Esteban Huertas López (1876–1943) was a Colombian and later Panamanian military commander. He was born in Boyacá,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. When he was 8 years old he ran away from home to join the army. Fighting in the civil war, he won many medals. In 1900 he lost his left arm when he fired a cannon. It was replaced by a wooden

prosthesis In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

. In 1902 he was promoted to the rank of general. Manuel Amador Guerrero managed to get Huertas on his side by spreading rumours that he would lose his title and be sent to the dangerous inlands of Colombia. In 1903 he took part in the revolution that led Panama to independence. On October 28, 1904 Huertas demanded two ministers from Amador's conservative cabinet resign. Fearing a coup, Amador disbanded the army and Huertas had to resign. Huertas died in Panama City in 1943.

Appearance in fiction

Huertas is portrayed as "General Esteban" in '' The Sharpie of the Culebra Cut'', a

Scrooge McDuck Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-American anthropomorphic Pekin duck. Like his nephew Donald Duck, he has a yellow-orange bil ...

comic by

Keno Don Rosa Keno Don Hugo Rosa (), known simply as Don Rosa (born June 29, 1951), is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his Disney comics stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, and other characters which Carl Barks created for Di ...

that is set in Panama in 1906. In the comic, General Esteban is a villain who wants to seize power in Panama to enrich himself using the Panama Canal (which he plans to rename Esteban Canal, and it would make him one of the most powerful and richest dictators in the world). As Rosa could find no real life Colombian or Panamanian villains, he based the villain off Huertas but only named him "General Esteban" to try to make a different, fictional character. After great treasure discovered by Scrooge McDuck and

Teddy Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

, Esteban's visions of power grow even greater as he can hire mercenaries, build armaments and even his own navy with the ancient gold. However, he is knocked down by a Parita

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

and extradited to Colombia. The Parita chief claims "we know well of the evil war chief Esteban".

External links

Basic information about Huertas
1876 births 1943 deaths Panamanian military commanders {{NorthAm-mil-bio-stub