Simón BolÃvar
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February 15, 1819 – December 17, 1830
December 17, 1819 – May 4, 1830
August 12, 1825 – December 29, 1825
February 17, 1824 – January 28, 1827
Caracas, Venezuela
Santa Marta, Colombia
Simón José Antonio de la SantÃsima Trinidad BolÃvar Palacios y Blanco,Venezuelan, or commonly known as Simón BolÃvar (July 24, 1783 – December 17, 1830), was one of the most important leaders of Spanish America's successful struggle for independence from Spain, along with Argentine general José de San MartÃn.
After the triumph over the Spanish monarchy, BolÃvar participated in the foundation of Gran Colombia, a nation formed from the liberated Spanish colonies. BolÃvar became President of Gran Colombia from 1821 to 1830, President of Peru from 1824 to 1826 and President of Bolivia from 1825 to 1826.
BolÃvar is credited with contributing decisively to the independence of the present-day countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bolivia. Despite his use of explicit genocidal terror tactics (outlined in his Decree of war to the death), he is often revered as a hero in these countries, and is sometimes described as the "George Washington of South America."
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[edit] Family heritage and early life
Simón BolÃvar was born in Caracas, Captaincy General of Venezuela (now Venezuela). The BolÃvar aristocratic bloodline derives from a small village in the Basque Country (Spain), called La Puebla de BolÃvar, which is the origin of the surname.[1] His father descended remotely from King Fernando III of Castile and Count Amedeo IV of Savoy, and was provenient in male line of the family de Ardanza.[2] The BolÃvars settled in Venezuela in the sixteenth century.
A portion of their wealth came from the Aroa River gold and copper mines in Venezuela. However in 1632, gold was first mined, leading to further discoveries of extensive copper deposits. Towards the later 1600s, copper was exploited with the name "Cobre Caracas". These mines became the property of Simón BolÃvar's family. Later in his revolutionary life, BolÃvar used part of the mineral income to finance the South American revolutionary wars. Some people claim that his family grew to prominence before gaining great wealth. For example, the Caracas Cathedral, founded in 1594, has a side chapel dedicated to Simón BolÃvar's family.
Following the death of his father Juan Vicente BolÃvar y Ponte, 1st Marqués de San Luis, and his mother MarÃa de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco, he went to Spain in 1799 to complete his education. There he married MarÃa Teresa RodrÃguez del Toro y Alaysa in 1802, but on a brief return visit to Venezuela in 1803, she succumbed to yellow fever. BolÃvar returned to Europe in 1804 and for a time was part of Napoleon's retinue.
[edit] El Libertador
BolÃvar returned to Venezuela in 1807, and, when Napoleon made Joseph Bonaparte King of Spain and its colonies in 1808, he participated in the resistance juntas in South America. The Caracas junta declared its independence in 1810, and BolÃvar was sent to Britain on a diplomatic mission.
BolÃvar returned to Venezuela in 1811. In March 1812, BolÃvar was forced to leave Venezuela because of an earthquake that destroyed Caracas. In July 1812, junta leader Francisco de Miranda surrendered to the Spanish, and BolÃvar had to flee to Cartagena de Indias. It was during this period that BolÃvar wrote his Manifesto de Cartagena. In 1813, after acquiring a military command in New Granada under the direction of the Congress of New Granada in Tunja, he led the invasion of Venezuela on May 14. This was the beginning of the famous Admirable Campaign. He entered Mérida on May 23, where he was proclaimed as El Libertador, following the occupation of Trujillo on June 9. Six days later, on June 15, he dictated his famous Decree of War to the Death (Decreto de Guerra a Muerte). Caracas was retaken on August 6, 1813, and BolÃvar was ratified as "El Libertador", thus proclaiming the Venezuelan Second Republic. Due to the rebellion of José Tomás Boves in 1814 and the fall of the republic, he returned to New Granada, where he then commanded a Colombian nationalist force and entered Bogotá in 1814, recapturing the city from the dissenting republican forces of Cundinamarca. He intended to march into Cartagena and enlist the aid of local forces in order to capture Royalist Santa Marta. However, after a number of political and military disputes with the government of Cartagena, BolÃvar fled, in 1815, to Haiti, where he befriended the leader of the newly independent country. BolÃvar (granted sanctuary in Haiti) petitioned the Haitian leader Alexandre Pétion for aid.
In 1817, with Haitian soldiers and vital material support (on the condition that he abolish slavery), BolÃvar landed in Venezuela and captured Angostura (now Ciudad BolÃvar).
A victory at the Battle of Boyacá in 1819 added New Granada to the territories free from Spanish control, and in September 7, 1821 the Gran Colombia (a federation covering much of modern Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador) was created, with BolÃvar as president and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president.
Further victories at the Carabobo in 1821 and Pichincha in 1822 consolidated his rule over Venezuela and Ecuador respectively. After a meeting in Guayaquil, on July 26 and July 27, 1822, with Argentine General José de San MartÃn, who had received the title of Protector of Peruvian Freedom, in August 1821, after having partially liberated Peru from the Spanish, BolÃvar took over the task of fully liberating Peru. The Peruvian congress named him dictator of Peru, on February 10, 1824, which allowed BolÃvar to completely reorganize the political and military administration. BolÃvar, assisted by Antonio José de Sucre, decisively defeated the Spanish cavalry, on August 6, 1824, at JunÃn. Sucre destroyed the still numerically superior remnants of the Spanish forces at Ayacucho on December 9.
On August 6, 1825, at the Congress of Upper Peru, the Republic of Bolivia was created. BolÃvar is thus one of the few men to have a country named after him. The constitution reflected the influence of the French and Scottish Enlightenment on BolÃvar's political thought, as well as that of classical Greek and Roman authors.
BolÃvar had great difficulties maintaining control of the vast Gran Colombia. During 1826, internal divisions had sparked dissent throughout the nation and regional uprisings erupted in Venezuela, thus the fragile South American coalition appeared to be on the verge of collapse.
An amnesty was declared and an arrangement was reached with the Venezuelan rebels, but political dissent in New Granada grew as a consequence of this. In an attempt to keep the federation together as a single entity, BolÃvar called for a constitutional convention at Ocaña during April 1828.
He had seen his dream of eventually creating an American Revolution-style federation between all the newly independent republics, with a government ideally set-up solely to recognize and uphold individual rights, succumb to the pressures of particular interests throughout the region, which rejected that model and allegedly had little or no allegiance to liberal principles.
For this reason, and to prevent a break-up, BolÃvar wanted to implement in Gran Colombia a more centralist model of government, including some or all of the elements of the Bolivian constitution he had written (which included a lifetime presidency with the ability to select a successor, though this was theoretically held in check by an intricate system of balances).
This move was considered controversial and was one of the reasons why the deliberations met with strong opposition. The convention almost ended up drafting a document which would have implemented a radically federalist form of government, which would have greatly reduced the powers of the central administration.
Unhappy with what would be the ensuing result, BolÃvar's delegates left the convention. After the failure of the convention due to grave political differences, BolÃvar proclaimed himself dictator on August 27, 1828 through the "Organic Decree of Dictatorship".
He considered this as a temporary measure, as a means to reestablish his authority and save the republic, though it increased dissatisfaction and anger among his political opponents. An assassination attempt on September 25, 1828 failed, in part thanks to the help of his lover, Manuela Sáenz, according to popular belief.
Although BolÃvar emerged physically intact from the event, this nevertheless greatly affected him. Dissident feelings continued, and uprisings occurred in New Granada, Venezuela and Ecuador during the next two years.
[edit] Death and Legacy
BolÃvar finally resigned his presidency on April 27, 1830, intending to leave the country for exile in Europe, possibly in France. He had already sent several crates (containing his belongings and his writings) ahead of him to Europe.
He died before setting sail, after a painful battle with tuberculosis on December 17, 1830, in the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino in Santa Marta, Gran Colombia (now Colombia).
His remains were moved from Santa Marta to Caracas in 1842, where a monument was set up for his burial in the Panteón Nacional. The 'Quinta' near Santa Marta has been preserved as a museum with numerous references to his life.[3]
[edit] Relatives
Simón BolÃvar has no direct descendants. His bloodline lives on through his sister Juana BolÃvar y Palacios who married their maternal uncle Dionisio Palacios y Blanco and had two children: Guillermo and Benigna.
Guillermo died when fighting alongside his uncle in the battle of La Hogaza in 1817. Benigna Palacios y BolÃvar married Pedro Amestoy. Their great-grandchildren, Pedro (95), and Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa (90) live in Caracas. They are Simón BolÃvar's closest living relatives.[4]
[edit] Political legacy
Simón BolÃvar's political legacy has of course been massive and he is a very important figure in South American political history. Claims to the mantle of Simón BolÃvar have continued throughout modern times via the various shades of 'Bolivarianism'.
On his deathbed, BolÃvar asked his aide-de-camp, General Daniel Florencio O'Leary to burn the extensive archive of his writings, letters, and speeches. O'Leary disobeyed the order and his writings survived, providing historians with a vast wealth of information about BolÃvar's liberal philosophy and thought.
He was a great admirer of the American Revolution and a great critic of the French Revolution. BolÃvar described himself in his many letters as a "liberal". Among the books he traveled with when he wrote the Bolivian Constitution one is Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws.[5]
[edit] Honors
In addition to the statues shown elsewhere in this article, there is an equestrian statue commemorating BolÃvar's life and works in Washington, D.C., a statue at the UN Plaza in San Francisco, a statue in Rivadavia Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina, a statue in the Basque Country, Spain, a statue on the Reforma Avenue in Mexico City, a statue in Kingston, Jamaica, a statue in Cairo, Egypt. There is a five meter tall equestrian statue in San Salvador, El Salvador, in a square also called "Plaza BolÃvar".Another equestrian statue stands in the Piaza le Simone Bolivar in front of the British School, in Rome, where it is faces a equestrian statue of Jose de San Martin. A statue in Tegucigalpa,Honduras.A statue in San Juan de Puerto Rico, a statue signifying the friendship between Canada and South America in Ottawa (which caused some controversy at the time of its erection), and also a bust in Sydney, Australia, and an equestrian statue in Quebec City, in the Parc de l'Amérique Latine. A statue in Bolivar, Missouri, which was presented by President Rómulo Gallegos of Venezuela and dedicated by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. A central avenue in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, bears his name. Bolivar, West Virginia, bears his name and displays his bust, and Frankfurt, Germany, also has a bust of the general.
In Santiago (Chile) a monument celebrating Latin American Freedom, was erected in 1836 at the main square (Plaza de Armas),one of the panels was dedicated to Simón BolÃvar. Around 1836-40 a full size equestrian statue was erected in his honour located at a square at the beginning of the avenue that bear his name.
Furthermore, every city and town in Venezuela and Colombia (in this one each capital city but Pasto) have a main square known as Plaza BolÃvar, that usually has a bust or a statue of BolÃvar, the most famous of these Plaza BolÃvar are the ones in Bogotá and Caracas. The central avenue of Caracas is called Avenida BolÃvar, and at its end there is a twin tower complex named Centro Simón BolÃvar built during the 1950s that holds several governmental offices.
[edit] Places named in honor of BolÃvar
[edit] Other
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
[edit] External links
José Bernardo de Tagle President of Peru
February 1824 – January 1826 Succeeded by
Andres de Santa Cruz