This article is about two Nieto’s essays which allow us to analyze an identity, regional problem behind his proposal on federation. It seeks to show how his high degree of identity leads him to claim Cartagena’s culture, rejecting discrimination and producing symbolic elements that achieve social integration. It starts from the idea of the essay as a modern way in which it expresses a writer’s vital problem and, on the other hand, from Benedict Anderson’s postulates on nationalism. In this perspective, Nieto’s texts appear as an early testimony of Colombian regionalisms.