This article was given to The City Paper as an exclusive for Colombia by its author Gonzalo Guillén.

José Nieto Gil was unearthed two decades ago, during academic fieldwork by the father of Colombian sociology and respected historian, Orlando Fals Borda.

While the painting was exhibited, it was never presented as a unique work of an unknown Colombian President, but rather as that of a 19th century costeño General.

Juan José Nieto was born on June 24, 1805 in Cibarco, Atlántico.

Fals Borda claims that he was born at the foot of a matarraton tree while his parents Tomás Nicolás Nieto and Benedicta Gil were traveling.