History of Güicán

History

By Lorraine Caputo

This sliver of mountain valley was inhabited by U’wa (Güicanes). When their cacique Güaicaní heard the dreaded Spanish were approaching, he lead his people in jumping from El Peñol de los Muertos to escape a life of slavery and disease at the hands of those invaders. The Jesuits subsequently established Güicán February 26, 1756. Some of the natives fled into the mountains and formed a resistance movement against the Spanish rule. A fire destroyed the village in 1860. After independence, Güicán became a hub of agricultural trade between the highlands and the eastern plains. At the vespers of the 21st century, Güicán found itself in the heated center of the country’s civil war and was occupied by the various forces. In 2003, the Colombian military began a clean-up operation of the entire region, and by 2005 the village was once more securely in the government’s hands.