Bolívar, Simón

Bolívar, Simón. Known as “the Liberator.” 1783-1830.

South American revolutionary leader who defeated the Spanish in 1819, was made president of Greater Colombia (now Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador), and helped liberate (1823-1834) Peru and Bolivia.

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known as The Liberator

born July 24, 1783, Caracas, New Granada

died Dec. 17, 1830, near Santa Maria, Colombia

South American soldier and statesman who led the revolutions against Spanish rule in New Granada (now Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador), Peru, and Upper Peru (now Bolivia).

The son of a Venezuelan aristocrat, Bolívar received a European education. Influenced by European rationalism, he joined Venezuela's independence movement and became a prominent political and military leader. The revolutionaries expelled Venezuela's Spanish governor (1810) and declared the nation's independence in 1811. The young republic was defeated by the Spanish in 1814, and Bolívar went into exile. In 1819 he undertook a daring attack on New Granada, leading some 2,500 men over routes considered impassable. Taking the Spanish by surprise, he defeated them quickly. With the help of Antonio Sucre, he secured the independence of Ecuador in 1822. He completed José de San Martín's revolutionary work in Peru, freeing that country in 1824. On Bolívar's orders, Sucre liberated Upper Peru (1825). As president of both Colombia (1821–30) and Peru (1823–29), Bolívar oversaw the creation in 1826 of a league of Hispanic American states, but the new states soon began warring among themselves. Less successful at ruling countries than at liberating them, Bolívar exiled himself and died on his way to Europe.

Simón Bolívar, detail of an engraving by C.G. Childs.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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▪ Latin American leader

Introduction

byname  The Liberator , Spanish  El Libertador 

born July 24, 1783, Caracas, New Granada [now in Venezuela]

died December 17, 1830, near Santa Marta, Colombia

 South American (Latin America, history of) soldier and statesman who led the revolutions against Spanish rule in the Viceroyalty of New Granada (New Granada, Viceroyalty of). He was president of Gran Colombia (1819–30) and dictator of Peru (1823–26).

      The son of a Venezuelan aristocrat of Spanish descent, Bolívar was born to wealth and position. After his father died when the boy was three years old and his mother died six years later, his uncle administered his inheritance and provided him with tutors. At the age of 16, Bolívar was sent to Europe to complete his education. For three years he lived in Spain and in 1801 married the daughter of a Spanish nobleman, with whom he returned to Caracas. The young bride died of yellow fever less than a year after her marriage. In 1804, when Napoleon was approaching the pinnacle of his career, Bolívar returned to Europe. In Paris he encountered a former childhood tutor, Simón Rodríguez, who guided him to the writings of European rationalist thinkers such as Locke, Hobbes, Buffon, d'Alembert, and Helvetius as well as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. The idea of independence for Hispanic America took root in Bolívar's imagination, and, on a trip to Rome, standing on the heights of the Monte Sacro, he made a vow to liberate his country. In 1807 he returned to Venezuela by way of the United States, visiting the eastern cities.

Independence movement

      The Latin American independence movement was launched a year after Bolívar's return, as Napoleon's invasion of Spain unsettled Spanish authority. Bolívar himself participated in various conspiratorial meetings, and on April 19, 1810, the Spanish governor was officially deprived of his powers and expelled from Venezuela. A junta took over. To obtain help, Bolívar was sent on a mission to London, where he arrived in July. His assignment was to explain to England the plight of the revolutionary colony, to gain recognition for it, and to obtain arms and support. Although he failed in his official negotiations, he did foster the cause of the revolution by persuading the exiled Francisco de Miranda (Miranda, Francisco de), who in 1806 had attempted to liberate Venezuela single-handedly, to return to Caracas and to assume command of the independence movement.

      Venezuela was in ferment. In March 1811 a national congress met in Caracas to draft a constitution. After long deliberation it declared Venezuela's independence on July 5, 1811. Bolívar now entered the army of the young republic and was placed in charge of Puerto Cabello, a port vital to Venezuela. Treasonable action by one of Bolívar's officers opened the fortress to the Spanish forces, and Miranda, the commander in chief, entered into negotiations with the Spanish commander in chief. An armistice was signed (July 1812) that left the entire country at the mercy of Spain. Miranda was turned over to the Spaniards—after Bolívar and others prevented his escape from Venezuela—and spent the rest of his life in Spanish dungeons.

      Determined to continue the struggle, Bolívar obtained a passport to leave the country and went to Cartagena in New Granada (present-day Colombia). There he published the first of his great political statements, El Manifiesto de Cartagena, in which he attributed the fall of the First Republic to the lack of strong government and called for a united revolutionary effort to destroy the power of Spain in America.

      With backing from the patriots of New Granada, Bolívar led an expeditionary force to retake Venezuela. In a sweeping, hard-fought campaign, he vanquished the royalists in six pitched battles and on August 6, 1813, entered Caracas. He was given the title of Liberator and assumed political dictatorship. But the war of independence was just beginning. In 1814 Bolívar was once more defeated by the Spanish, who had converted the llaneros (cowboys) led by José Tomás Boves into an undisciplined but savagely effective cavalry that Bolívar was unable to repulse. Boves subjected Creole patriots to terrible atrocities, and his capture of Caracas and other principal cities ended the second Venezuelan republic. Narrowly escaping Miranda's fate, Bolívar fled to New Granada and eventually Jamaica.

      In exile, Bolívar wrote the greatest document of his career: La Carta de Jamaica (“The Letter from Jamaica”), in which he outlined a grandiose panorama from Chile and Argentina to Mexico. “The bonds,” wrote Bolívar, “that united us to Spain have been severed.” He proposed constitutional republics throughout Hispanic America, and for the former Viceroyalty of New Granada he envisioned a government modeled on that of Great Britain, with a hereditary upper house, an elected lower house, and a president chosen for life. The last provision, to which Bolívar clung throughout his career, constituted the most dubious feature of his political thinking.

Liberation of New Granada (New Granada, Viceroyalty of)

      By 1815 Spain had sent to its seditious colonies the strongest expeditionary force that had ever crossed the Atlantic. Its commander was Pablo Morillo. Bolívar meanwhile turned to Haiti, a small republic that had freed itself from French rule, where he was given a friendly reception as well as money and weapons.

      Three years of indecisive defeats and victories followed. In 1817 Bolívar decided to set up headquarters in the Orinoco region, which had not been devastated by war and from which the Spaniards could not easily oust him. He engaged the services of several thousand foreign soldiers and officers, mostly British and Irish, established his capital at Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar), began to publish a newspaper, and established liaison with the revolutionary forces of the plains, including one group led by José Antonio Páez (Páez, José Antonio) and another group led by Francisco de Paula Santander (Santander, Francisco de Paula). In spring 1819 he conceived his master plan of attacking the Viceroyalty of New Granada.

      Bolívar's attack on New Granada will always be considered one of the most daring in military history. The route of the small army (about 2,500 men, including the British legion) led through flood-swept plains and icy mountains, over routes that the Spanish considered nearly impassable. The Spaniards were taken by surprise, and in the crucial Battle of Boyacá (Boyacá, Battle of) on August 7, 1819, the bulk of the royalist army surrendered to Bolívar. Three days later he entered Bogotá. This was the turning point in the history of northern South America.

      Indefatigably, Bolívar set out to complete his task. He appointed Santander vice president in charge of the administration and in December 1819 made his appearance before the congress that had assembled in Angostura. Bolívar was made president and military dictator. He urged the legislators to proclaim the creation of a new state; three days later La República de Colombia was established, comprising the three departments of Cundinamarca (New Granada), Venezuela, and Quito (Ecuador). Since most of this territory was still under royalist control, it was largely a paper achievement. Bolívar knew, however, that victory was finally within his grasp. Early in 1820 a revolution in Spain forced the Spanish king to recognize the ideals of liberalism on the home front, an action that discouraged the Spanish forces in South America. Bolívar persuaded Morillo to open armistice negotiations, and the two warriors met in a memorable encounter at Santa Ana, signing in November 1820 a treaty that ended hostilities for a six-month period. When fighting was resumed, Bolívar found it easy, with his superior manpower, to defeat the Spanish forces in Venezuela. The Battle of Carabobo (Carabobo, Battle of) (June 1821) opened the gates of Caracas, and Bolívar's Venezuelan homeland was at last free. In the autumn of the same year a congress convened in Cúcuta to draft a constitution for Gran Colombia. Its provisions disappointed Bolívar. Although he had been elected president, he thought the constitution too liberal in character to guarantee the survival of his creation. As long as more urgent assignments claimed his attention, however, he was willing to put up with its weak structure. Leaving the administration to Santander, he asked permission to continue his military campaign.

      At the end of a year, Ecuador was liberated. In this campaign Bolívar was assisted by the most brilliant of his officers, Antonio José de Sucre (Sucre, Antonio José de). While Bolívar engaged the Spaniards in the mountains that defended the northern access to Quito, capital of Ecuador, Sucre marched from the Pacific coast to the interior. At Pichincha (Pichincha, Battle of) on May 24, 1822, he won a victory that freed Ecuador from the Spanish yoke. On the following day the capital fell, and Bolívar joined forces with Sucre on June 16.

      It was in Quito that the Liberator met the great passion of his life, Manuela Sáenz (Sáenz, Manuela), an ardent revolutionary who freely admitted her love for Bolívar and accompanied him first to Peru and ultimately to the presidential palace in Bogotá.

Liberation of Peru

      The territory of Gran Colombia—comprising present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama—had now been completely recovered from Spain, and its new government was recognized by the United States. Only Peru and Upper Peru remained in the hands of the Spaniards. It was the Peruvian problem that brought Bolívar and the Argentine revolutionary José de San Martín (San Martín, José de) together. San Martín had done for the southern part of the continent what Bolívar had accomplished for the north. In addition, he had already entered Lima and proclaimed Peru's independence. But the Spanish forces had retreated into the highlands, and San Martín, unable to follow them, decided to consult with Bolívar. On July 26, 1822, the two men met in the port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador (see Guayaquil Conference). Details of their discussions are not known, but presumably they covered completion of the military struggle in Peru as well as the subsequent organization of liberated Hispanic America. San Martín must have understood that Bolívar alone combined the military, political, and psychological assets needed to gain final victory over the powerful Spanish army in the highlands. Given the situation in Lima, where he faced mounting opposition, San Martín's presence there could only hinder the performance of that task. On his return from Guayaquil, San Martín resigned his office in Lima and went into exile, allowing Bolívar to assume sole direction of the war.

      The avenue that would lead to Bolívar's ultimate ambition was now open. In September 1823 he arrived in Lima. The Spanish army occupied the mountains east of the city, and its position was considered unassailable. Bolívar systematically assembled troops, horses, mules, and ammunition to form an army, and in 1824 he moved out of the temporary capital in Trujillo and ascended the high cordillera. The first major battle took place at Junín and was easily won by Bolívar, who then left the successful termination of the campaign to his able chief of staff, Sucre. On December 9, 1824, the Spanish viceroy lost the Battle of Ayacucho (Ayacucho, Battle of) to Sucre and surrendered with his entire army.

Bolivia

      Bolívar was now president of Gran Colombia and dictator of Peru. Only a small section of the continent—Upper Peru—was still defended by royalist forces. The liberation of this region fell to Sucre, and in April 1825 he reported that the task had been accomplished. The new nation chose to be called Bolivia after the name of the Liberator. For this child of his genius, Bolívar drafted a constitution that showed once more his authoritarian inclinations: it created a lifetime president, a legislative body consisting of three chambers, and a highly restricted suffrage. Bolívar was devoted to his own creation, but, as the instrument of social reform that he had envisaged, the constitution was a failure.

      Bolívar had now reached the high point of his career. His power extended from the Caribbean to the Argentine-Bolivian border. He had conquered severe illness, which during his sojourn in Peru had made him practically an invalid for months at a time. Another of his favourite projects, a league of Hispanic American states, came to fruition in 1826. He had long advocated treaties of alliance between the American republics, whose weakness he correctly apprehended. By 1824 such treaties had been signed and ratified by the republics of Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Central America, and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. In 1826 a general American congress convened in Panama (Pan-American conferences) under Bolívar's auspices. Compared with Bolívar's original proposals, it was a fragmentary affair, with only Colombia, Peru, Central America, and Mexico sending representatives. The four nations that attended signed a treaty of alliance and invited all other American nations to adhere to it. A common army and navy were planned, and a biannual assembly representing the federated states was projected. All controversies among the states were to be solved by arbitration. Only Colombia ratified the treaty, yet the congress in Panama provided an important example for future hemispheric solidarity and understanding in South America.

      But Bolívar was aware that his plans for hemispheric organization had met with only limited acceptance. His contemporaries thought in terms of individual nation-states, Bolívar in terms of continents. In the field of domestic policy he continued to be an authoritarian republican. He thought of himself as a rallying point and anticipated civil war as soon as his words should no longer be heeded. Such a prophecy, made in 1824, was fulfilled in 1826.

Civil war

      Venezuela and New Granada began to chafe at the bonds of their union in Gran Colombia. The protagonists in each country, Páez in Venezuela and Santander in New Granada, opposed each other, and at last civil war broke out. Bolívar left Lima in haste, and most authorities agree that Peru was glad to see the end of his three-year reign and its liberation from Colombian influence. In Bogotá, Bolívar found Santander upholding the constitution of Cúcuta and urging that Páez be punished as a rebel. But Bolívar was determined to preserve the unity of Gran Colombia and was therefore willing to appease Páez, with whom he became reconciled early in 1827. Páez bowed to the supreme authority of the Liberator, and in turn Bolívar promised a new constitution that would remedy Venezuelan grievances. He declared himself dictator of Gran Colombia and called for a national convention that met in April 1828. Bolívar refused to influence the elections, with the result that the liberals under the leadership of Santander gained the majority. Bolívar had hoped that the constitution of Cúcuta would be revised and presidential authority strengthened, but the liberals blocked any such attempts. A stalemate developed. Arguing that the old constitution was no longer valid and that no new one had taken its place, Bolívar assumed dictatorial powers in Gran Colombia. A group of liberal conspirators invaded the presidential palace on the night of September 25, and Bolívar was saved from the daggers of the assassins only by the quick-wittedness of Manuela Sáenz. But, though this attempt on his life had failed, the storm signals increased. Bolívar's precarious health began to fail. Peru invaded Ecuador with the intention of annexing Guayaquil. Once more Sucre saved Ecuador and defeated the Peruvians at Tarqui (1829). A few months later, one of Bolívar's most-honoured generals, José María Córdoba, staged a revolt. It was crushed, but Bolívar was disheartened by the continued ingratitude of his former adherents. In the fall of 1829, Venezuela seceded from Gran Colombia.

      Reluctantly, Bolívar realized that his very existence presented a danger to the internal and external peace of the nations that owed their independence to him, and on May 8, 1830, he left Bogotá, planning to take refuge in Europe. Reaching the Atlantic coast, he learned that Sucre, whom he had trained as his successor, had been assassinated. Bolívar's grief was boundless. The projected trip to Europe was canceled, and, at the invitation of a Spanish admirer, Bolívar journeyed to his estate near Santa Marta. Ironically, his life ended in the house of a Spaniard, where, toward the end of 1830, he died of tuberculosis.

Additional Reading

An excellent Spanish-language biography of Bolívar is Tomás Polanco Alcántara, Simón Bolívar: ensayo de interpretación biográfica a través de sus documentos (1994). Biographies in English include the classic Gerhard Masur, Simón Bolívar, 2nd ed. (1969); and David Bushnell, Simón Bolívar: Liberation and Disappointment (2004). A penetrating study of Bolívar's ideas is V.A. Belaunde, Bolívar and the Political Thought of the Spanish American Revolution (1938; reissued 1967). An abridged translation of the recollections of one of Bolívar's closest political and military aides (ends at 1826) is D.F. O'Leary, Bolívar and the War of Independence (1970). A slightly fictionalized biography of Manuela Sáenz is V.W. von Hagen, The Four Seasons of Manuela, a Biography: The Love Story of Manuela Sáenz and Simón Bolívar (1952). Sources of Bolívar's writings include Simón Bolívar, Cartas del Libertador, ed. by Vicente Lecuna, 12 vol. (1929–59), the most important collection of source material for the personality of Bolívar; and Simón Bolívar, El Libertador: Writings of Simón Bolívar, trans. by Frederick H. Fornoff and ed. by David Bushnell (2003), a useful introduction to the man and his image. Bolívar's widespread cultural influence is discussed in Christopher B. Conway, The Cult of Bolivar in Latin American Literature (2003).

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