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