Melissa’s Soapbox

Born in Caracas, Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) inherited a fortune as a child when his parents died as his blood line (originally from the Basque area of Spain) controlled most of the gold and copper deposits in Venezuela beginning in the 1600’s.  After the death of his parents, Bolivar spent time in Europe completing his education but ultimately returned to Venezuela.

Upon Napoleon’s appointment of Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain, Bolivar joined the group of patriots that seized Caracas in 1810 and proclaimed independence from Spain.  Shortly after Bolivar’s return from a diplomatic mission to England, the junta’s leader surrendered to the Spanish and Bolivar escaped to Cartagena in 1812 where he wrote his most famous work, the Cartagena Manifesto.  In the document, he detailed the political, social, economic, and natural causes of the fall of the First Republic including failures in the federalist system, the Caracas earthquake of 1812, the Catholic church, and poor administration.

After acquiring military command in Colombia, Bolivar led an invasion of Venezuela in 1813 named the Campaña Admirable (the Admirable Campaign), and received his nickname (El Libertador) at the occupation of Trujillo on June 9.  With the fall of Caracas, the Second Venezuelan Republic was born.

During this time, Bolivar dictated the Decreto de Guerra a Muerte (Decree of War to the Death) proclaiming that all Spaniards in South America who failed to proactively fight for independence from Spain would be killed, and all South Americans, even Spanish sympathizers, would be spared execution.  Largely considered more brutal than the likes of Attila the Hun, the declaration sought to escalate the revolution to a full fledged war between Venezuela and Spain rather than a civil war in Spanish colony.  Unfortunately, the declaration was frequently used to justify extreme brutality in the years to come.

By 1825, Bolivar maintained control of much of Central and South America including present day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Venezuela, and of course, Bolivia, through military defeat.  Unfortunately, the vast enterprise was difficult to manage and pockets of unrest within the newly independent republics arose within a year.  With the coalition on the edge of collapse, Bolivar called for a constitutional convention in Ocana, Colombia in 1828.  After the failure of the convention, Bolivar declared himself Dictator through the “Organic Decree of Dictatorship” on August 27, 1828.  This move went over badly with most of the empire and Bolivar narrowly avoided an assassination attempt one month later.

After pre-shipping many valuables to Europe expecting exile, Bolivar gave up the presidency on April 27, 1830 amidst major dissent and uprising, but died before departing for France.  Given the political circumstances at his death, Bolivar is ironically considered a classic liberal philosopher and a proponent of free markets, freedom of religion, limited government, and separation of powers.

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