Domingo Caycedo Domingo de Caycedo y Sanz de Santamaría ( 1783 – 1843 ) was a Colombian statesman who served as Vice - president of Gran Colombia and the Republic of New Granada , and due to the absence of the presidents , he himself served as President a total of eleven times , making him the person to have served more times as President of Colombia . He is also credited for creating the Republic of New Granada after the division of Venezuela and Ecuador . Biographic data . Caycedo was born in Santa Fe de Bogotá on August 4 , 1783 and died in Puente Aranda , near Bogotá , on July 1 , 1843 . Early life . Caycedo studied Law in the " Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario " ( nowadays known as Universidad del Rosario ) in Bogotá , where he later became its vice - rector ( deputy Headmaster ) . At an early age , he decided not to practice law , but rather became more interested in military and political activities . He later became a General of the Army and president of the country . He traveled to Spain , where he joined the army to fight against Napoleon . He also worked as secretary in the Spanish Cortes ( Congress ) . Military career . Upon realizing the events of July 20 , 1810 , in his motherland , Caycedo returns to America with Vicente Bolívar , brother of Simón Bolívar , the future “ Libertador ” and first president of Colombia , and he enlists in the Colombian revolutionary army . He became a member of the Advisory Council to General Antonio Nariño . He fought in the battles of " “ la Cuchilla del Tambo ” " y " “ la Plata ” , " where he is arrested by the Spanish troops . He is court martial as prisoner of war , found guilty of treason and sentenced to death . Thanks to the influence of his father - in - law , his wife Juana Jurado y Bertendona and some monetary payments to the Spanish authorities , his life is speared . He is freed under probation and he vanishes from the war theatre until the revolutionary triumph at the Battle of Boyacá ( Puente de Boyacá ) on August 7 , 1819 . Political career . Once again , after the revolutionary triumph of August 7 , 1819 , Caycedo returns to public life under the protection of Simón Bolívar . In 1827 he is appointed as Governor of Neiva , elected to Congress and ascended to General of the Army . He becomes part of the inner circle of Bolívar , whom in 1829 , appoints him , first , as Secretary of the Interior and a year later as Secretary of State . Afterwards , Caycedo is appointed as president of the " “ Consejo de Estado ” " ( the precursor of the Supreme Court ) to replace the retiring José María Castillo y Rada , whom decided to become member of Congress of the Gran Colombia . The Presidency . On April 1 , 1830 , when President Bolívar had to take a leave of absence from Bogotá to the Hacienda of Fucha , seeking to recover from an illness , Caycedo assumed the Office of Interim President . This would be the first of several occasions to act as President in this capacity . Later that same year , when Simón Bolívar , the Founding Father , irrevocably resigned to the presidency , Congress elected don Joaquín de Mosquera as president and Caycedo as vice - president . Because Mosquera was very ill and frail , Caycedo assumed the executive power as acting president on August 2 , 1830 . Caycedo was deposed , by the first coup d ’ état in the country , by the Venezuelan General Rafael Urdaneta on September 5 , 1830 . Months later , supported by the regrouped constitutional army , Caycedo proclaimed he was the legitimate president on April 11 , 1831 . He contacted General Urdaneta and invited him to a summit to discuss the future of the nation ’ s government . Urdaneta accepted , and on April 28 , 1831 , they met at Junats de Apulo , near the town of Tocaima . They both reach an agreement and sign the Accord of Apulo , by which General Urdaneta recognized Caycedo as acting president . Thus , Caycedo , once again , took office on May 3 , 1831 . Caycedo , as acting president , convened Congress . On November 15 , 1831 , Congress elected General Francisco de Paula Santander as president and General José María Obando as vice - president . A few years later Caycedo was elected to Congress , appointed Secretary of the Treasury and once again , six more times , Caycedo would act as interim president every time that president José Ignacio de Márquez needed to be absent from office for short periods of time . Finally , between 1841 and 1845 , during the presidency of Pedro Alcántara Herrán , Caycedo once again , acted as interim president twice during temporary absences by the president . As such , General Caycedo became the Colombian to have acted as president the most times , eleven in total .