NELLY CASTRO DE PUPO
This important lady descends from her parents: Mrs. Enma Baute Borrego, an illustrious teacher graduated from the normal school of Santa Marta, and who taught Gabriel García Márquez to read, in Aracataca, and that is why when Gabo came to the Valley, in 1982, at the Festival Vallenato, in her honor, went especially to visit her, expressing: “I’m going to say hello to the woman who taught me to read.”
A brother-in-law of Mrs. Emma, named Mariano Barreneche, who was secretary of education in Magdalena, ordered Mrs. Emma to choose the teachers for the province, for this reason she had Clara Elina Baute and Albertina Baute Borrego appointed, who exercised their profession in Valledupar, in an exemplary manner and with great holiness.
Doña Emma’s sister, Prudencia Baute, was her teacher for the rest of primary school. Doña Nelly’s father was Pascual Castro Céspedes, a poor farmer, since, at that time, according to Doña Nelly, there were only three rich people in Valledupar: Francisco Valle, José Trinidad Mejía, and José Tobías Gutiérrez, from Patillal.
HER GRANDPARENTS
His maternal grandparents were: Josefa Borrego and José Manuel Baute Pavajeau; Her husband was Dr. Edgardo Pupo, lawyer, former mayor of Valledupar, former governor of Cesar, one of the founders of the MRL (Liberal Renewal Movement) founded by Alfonzo López Michelsen; he was also ambassador to the UN and consul in Panama. Edgardo Pupo studied business administration in New Orleans, in the United States, but he came to Valledupar to help people in need. He was the son of ‘Oscarito’ Pupo and Carmen Pupo. He was one of the first to help plant trees in Valledupar in 1972, sending a letter to the nurseries on the coast, tree-planting the avenues and asking the housewives to plant a tree in front of their homes and water it daily. the tree.
YOUR SOCIAL MANAGEMENT
Doña Nelly was one of the founders of the anti-tuberculosis league, where she did a great job obtaining drugs for this disease and getting the most seriously ill patients admitted to the Santa Clara hospital in Bogotá.
He did all this in the company of a great lady: Sonia Campo de Cuello, wife of the doctor Esteban Cuello, who was an apostle for 20 years protecting tuberculosis patients, since he was a specialist in respiratory diseases. At that time tuberculosis was called Consumption and he had no cure because antibiotics had not been discovered; Being consumptive at that time was like being a leper; Simón Bolívar died of consumption, this disease was produced by Coch’s bacillus.
THE PINK LADIES
Doña Nelly is also Dama Rosada, who together with Mirian Céspedes and Sonia Campo, carried out exemplary work to protect and help the most vulnerable neighborhoods. Doña Nelly founded the first school of Fine Arts supported by her husband, her doctor, Edgardo Pupo, who was governor, and by the distinguished lady Finacha Valle, director of the House of Culture, and who aspired to create a seedbed of artists; This was in the year 1982.
For the above reason, the three of them went to the city of Ocaña, in 1982, where there was already a very well organized House of Fine Arts; there they received all the instructions to found this institution, in the administrative area, the subjects of the curriculum and regulations on the infrastructure.
This school began operating in the house of Buenaventura de Armas (carrera 6 with calle 14), father of Eulalia de Armas (Yaya), who was a beauty queen and queen of the Valledupar carnival. Later, this school was transferred to the site where today the School of Fine Arts operates, behind the Government of Cesar, where today this entity provides higher education.
The first teachers of this new school founded in 1982 were the architect Hermel Daza as director and professor of photography and history of architecture, Gloria Castro as art history professor, Rita Fernández and Rita Mindiola as singing and choir teachers, Sofí Cotes as a dance teacher, ‘Checho’ Castro and Álvaro Martínez as painting teachers, Jaime Molina as a drawing teacher, Jorge Maestre as a sculpture teacher.
Many artists who today make the Upar Valley proud have graduated from this institution. This initiative contributed to art serving as therapy and keeping young people away from drugs and turning their sorrows and depressions into joy, creativity and works of art.
HIS STUDIES
Doña Nelly studied three years at the Sagrada Familia school and then went to Bogotá to finish high school at the Santa Clara school, run by German nuns, who taught her the art of gardening and the love of art.
They put them to plant fruits and vegetables. That is why Doña Nelly has a beautiful garden and many works of art in her house. It is a house where order, cleanliness, and beauty are breathed. In its decoration, money does not predominate, but works of art.
He had three children: Edgardo Enrique, who is the guardian angel of his old age, a very well educated young man with a fraternal and warm character. Ciro Castro who studied law at Santo Tomás University and became our great and exemplary mayor. Doña Nelly told me that she gave her a lot of support to raise her self-esteem even when she did not win the mayoralty, words that reveal a great mother and a potential psychologist. Her other son is Álvaro Eduardo, who is a military man and business administrator.
BY RUTH ARIZA COTES/SPECIAL FOR ELPILÓN