As if Colombia’s Congress wasn’t months behind on schedule, a Conservative Party senator on Monday proposed to correct a “serious error” in the country’s national anthem.
According to Senator Ivan Clavijo, the text of the anthen — written initially as a poem by four-time President Rafael Nuñez, incorrectly mentions that the “Centaurs descend to the plains” while the historically correct thing to say would be “the Centaurs descended on the plains at the bridge of Boyaca.”
Additionally, the lawmakers told press he felt the anthem should include General Francisco de Paula Santander, one of the commanders of the army that defeated the Spanish royal army and secured Colombia’s independence.
Clavijo’s initiative was received with scorn on social media where Colombians took the opportunity to tell the senator to spend his time more judicially.
“Oh Gloria Inmarcesible” (O Unfading Glory) was originally written by Nuñez in 1870 and turned into a song by actor Jose Domingo Torres and opera singer Oreste Sindici. It was adopted as national anthem in 1920 and can be heard on national radio every day at 6AM and 6PM.
