Stories of my country: "Lieutenant Pedro Camejo"

Ever since I started studying in high school and received history classes from my chemistry teacher, I began to want to know more about the stories he talked about. Yes, my chemistry teacher knew a lot about the heroes of my country, and when he finished the subject of his class, he began to gather with his students. I loved when he talked about the heroes of the country, but because of the way he told them, not the way history teachers in general tell it. Since then, I have been very impressed by the performance of the “first black” in the battles for the independence of Venezuela.

I wanted to know about him and other heroes, but today I will only narrate about the story of Pedro Camejo. This was the name of this hero, a simple slave in colonial times, and I say simple not in a derogatory way but in a hierarchical way, because he went from being a slave to being a hero of the country.

When Pedro Camejo, the slave of a landowner from the state of Apure, saw the man he worked under he never thought that he would end up serving in the military.

It happens that Camejo was a tall and stocky man and the owner of the farm was afraid of him because of Camejo's impetuous character. He handed Camejo over to forces loyal to the king. At first he thought that it would be a very good thing for him, since he had heard many times that at first one enters the militia as a poor common man and then leaves as a wealthy man with new clothes and some coin to live well the rest of their life .

While Camejo was in the forces opposing Bolívar's army, he realized that these battles were not what he imagined, and decided to desert. He retired to the plains and there he remained hidden until he decided to join the military ranks again, this time as a soldier in the military forces of the army of Bolívar, commanded in those places by General José Antonio Páez. It's here where he learns the meaning of "Homeland" and fights with great dedication.

The stories of the battles in which Camejo participated were many. One thing they talked about was how Camejo was always ahead of the General, and these stories eventually reached Bolívar's ears.

It's said that one time General Páez demanded that Camejo not stand in front of him at the start of battle, to which Camejo replied: "Ahead of me is the head of my horse." It's then that he receives the name of "Negro primero" (First black).

With this nickname, having deserted from the king's forces and the fact that this man was very skilled on horseback and with his spear, Bolívar wanted to speak with him.

He begins by asking why he left the king's military forces to join the libertarians, and that's when Camejo tells him: “out of greed” and tells Bolívar why he wanted to be a soldier, as well as other anecdotes, which Bolívar thought were those of a humble and honest man. He ends up convincing him that he is a worthy soldier of the libertarian forces.

Historians say that he was at the battle of Carabobo in 1821. The Negro Primero was part of one of the cavalry regiments presided over by General José Antonio Páez. And at one point in the middle of the battle he decides to retreat to where Páez was. Páez, feeling offended, yells at him: "Why are you running away!? Coward!" Camejo replies: "My General, i'm not running, I've come to say goodbye because I'm a dead man"

This story is one of the ones that impacted me the most in my life as a teenager, I wanted to keep reading about him. I later read that later on he was awarded the title of Lieutenant Pedro Camejo, for such heroic performance of his duties, in one of the most heroic battles in our country, such as the definitive liberation of Caracas from the Spanish forces.