as it refers to the average size per establishment of the different economic activities developed with the personnel that occupied, it is observed that on average 2.3 people are employed per establishment, with 1.1 in the primary sector, 2.4 in the manufacturing sector and 1.9 in the service or tertiary sector, with the latter standing out in commerce with 1.5 and the supply of electricity, gas and water with 10.7.

These records are lower than those registered at the national level, which in general terms was 4 employees per establishment, that of the manufacturing industry was 9.2 and that of commerce was 2.4. It should also be noted that of the total of 450 establishments that registered the information from the Chamber of Commerce, only 382 reported employed personnel, employing about 909 people.

In addition, it was established that 97.3% of the establishments had less than 10 employees and absorbed 81.3% of the total employed personnel with 739 employees and that only 2.7% of the establishments employed between 10 and less than 49 employees, absorbing 18.7% of the total formal employment in the municipality.

This determines that the business and therefore economic base of the municipality of Barbosa basically revolves around microenterprises and to a lesser extent on small businesses, which explains the low generation of direct employment in this sector in the municipality, which in some way implies the need to propose a comprehensive policy in order to promote and generate better sources of employment that result in the improvement of the quality of life of its inhabitants.

Regarding the form of business organization, about 83% of the business units were individually owned, 11% were limited companies, 3.3% were public limited companies and 1.3 de facto companies, the rest were associative companies. The structure of industrial employment also shows a worrying sectoral concentration.

The food activity, especially that related to the manufacture of confectionery and sandwiches, which represents 46.1% of this sector, occupies 57% of the industrial personnel, given that of the 128 jobs generated, 73 are offered by this subsector.







The Patron Saint of Barbosa: THE VIRGIN OF CARMEN

TYPICAL DISHES TO TASTE: Chorizo ​​hen Criolla Mute Skewer meat oreada Stuffed Mazamorra de Maíz Longaniza All these dishes can be enjoyed in the most typical of Barbosa Plaza de Mercado Antiguas Instalaciones del Ferrocarril that by the way where on Sundays the peasants bring their products to the great city ​​to sell.

TOURIST SITES: Piedra de Pato, site where the Suárez River Festival takes place just minutes from Barbosa, Santa Rosa Cave, Pozo del Orito, Novios Park, Emilio Ulloa Park.

In Barbosa it is the ideal place for rest and partying.

During the day you can visit the different hotels or spas that have excellent swimming pools and good services for your attention.

There are also different tourist attractions such as the Emilio Ulloa Park and the Alexandria Library recently inaugurated, the town of Cite 5 minutes from Barbosa, the Church of Cite, the Suárez river with entertainment such as canoeing, the La Loma viewpoint, among others.

But if what you want is the rumba, Barbosa has different establishments to party, have fun and make friends, the places are open from Sunday to Sunday and all are in the ninth race.

In Barbosa different festivities are celebrated throughout the year, highlighting the Suárez River National Festival where the Miss Latin Tanga Contest takes place on the first bridge of January of each year.

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