| Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) is a Latin
| |
| | But the self-anointed leader did not
|
| American folk hero, revered for having
| |
| | hesitate to desert his soldiers and leave
|
| been a revolutionary freedom fighter, a
| |
| | them stranded after yet another of his
|
| compassionate egalitarian and a
| |
| | military exploits - an attempt to capture
|
| successful politician. He is credited
| |
| | Caracas - unravelled in 1816. He simply
|
| with the liberation from Spanish colonial
| |
| | defected to Haiti, letting his loyal
|
| yoke of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador,
| |
| | troops fend for themselves as best they
|
| Peru, and Bolivia, a country named after
| |
| | could.
|
| him. Venezuela's new strongman, Hugo
| |
| | There followed a string of successful -
|
| Chavez, renamed his country The
| |
| | even brilliant - battles and coalitions
|
| Bolivarian republic of Venezuela to
| |
| | with local warlords and politicians which
|
| reflect the role of his "Bolivarian
| |
| | culminated in the liberation of Peru. In
|
| revolution".
| |
| | 1824, Bolivar was declared dictator - or,
|
| Yet, while alive, Bolivar was a much
| |
| | to be precise, "Emperor" - of Peru and
|
| hated dictator and - at the beginning of
| |
| | commander in chief of its army. Bolivar
|
| his career - a military failure.
| |
| | liked power and its trappings. In the
|
| His aide and friend, Gen. Daniel O'Leary,
| |
| | constitution he composed in 1826, he
|
| an Irish soldier described him so:
| |
| | suggested that the president of Bolivia -
|
| "His chest was narrow, his figure
| |
| | the name given to the entire region,
|
| slender, his legs particularly thin. His
| |
| | except Peru - should be appointed for
|
| skin was swarthy and rather coarse. His
| |
| | life and should have the right to choose
|
| hands and feet were small .a woman might
| |
| | his successor.
|
| have envied them. His expression, when he
| |
| | This president - presumably, Bolivar -
|
| was in good humor, was pleasant, but it
| |
| | was described unabashedly by Bolivar
|
| became terrible when he was aroused. The
| |
| | himself as:
|
| change was unbelievable."
| |
| | "The sun which, fixed in its orbit,
|
| Bolivar explained his motives:
| |
| | imparts life to the universe. .Upon him
|
| "I confess this (the coronation of
| |
| | rests our entire order, notwithstanding
|
| Napoleon in 1804) made me think of my
| |
| | his lack of powers .a life term
|
| unhappy country and the glory which he
| |
| | president, with the power to choose his
|
| would win who should liberate it"
| |
| | successor, is the most sublime
|
| And, later, after a victory against the
| |
| | inspiration amongst republican regimes."
|
| Spaniards in 1819:
| |
| | In a letter to Santander, the Liberator
|
| "The triumphal arches, the flowers, the
| |
| | expounded:
|
| hymns, the acclamations, the wreaths
| |
| | "I am convinced, to the very marrow of my
|
| offered and placed upon my head by the
| |
| | bones, that our America can only be ruled
|
| hands of lovely maidens, the fiestas, the
| |
| | through a well-managed, shrewd
|
| thousand demonstrations of joy are the
| |
| | despotism."
|
| least of the gifts that I have received,"
| |
| | The National Geographic describes how:
|
| he wrote. "The greatest and dearest to my
| |
| | "William Tudor, the American consul at
|
| heart are the tears, mingled with the
| |
| | Lima, wrote in 1826 of the 'deep
|
| rapture of happiness, in which I have
| |
| | hypocrisy' of Bolívar, who allowed
|
| been bathed and the embraces with which
| |
| | himself to be deceived by the 'crawling,
|
| the multitude have all but crushed me."
| |
| | despicable flattery of those about him.'
|
| Venezuela became independent in 1811 and
| |
| | Later, John Quincy Adams would define
|
| Bolivar, being a minor - though
| |
| | Bolívar's military career as 'despotic
|
| self-aggrandizing - political figure, had
| |
| | and sanguinary' and state baldly that 'he
|
| little to do with it. After his first
| |
| | cannot disguise his hankering after a
|
| major military defeat, in defending the
| |
| | crown.' In Bogotá the U. S. minister and
|
| coastal town of Puerto Cabello against
| |
| | future president, Gen. William Henry
|
| royalist insurgents out to oust the newly
| |
| | Harrison, accused Bolívar of planning to
|
| independent Venezuela, he advocated the
| |
| | turn Gran Colombia into a monarchy:
|
| creation of a professional army (in the
| |
| | 'Under the mask of patriotism and
|
| Cartagena Manifesto). Far from being a
| |
| | attachment to liberty, he has really been
|
| revolutionary he, justly, opposed the
| |
| | preparing the means of investing himself
|
| reliance on guerrilleros and militiamen.
| |
| | with arbitrary power.' "
|
| He then reconquered Caracas, Venezuela's
| |
| | When, in 1828, a constitutional
|
| capital, at the head of a small army and
| |
| | convention in Colombia rejected
|
| declared himself a dictator. He made
| |
| | amendments to the constitution that he
|
| Congress award him the title of El
| |
| | proposed, Bolivar assumed dictatorial
|
| Libertador (the Liberator). The seeds of
| |
| | powers in a coup d'etat.
|
| his personality cult were sown. When he
| |
| | Now, Bolivar was the oppressor. He has
|
| lost Caracas to the royalists in yet
| |
| | murdered, or exiled his political rivals
|
| another botched campaign, he retreated
| |
| | throughout his career. He confiscated
|
| and captured Bogotá, the capital city of
| |
| | church funds and imposed onerous taxes on
|
| Colombia in December 1814.
| |
| | the populace. Consequently, the
|
| After a series of uninterrupted military
| |
| | "Liberator" faced numerous uprisings and
|
| defeats, Bolivar exiled himself to
| |
| | narrowly escaped an assassination
|
| Jamaica. In a sudden conversion, he
| |
| | attempt. By the time he died he was so
|
| published the Jamaica Letter (1815) in
| |
| | despised that the government of Venezuela
|
| which he supported a model of government
| |
| | refused to allow his body onto its soil.
|
| akin to the British parliamentary system
| |
| | It took 12 years of constant petitioning
|
| - yet, only following a phase of "guided
| |
| | by the family to let his remains be
|
| leadership" (identical to Hitler's
| |
| | interred in the country that he helped
|
| "Fuhrerprinzip").
| |
| | found.
|
