Biography of Simon Bolivar. Bolivar Simon - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information Simon Bolivar brief description
The terror of tyrants, the legendary liberator of Latin America in the 21st century becomes an instrument of tyranny in his homeland. This time - the tyranny of popularity.
In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in the city of Ciudad Bolivar, on Bolivar Street, at the Bolivar monument, portraits of Bolivar are sold. Inexpensive - three bolivars. In the capital of the country, Caracas, there are three sacred places: the house where Bolivar was born and raised, the National Pantheon, where his remains are buried, the presidential palace, where one chair is always empty at government meetings.
President Hugo Chavez says the chair is occupied by the ghost of Simon Bolivar. Without him, Chavez would have been an ordinary populist dictator, but in the person of Bolivar, he found roots in the past and prospects for the future for his regime. “Bolivarian socialism” is a unique design. To create something like this, you need to find in your own history a morally impeccable person who, while in power, did a lot of good. And declare that you will do everything like him. An angel at the helm of government is a rare occurrence, so Chavez was no less lucky with Bolivar than with oil.
Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) is a national hero of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Bolivia and Peru. When these countries were colonies of Spain, Bolivar led the fight for independence and won. He went down in history as the Liberator and is revered throughout Latin America.
Bolivar was born into a wealthy Basque family; he had plantations on which 2,000 slaves worked. Simon was left an orphan at an early age and was raised by a freethinking tutor. On horseback rides, he told Bolivar about Rousseau and Voltaire, spoke about the vileness of tyranny and the responsibility that the rich and enlightened bear for the whole of society. These thoughts sunk into the boy’s soul.
After studying at the military academy in Caracas, Bolivar went to Europe to continue his education. Most of all he was attracted to France - the country that executed the tyrant king and gave birth to General Bonaparte. Bolivar arrived in Paris and saw his idol put the imperial crown on his head and become Napoleon I. The young man wrote: “For me he is no longer a hero, but a hypocritical tyrant!” But almost all the French cried with emotion during the ceremony. “How big is the impact of celebrity!” - Bolivar remarked then. “If you are popular, everyone will forgive you” - this is the principle that he soon formulated. Bolivar himself did not use it, but Hugo Chavez adopted the maxim.
Napoleon sealed Simon Bolivar's fate by attacking Spain. The colonies refused to feed the weakened metropolis and declared independence. At home, Bolivar turned out to be one of the few educated people with military training. He led the rebel army, recruited a foreign legion in England and, after a long war, managed to achieve independence. Bolivar became president of Gran Colombia - a federation of the future Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador, and also neighboring Peru and Bolivia - a country named after him.
Having stood at the head of Gran Colombia, the Liberator found himself in a difficult position: the governors appointed by him dreamed of ruling independently, each in his own region. And for this it was necessary to get rid of the president. It is unknown how things would have turned out with Bolivar’s firmness and determination, if not for love.
It all started in Quito on June 16, 1822, when the army of Simon Bolivar victoriously entered the city. The Liberator himself rode ahead on a white horse in a full general's uniform. And he remembered the balcony from which the beautiful mulatto woman threw him a laurel wreath. She was 22 years old, her name was Manuela (Manuelita) Saenz, and she was the wife of a wealthy elderly doctor. Even when Bolivar became president, Manuelita did not divorce her husband - she simply forgot him. The young, energetic woman became Bolivar's eyes. During the day she traveled around the capital of Gran Colombia - Bogota - on a restive horse, and at night she guarded her friend's sleep.
On the night of September 25, 1828, Manuelita heard shooting, woke Bolivar and ordered him to get dressed and jump out the window. The conspirators burst into the bedroom, stabbing Ferguson's faithful adjutant at the door. They put a knife to Manuela’s throat and asked where Bolivar had gone. She calmly answered: “Probably at some meeting.” The killers lost time, they were caught and shot, but after the execution, members of the government and senators turned their backs on Bolivar. After consulting with Manuelita, the Liberator resigned. With tears in his eyes, he told parliament: “Independence is the only thing we have achieved. At the cost of everything else." And he went into exile. Eight months later he died of miliary tuberculosis. Manuelita did not return to her husband. She wandered and lived in poverty for another 26 years, selling tobacco and homemade jam in the Peruvian port of Paita. She had four mongrels who bore the names of the presidents of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador - the treacherous friends of the Liberator, who breathed a sigh of relief after his death.
This story inspired Gabriel García Márquez's novel The General in His Labyrinth (1989). Although the book is about the collapse of all illusions, Chavez declares it his favorite work and recommends everyone to read it. Imagine Stalin recommending a book about Krupskaya, who devotedly looks after the dying and disappointed Lenin in Gorki! But the Venezuelan president is building “Bolivarian socialism,” which means without lying, because Bolivar never lied. And what is the point of banning literary works or lying in the Internet era? And you won’t find any criticism of Bolivar on the Internet on any forum - his reputation is impeccable.
The personality cult of Simon Bolivar began in Venezuela back in 1842. A comrade-in-arms who had once betrayed the Liberator, the President of Venezuela, General Jose Antonio Paez (Manuelita gave his name to the nastiest mongrel), realized the importance of glorifying the past. The remains of the Liberator were transported from Colombia, where he died, to his native Caracas and buried in the cathedral, which in 1876 was transformed into the National Pantheon of Venezuela. And in 1879, the national currency of Venezuela was named “bolivar”. All subsequent presidents expressed admiration for Bolivar and even referred to his political views to justify their dictatorial habits. But Chavez went to the next level: he announced that 170 years after the death of the Liberator, the oligarchs usurped power and took over all the country’s wealth while the people ate banana peels, and now Bolivar is back in power - he sits in the government. Bolivar is popular, and part of his popularity goes to Chavez, who is “Bolivar today.”
Bolivar's Testament
In 1815, Simon Bolivar wrote an article that Chavez made his program. According to Bolívar, a federal system like the United States or the English constitutional monarchy require “merits and political talents far superior to ours.” In South America, democracy can only lead to “demagogic anarchy” or “unilateral tyranny.” We need a republic with greater powers for a president for life who chooses his successor. And also a parliament where seats in the upper house are inherited, as in England. This parliament makes laws and removes the president from office if he is unable to fulfill his duties. In parliament, Bolivar saw two parties: conservatives and reformers. The first are more numerous, and the second are brighter, and they balance each other. The President, with an eye on both parties, acts in the interests of the people.
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Bolivar, Simon (Simon Bolivar) (07/24/1783-12/17/1830) - one of the leaders of the struggle for the independence of the Spanish colonies in Latin America. The most famous man in the history of Latin America, he received the proud title of "Liberator" (EL Libertador) for the victorious revolutionary wars he led against Spanish rule in New Granada (renamed Colombia or "Grand Colombia" in 1819, which included what is now Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador), Peru and "Upper Peru" (present-day Bolivia), Bolivar - President of Colombia (1821-1830) and Peru (1823-1829)
Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas into the family of a Venezuelan Creole aristocrat. At the age of 16, the young man was sent to Europe, where he lived and studied for several years in Spain, France, and Italy. There he became acquainted with the works of Locke, Hobbes, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau and other prominent figures of the Enlightenment. The idea of independence for Spanish America captured Bolivar's imagination, and while in Rome, he vowed to liberate his country on the top of Monte Sacro. In 1807, he returned to Venezuela, stopping along the way in the United States, where he became acquainted with the life of a country that had recently won independence from the English metropolis. The liberation movement began a year after Bolivar's return to his homeland, when Napoleon's invasion of Spain weakened the position of local colonial authorities. Bolivar actively participated in the struggle, which ended with the resignation and expulsion of the Spanish governor from the country. Power in Venezuela passed into the hands of the revolutionary junta, which sent Bolivar to England to negotiate diplomatic recognition of the new government, supplies of weapons and equipment. Negotiations with the official authorities did not bring the desired results, but the envoy's important success was that he met with the prominent revolutionary Francisco de Miranda (who, after an unsuccessful attempt to liberate Venezuela from the colonialists in 1806, lived in European exile), and convinced Miranda to lead the liberation movement. movement in Venezuela. The country was in a state of ferment. In March 1811, the National Congress was held in Caracas, which adopted a draft constitution. On July 5, 1811, Venezuela was declared an independent republic. Bolivar stood at the head of the units defending Puerto Cabello, the most important port of the country, but as a result of the betrayal of one of the officers, the Spaniards broke into the fortress. The commander-in-chief of the revolutionaries, Miranda was forced to sign capitulation. He was handed over to the Spanish and spent the rest of his life in Spanish prisons.
Bolivar fled to Cartagena (present-day Colombia), where he published one of his famous documents, the Cartagena Manifesto. In it, he called on his fellow citizens to rally around the revolutionary forces and overthrow the Spanish colonial regime in Venezuela. Having led the revolutionary army, he defeated the Spaniards and on August 6, 1813, entered Caracas, where he was given the title of “Liberator” and transferred all powers over the “Second Venezuelan Republic.” However, in 1814, the Spaniards were able to win over the "llane ros" (local cattle breeders), who formed the backbone of their cavalry, and defeated Bolivar. Bolivar managed to escape and moved to Jamaica. In exile, he wrote a second historical document, “Letter from Jamaica,” in which he unfolded a grandiose plan to unite all the countries of Spanish America, creating a single state following the example of the constitutional monarchy in Great Britain. In it, legislative power should be exercised by a parliament of two chambers - the upper, formed on the hereditary principle (like the House of Lords) and the lower, elected by citizens. The state will be ruled by a president elected to this post for life.
Simon Bolivar is one of the most famous leaders of the war for the independence of the Spanish colonies in America. Considered a national hero of Venezuela. He was a general. He is credited with liberating from Spanish rule not only Venezuela, but also the territories in which modern Ecuador, Panama, Colombia and Peru are located. In the territories of the so-called Upper Peru, he founded the Republic of Bolivia, which was named after him.
Childhood and youth
Simon Bolivar was born in 1783. He was born on July 24th. Simon Bolivar's hometown is Caracas, which at that time was part of the Spanish Empire. He grew up in a noble Creole Basque family. His father came from Spain, taking part in public life in Venezuela. Both of his parents died early. The education of Simon Bolivar was carried out by the famous educator of that time, Simon Rodriguez, a famous Venezuelan philosopher.
In 1799, Simon's relatives decided to take him from troubled Caracas back to Spain. Bolivar also ended up there and began studying law. Then he went on a trip to Europe to get to know the world better. He visited Germany, Italy, France, England, Switzerland. In Paris, he attended courses at the Higher and Polytechnic schools.
It is known that during this trip to Europe he became a Freemason. In 1824 he established a lodge in Peru.
In 1805, Simon Bolivar arrived in the United States, where he developed a plan to liberate South America from Spanish rule.
Republic in Venezuela
First of all, Simon Bolivar turned out to be one of the most active participants in the overthrow of Spanish rule in Venezuela. In fact, a coup d'état took place there in 1810, and the following year the creation of an independent republic was officially announced.
In the same year, the revolutionary junta decides to send Bolivar to London to gain support from the British government. True, the British did not want to openly spoil relations with Spain, deciding to maintain neutrality. Bolivar nevertheless left his agent Louis Lopez Mendez in London to further conclude agreements on the recruitment of soldiers and loans for Venezuela, and he himself returned to the South American republic with a whole transport of weapons.
Spain was not going to quickly surrender to the rebels. General Monteverde enters into an alliance with the semi-wild inhabitants of the Venezuelan steppes, the warlike Llaneros. The head of this irregular military formation is José Tomas Boves, who had the nickname “Boves the Screamer.” After this, the war takes on a particularly fierce character.
Simon Bolivar, whose biography is given in this article, takes harsh retaliatory measures, ordering the destruction of all prisoners. However, nothing helps, in 1812 his army suffers a crushing defeat from the Spaniards in New Granada on the territory of modern Colombia. Bolivar himself writes the “Manifesto from Cartagena,” in which he describes what happened, and then returns to his homeland.
By the end of the summer of 1813, his troops liberated Caracas, Bolivar was officially proclaimed the “liberator of Venezuela.” The Second Venezuelan Republic is being created, headed by the hero of our article. The National Congress confirms the awarding of the title of Liberator to him.
However, Bolivar does not manage to stay in power for long. He turns out to be an indecisive politician who does not carry out reforms in the interests of the poorest segments of the population. Without gaining their support, he was defeated already in 1814. forces Bolivar to leave the Venezuelan capital. In fact, he is forced to flee and seek refuge in Jamaica. In 1815, he published an open letter from there, in which he declared the liberation of Spanish America in the near future.
Gran Colombia
Having realized his mistakes, he gets down to business with renewed energy. Bolivar understands that his strategic miscalculation was the refusal to solve social problems and liberate the Arabs. The hero of our article convinces Haitian President Alexandre Petion to help the rebels with weapons, and in 1816 he lands on the shores of Venezuela.
The decrees on the abolition of slavery and the decree on allocating land plots to the soldiers of the liberation army allowed him to significantly expand his social base and enlist the support of a large number of new supporters. In particular, the Llaneros, led by their compatriot José Antonio Paez after the death of Boves in 1814, go over to Bolivar's side.
Bolivar strives to unite all the revolutionary forces and their leaders around himself in order to act together, but he fails. However, the Dutch merchant Brion helps him occupy Angostura in 1817, and then raises all of Guiana against Spain. Not everything is smooth inside the revolutionary army. Bolivar orders the arrest of two of his former associates - Marino and Piar, the latter will be executed in October 17th year.
The following winter, a party of mercenary soldiers from London arrives to the aid of the hero of our article, from whom he manages to form a new army. Following their successes in Venezuela, they liberated New Granada in 1819, and in December Bolivar was elected president of the Republic of Colombia. This decision is made by the first national congress, which meets in Angostura. President Simon Bolivar goes down in history as the leader of Gran Colombia. At this stage it includes New Granada and Venezuela.
In 1822, the Colombians drove the Spaniards out of the province of Quito, which joined Gran Colombia. Now it is an independent state of Ecuador.
War of Liberation
It is noteworthy that Bolivar does not rest on this. In 1821, his volunteer army defeated the Spanish royal troops in the area of the settlement of Carabobo.
In the summer of next year, he negotiates with Jose de San Martin, who is waging a similar war of liberation, having already managed to liberate part of Peru. But the two rebel leaders fail to find a common language. Moreover, in 1822, San Martin resigns, Bolivar sends Colombian units to Peru to continue the liberation movement. In the battles of Junin and on the Ayacucho plain, they won a convincing victory over the enemy, defeating the last detachments of the Spaniards who still remained on the continent.
In 1824, Venezuela was completely liberated from colonists. In 1824, Bolivar became dictator of Peru and also headed the Republic of Bolivia, named after him.
Personal life
In 1822, Bolivar meets the Creole Manuela Saenz in the city of Quito. From that moment on, she becomes his inseparable companion and faithful friend. She was 12 years younger than the hero of our article.
It is known that she was an illegitimate child. After the death of her mother, she studied literacy in a monastery, left there at the age of 17 and lived with her father for some time. He even married her to an English businessman. She and her husband moved to Lima, where she first encountered the revolutionary movement.
In 1822, she left her husband and returned to Quito, where she met the hero of our article. Simon Bolivar and Manuela Saenz remained together until the revolutionary's death. When she saved him from an assassination attempt in 1828, she received the nickname “liberator of the liberator.”
After his death, she moved to Paita, where she sold tobacco and sweets. In 1856 she died during a diphtheria epidemic.
Collapse of Gran Colombia
Bolivar sought to form the Southern United States, which would include Peru, Colombia, Chile and La Plata. in 1826 he convenes a Congress in Panama, but it ends in failure. Moreover, he is beginning to be accused of trying to create an empire in which he will play the role of Napoleon. Party strife begins in Colombia itself; some deputies, led by General Paez, proclaim autonomy.
Bolivar assumes dictatorial powers and convenes a national assembly. They discuss changing the constitution, but after several meetings they cannot come to any decision.
At the same time, the Peruvians reject the Bolivian Code, depriving the hero of our article of the title of president for life. Having lost Bolivia and Peru, he founded the residence of the ruler of Colombia in Bogota.
Assassination
In September 1828, an attempt was made on his life. Federalists break into the palace and kill the guards. Bolivar manages to escape. The majority of the population is on his side, with the help of which the rebellion is suppressed. The head of the conspirators, Vice President Santander, is expelled from the country along with his closest supporters.
However, the very next year the anarchy intensified. Caracas declares the secession of Venezuela. Bolivar is losing power and influence, constantly complaining about accusations against him from America and Europe.
Resign
At the very beginning of 1830, Bolivar resigned, and soon after that he died near the Colombian city of Santa Marta. He gives up houses, lands and even pensions. Spends his last days admiring the scenery of the Sierra Nevada. The hero of the revolution was 47 years old.
In 2010, his body was exhumed by order of Hugo Chavez in order to establish the true cause of his death. But it never worked out. It was reburied in the center of Caracas in a specially built mausoleum.
Bolivarian
Simon Bolivar went down in history as a liberator who liberated South America from Spanish rule. According to some sources, he won 472 battles.
It is still very popular in Latin America. His name is immortalized in the name of Bolivia, many cities, provinces, and several monetary units. The multiple champion of Bolivia in football is called "Bolivar".
In works of art
It is Bolivar who is the prototype of the main character in the novel by the Colombian writer Marquez “The General in His Labyrinth.” It describes the events of the last year of his life.
Bolivar's biography was written by Ivan Franko, Emil Ludwig and many others. The Austrian playwright Ferdinand Brückner has two plays dedicated to the revolutionary. These are "Fighting the Dragon" and "Fighting the Angel".
It is noteworthy that Karl Marx spoke negatively about Bolivar. He saw dictatorial and Bonapartist features in his activities. Because of this, in Soviet literature the hero of our article was assessed for a long time exclusively as a dictator who acted on the side of the landowners and the bourgeoisie.
Many Latin Americans disputed this view. For example, Doctor of Historical Sciences Moisei Samuilovich Alperovich. Soviet illegal intelligence officer and Latin American Joseph Grigulevich even wrote a biography of Bolivar for the series “The Lives of Remarkable People.” For this, in Venezuela he was awarded the Order of Miranda, and in Colombia he was accepted into the local writers’ association.
On the big screen
The 1969 film "Simon Bolivar" tells in detail about the biography of the revolutionary. It is a co-production between Spain, Italy and Venezuela. The director of the film "Simon Bolivar" was the Italian Alessandro Blasetti. This was his last job.
The main roles in the film "Simón Bolivar" were played by Rosanna Schiaffino, Conrado San Martin, Fernando Sancho, Manuel Gil, Luis Davila, Angel del Pozo, Julio Peña and Sancho Gracia.
The national hero of Venezuela, General Simón Bolívar, was born on July 24, 1783 in Caracas (Venezuela) into a very wealthy Creole family. His full name, indicating the noble family of his parents, is Simon José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios. He had three older brothers and a sister, but she died shortly after birth.
After the defeat of the republic by Spanish troops in 1812, Bolivar settled in New Granada (now Colombia), and at the beginning of 1813, the rebel army he led entered the territory of Venezuela. In August 1813, his troops occupied the capital of Caracas and soon the Second Venezuelan Republic was created, led by Bolivar. The National Congress of Venezuela awarded Simon Bolivar the honorary title "Liberator".
However, the following year the rebels were defeated by the troops of General Boves in the battle of La Puerte. The leader of the Republicans again had to flee abroad with several of his like-minded people. He was forced to seek refuge in Jamaica, then in Haiti.
Thanks to his organizational talent, Bolivar quickly assembled a new army and even assembled a fleet under the command of the wealthy Dutch merchant Brion, who supplied him with money and his ships. On March 2, 1816, Brion defeated the Spanish fleet, and the next day Bolivar landed on the island of Margarita. The National Assembly proclaimed Venezuela a republic "one and indivisible" and elected Bolívar as its president on March 7, 1816.
The abolition of slavery (1816) and the decree on allocating land to the soldiers of the liberation army (1817) helped Bolivar gain the support of the broad masses.
In May 1817, Bolivar, with the help of Brion, captured Angostura (now Ciudad Bolivar) and raised all of Guiana against Spain. Following successful actions in Venezuela, his troops liberated New Granada in 1819. In December 1819, he was elected president of the Republic of Colombia proclaimed by the National Congress in Angostura, which included Venezuela and New Granada. In 1822, the Colombians expelled Spanish forces from the province of Quito (now Ecuador), which had annexed Colombia. In July 1822, Bolivar met in Guayaquil with Jose de San Martin, whose army had already liberated part of Peru, but was unable to agree with him on joint action. After the resignation of San Martin (September 20, 1822), he sent Colombian units to Peru in 1823, and in 1824 (August 6 at Junin and December 9 on the Ayacucho plain) the last Spanish forces on the American continent were defeated. Bolivar, who became the dictator of Peru in February 1824, also headed the Republic of Bolivia, created in 1825 on the territory of Upper Peru, named after him.
After the end of the war, Bolivar began organizing the internal government of the state. On May 25, 1826, he presented his Bolivian Code to the Congress in Lima. According to Bolivar's plan, the Southern United States was formed, which was to include Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, La Plata and Chile. On June 22, 1826, Bolivar convened the Continental Congress in Panama from representatives of all these states.
After the unification project became widely known, its author began to be accused of wanting to create an empire under his own rule, where he would play the role of Napoleon.
Shortly after the Congress of Panama, Gran Colombia disintegrated. In 1827-1828, Bolivar's power was overthrown in Peru and Bolivia, and in the next two years Venezuela and Ecuador separated from Colombia. A strong blow for Bolivar was the murder of his faithful comrade-in-arms, General Antonio de Sucre, in whom he saw his worthy successor. In January 1830, Simon Bolivar resigned, a few months later he briefly resumed the presidency, and on April 27, 1830, he finally retired from political activity. Bolivar headed to Cartagena with the intention of emigrating to Jamaica or Europe.
Bolivar died near Santa Marti (Colombia) on December 17, 1830, presumably from tuberculosis.
The personality cult of Simon Bolivar began in Venezuela in 1842. His comrade-in-arms, Venezuelan President General Jose Antonio Paez, who once betrayed the Liberator, realized the importance of glorifying the past. Bolivar's remains were transported from Colombia, where he died, to his native Caracas and buried in the cathedral, which in 1876 was transformed into the National Pantheon of Venezuela. In 2010, the remains of the Latin American liberator were ordered by head of state Hugo Chavez to check whether he had died of illness or was the victim of a conspiracy. It was announced that more than 50 criminologists and forensic experts will study the remains of the hero-liberator to establish the true causes of his death. As a result, experts were able to establish Bolivar’s identity by conducting several complex examinations with DNA samples from his deceased relatives, but
The name of Simon Bolivar is given to the state of Bolivia, of which he was the first president; state of Bolivar, city of Ciudad Bolivar and Peak Bolivar (5007 m) in Venezuela; also the Venezuelan currency is the bolivar; two cities and a department in Colombia, two cities in Peru, a strait between the islands of Fernandina and Isabela (Galapagos archipelago).
On October 15, 2010, a ceremony for Simon Bolivar took place in Moscow.
In 1989, the legendary Colombian writer Gabriel Marquez’s novel “The General in His Labyrinth” was published, in which the author tried to recreate the image of Simon Bolivar and answer a number of questions that determined the life and fate of the “Liberator”.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
(Bolivar, 1783 - 1830) - hero of the wars of independence with Spain in the countries of South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia are named after him); founder of Pan-Americanism, planned the creation of Gran Colombia.
Inspired by the views of European rationalists, Simon Bolivar vowed to free America from Spanish rule. Beginning in 1812, Bolivar took part in the Republican uprisings, and in 1819, having won a decisive victory at Boyaca, he secured the independence of New Granada (Colombia) from Spain. Two years later, he defeated the Spanish royalists at the Battle of Carabobo (June 1821), which brought independence to Venezuela.
Simon Bolivar then led his army into Ecuador and drove the Spanish out of Quito. In 1822, in Guayaquil, he met José San Martín. The leaders of the national liberation movement on the future of South America differed, and as a result, San Martin resigned from command of the troops; Already under the command of Bolivar, the Republican army expelled the Spaniards from Peru (1824), the last stronghold of colonialism on the continent. Bolivar agreed to become president of the Gran Colombia confederation (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama), but, unable to prevent the collapse of the confederation into three independent states in April 1830, he resigned.
