Profile: Simon Bolivar El Liberator

Profile: Simon Bolivar El Liberator

History of Simon Bolivar
http://www.bolivarmo.com/history.htm

Simon Bolivar (1783-1830)

Simon Bolivar was one of South America's greatest generals.  His victories over the Spaniards won independence for Bolivia, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.  He is called El Liberator (The Liberator) and the "George Washington of South America."

Bolivar was born in July 24, 1783, at Caracas, Venezuela.  His parents died when he was a child and he inherited a fortune.  As a young man, he traveled in Europe.

As he returned to Venezuela, Bolivar joined the group of patriots that seized Caracas in 1810 and proclaimed independence from Spain.  He went to Great Britain in search of aid, but could get only a promise of British neutrality.  When he returned to Venezuela, and took command of a patriot army, he recaptured Caracas in 1813 from the Spaniards.

The Spaniards forced Bolivar to retreat from Venezuela to New Granada (now Colombia), also at war with Spain.  He took command of a Colombian force and captured Bogota in 1814.  The patriots, however, lacked men and supplies, and new defeats led Bolivar to flee to Jamaica.  In Haiti he gathered a force that landed in Venezuela in 1816, and took Angostra (now Ciudad Bolivar).  He also became dictator there.

Bolivar marched into New Granada in 1819.  He defeated the Spaniards in Boyar in 1819, liberating the territory of Colombia.  He then returned to Angostura and led the congress that organized the original republic of Colombia (now Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela).  Bolivar became its first president on December 17, 1819.

Bolivar crushed the Spanish army at Carabobo in Venezuela on June 24, 1821.  Next, he marched into Educador and added that territory to the new Colombian republic.  After a meeting in 1822 with another great liberator, Bolivar became dictator of Peru.  His army won a victory over the Spaniards at Auacucho in 1824, which needed Spanish power in South America.  Upper Peru became a separate state, named Bolivia in Bolivar's honor, in 1825.  The constitution, which he drew up for Bolivia, is one of his most important political pronouncements.

--Harvey L. Johnson

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http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7609/eng/bio.html


EL LIBERTADOR


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Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar was born in Caracas on July 24, 1783, to don Juan Vicente Bolívar y Ponte and doña Maria de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco. An aristocrat by birth, Simón Bolívar received an excellent education from his tutors, especially Simón Rodríguez. Thanks to his tutors, Bolívar became familiar with the works of the Enlightenment as well as those of classical Greece and Rome.
By the age of nine, however, Bolívar lost both his parents and was left in the care of his uncle, don Carlos Palacios. At the age of fifteen, don Carlos Palacios sent him to Spain to continue his education.

Bolívar left for Spain in 1799 with his friend, Esteban Escobar. En route, he stopped in Mexico City where he met with the viceroy of New Spain who was was alarmed with the young Bolívar argued with confidence on behalf of Spanish American independence. Bolívar arrived in Madrid on June of that same year and stayed with his uncle, Esteban Palacios.

In Spain, Bolívar met Maria Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa whom he married soon afterwards in 1802. Shortly after returning to Venezuela, in 1803, Maria Teresa died of yellow fever. Her death greatly affected Bolívar and he vowed never to marry again. A vow which he kept for the rest of his life.

After losing his wife, Bolívar returned to Spain with his tutor and friend, Simón Rodríguez, in 1804. While in Europe he witnessed the proclamation of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France and later the coronation of Napoleon as King of Italy in Milan. Bolívar lost respect for Napoleon whom he considered to have betrayed the republican ideals. But it was in while in Italy that Bolívar made his famous vow atop Mount Aventin of Rome to never rest until America was free.

Bolívar returned to Venezuela in 1807 after a brief visit to the United States. In 1808 Napoleon installed his brother, Joseph, as King of Spain. This launched a great popular revolt in Spain known as the Peninsular War. In America, as in Spain, regional juntas were formed to resist the new king. Unlike the Spanish junts, however, the American juntas fought against the power of the Spanish king, not only the person of Joseph Bonaparte.

That year, the Caracas junta declared its independence from Spain and Bolívar was sent to England along with Andrés Bello and Luis López Mendez on a diplomatic mission. Bolívar returned to Venezuela on June 3, 1811, and delivered his discourse in favor of independence to the Patriotic Society. On August 13 patriot forces under the command of Francisco de Miranda won a victory in Valencia.

On July 24, 1812, Miranda surrendered after several military setbacks and Bolívar soon had to flee to Cartagena. From there, Bolívar wrote his famous Cartagena Manifesto in which he argued that New Granda should help liberate Venezuela because their cause was the same and Venezuela's freedom would secure that of New Granada. Bolívar received assistance from New Granada and in 1813 he invaded Venezuela. He entered Merida on May 23 and was proclaimed "Libertador" by the people. On June 8 Bolívar proclaimed the "war to the death" in favor of liberty. Bolívar captured Caracas on August 6 and two days later proclaimed the second Venezuelan republic.

After several battles, Bolívar had to flee once more and in 1815 he took refuge in Jamaica from where he wrote his Jamaica Letter. That same year, Bolívar traveled to Haiti and petitioned its president, Alexander Sabes Petión, to help the Spanish American cause. In 1817, with Haitian help, Bolívar returned to the continent to continue fighting.

The Battle of Boyaca of August 7, 1819 resulted in a great victory for Bolívar and the army of the revolution. That year, Bolívar created the Angostura Congress which founded Gran Colombia (a federation of present-day Venezueal, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador) which named Bolívar president. Royalist opposition was eliminated during the following years. After the victory of Antonio José de Sucre over the Spanish forces at the Battle of Pichincha on May 23, 1822, all of northern South America was liberated. With that great victory, Bolívar prepared to march with his army across the Andes and liberate Peru.

On July 26, 1822, Bolívar met with José de San Martín at Guayaquil to discuss the strategy for the liberation of Peru. No one knows what took place in the secret meeting between the two South American heroes, but San Martín returned to Argentina while Bolívar prepared to fight against last Spanish bastion in South America.

In 1823 Bolívar took command of the invasion of Peru and in September arrived in Lima with Sucre to plan the attack. On August 6, 1824, Bolívar and Sucre jointly defeated the Spanish army in the Battle of Junín. On December 9 Sucre destroyed the last remnant of the Spanish army in the Battle of Ayacucho, eliminating Spain's presence in South America.

On August 6, 1825, Sucre called the Congress of Upper Peru which created the Republic of Bolivia in honor of Bolívar. The Bolivian Constitution of 1826, while never enacted, was personally written by Bolívar. Also in 1826, Bolívar called the Congress of Panama, the first hemispheric conference.

But by 1827, due to personal rivalries among the generals of the revolution, civil wars exploded which destroyed the South American unity for which Bolívar had fought. Surrounded by factional fighting and suffering from tuberculosis, El Libertador Simón Bolívar died on December 17, 1830.
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El Libertador
Brief biography of the life of Simon Bolivar
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7609/eng/toc.html

Versión en Español
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The Library
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Table of Contents
Complete table of contents of the Simon Bolivar Virtual Library

Our Mission
Information about the mission of the Simon Bolivar Virtual Library
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THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC: By MIGUEL CENTELLAS
Analysis of the republican ideology of Simon Bolivar
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7609/eng/repbol.html

MT. PLEASANT, 1995
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Simón Bolívar was a declared republican. Borrowing from the ancient Roman Republic and Anglo-French political thought combined with his own original ideas, Bolívar established his vision for republican government which blended the Enlightenment ideals of civil liberties with the Greco-Roman vision of civic virtue and restraints on the popular will. Bolívar rejected monarchic or empirial government as both unsuited for Spanish America and inconsistent with the principles of liberty and equality. Republics, as opposed to monarchies, "do not desire powers which represent a directly contrary viewpoint, have no reason for expanding the boundaries of their nation to the detriment of their own resources" (Jamaica Letter). American monarchies, Bolívar argued, would fall into the trap of European-style wars over territory, succession, and power.

In discussing civil liberties such as political equality and freedom of religion, Bolívar presented ideas similar to those of Rousseau and Locke; the Libertador's views on civil responsibilities reflected the influences of Plato and Cicero. Education was also touched upon by Simón Bolívar, especially in his Essay on Public Education, as a tool for governments to reeducate their citizens to the responsibilities and duties of participation in public life. Bolívar also commented on the weaknesses and limits of liberal democracy when writing to explain the necesity of a strong, republican form of government. All these ideas, which are discussed later, are distinct and separate from the Libertador's model for republican government presented throughout many of his writings. The specific atributes of Bolívar's model state are essential and are discussed in length below, but the basic principles of Bolivarist republicanism are:

Order as most important necessity.
Tricameral legislature with varied and broad powers composed of
A hereditary and professional Senate.
A body of Censors composing the state's "moral authority".
A popularly elected legislative assembly.
A life-term executive supported by a strong, active cabinet or ministers.
A judicial system stripped of legislative powers.
A representative electoral system.
Military autonomy.

Simón Bolívar asserted as early as 1812 in his Cartagena Manifesto that the revolutionary government's primary role was to restore order "without regards for laws or constitutions until happiness and peace have been destroyed". Historical conditions had deprived Spanish America of training and ability for self-rule after the break with Spain; Bolívar recognized that without order and stability the ensuing chaos would destroy what the heroes of the revolution had fought to establish -- political sovereignty for the people of Spanish America. Bolívar argued that the new nations of America needed "the care of paternal governments to heal the sores and wounds of despotism and war" (Jamaica Letter) and latter added that "[w]ithout responsibility and restraint, the nation becomes chaos" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia).
A strong government would not be despotic, but rather would allow the state "to use force in order to liberate peoples who are ignorant of the value of their rights" (Cartagena Manifesto). To Simón Bolívar, the independence armies had gained freedom from Spain for the Spanish Amarican nations; the struggle for the political liberty of its people was to be the next phase of the revolution. Lacking the traditions of political activity present in North America and England, the Spanish American people required that their new states be organized in such a way as to maintain order by checking the popular forces until they could be trained in the civic virtues. Bolivarism emphasizes the common good over the individual; unrestrained democratic expressions that harmed the general well-being of the state and nation must ultimately result in the loss of freedom for the individual. "The most perfect system of government is that which results in the greatest possible measure of happiness and the maximum social security and political stability ... we must hope that security and stability will perpetuate this happiness" (Angostura Discourse). Strong, central government prevents the anarchy that would destroy true freedom. The state, Bolivarism argues "molds the character of a nation and can set it upon the path to greatness, properity, and power" (Essay on Education).

The core of the Bolivarist state is the tricameral legislature. In his Message to the Congress of Bolivia, Bolívar argued that a bicameral legislature is ineficient since it means that both houses "are always found in conflict". The solution Bolívar proposed was the tricameral legislature ensuring that at all times at least two of the legislative bodies would be in agreement. The tricameral legislature Bolívar propsed is composed of a Chamber of Tribunes with the "right to initiate laws pertaining to finance, peace, and war"; a Senate to "enact the codes of law and the eccelesiastical regulations and supervise the courts and public worship ... appoint the prefects, district judges, governors, corregidores, and all the lesser officials of the department of justice"; and a body of Censors to "exercise a political and moral power ... [as] persecuting attorneys against the government in defense of the Constitution and popular rights ... [and] the power of national judgement, which is to decide whether or not the administration of the executive is satisfactory" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia).

The Chamber of Tribunes Bolívar proposed is to be the main legislative body of the government. It is this legislative body or chamber that Bolívar most frequently refered to as the "government". The executive and all other parts of the state are often written of as balanced against the government in a variety of ways; the executive and other legislative bodies are organized to act as checks to this first and greatest power of the state. These checks were created by Bolívar to prevent the Tribunes from becoming despotic and assuming the role of the executive branch of government. Following Montesquieu, Bolívar asserted that the "representative assembly should exercise no active function. It should only make laws and determine whether or not those laws are enforced" (Angostura Discourse). In his Message to the Grand Convention of Ocaña, Bolívar insisted that the legislative branch "should have only limited sovereignty", clearly distinguishing that its role, while central, must not be that of complete sovereignty over the state.

The republican Senate Bolívar envisioned would act as a "neutral force" in the state. Borrowing from the Roman and British models and Plato's Republic, Bolívar's republican Senate is an hereditary, not an elective, body. Justifying a hereditary legislative body, Bolívar argued that the role of the Senate is to act as a "neutral body to protect the injured and disarm the offender ... [it] would arrest the thunderbolts of the government and would repel any violent popular reaction" (Angostura Discourse). Bolívar's Senate is designed to act as a moderative force between the people and the government to prevent either from usurping too much power -- only a hereditary body can assume such a position. "To be neutral, this body must not owe its origin to appointment by the government or to election by the people, if it is to enjoy a full measure of independence which neither fears nor expects anything from these two sources of authority" (Angostura Discourse).

The Senate is composed of a body of virtuous, patriotic, and intellectual republican citizens through "enlightened education". Future Senators are to be educated in "a colegio designed especially to train these guardians and future legislators of the nation ... From childhood they should understand the career for which they have been destined by Providence" (Angostura Discourse). While the Senate does also reflect many of the attributes of the British House of Lords, the pre-condition of education maintains the integrity of the republican Senate; Senators must prove themselves worthy and knowledgeable to hold public office. These "guardians" are not expected to govern, but rather to act as political philosophers and guide the people and the government through the hazards of politics. Governments seek power and people seek liberty; the Senate is a force in the republic to balance the needs of both.

Moral authority in the republic rests upon the Censors. Alluded to in several writings, Bolívar elaborateed on this third legislative body in his Message to the Congress of Bolivia. The Censors are designed to act somewhat like the Supreme Court of the United States although it is not a judicial body. Bolívar's censors "are the prosecuting attorneys against the government in defense of the Constitution and popular rights" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). It is the Censors who hold the keys to the Constitution and protect its integrity; they check the other branches of the state to keep them from abusing their powers unconstitutionally. The Censors also maintain "the power of national judgement, which is to decide whether or not the administration of the executive is satisfactory" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). Bolívar did not elaborate on this point but it appears that he intended for the Censors to have a power equivalent to impeachment. The Censors "exercise the most fearful yet the most august authority" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). This branch of the legislature works to maintain and "safeguard morality, the sciences, the arts, education, and the press" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). While the Tribunes create laws and the Senate holds the keys to republican virtue, it is the Censors who protect the people and their civil rights from government abuses.

Bolívar headed his model republic with a restricted, life-term President who appoints his own successor "but his office will never be hereditary" (Jamaica Letter). The establishment of a life President or presidente vitalicio prevents the executive power from relying on or abusing popular support for policies; he uses his personal authority, much like the British monarch, to act as a figurehead to the republic while his ministers and legislature hold the real power of the executive. This President "is deprived of all patronage. He can appoint neither governors, nor judges, nor ecclesiastic dignitaries of any kind" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia); the only powers he holds is to name "the officials of the Ministries of the Treasury, Peace, and War; and he is Commander in Chief of the army" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). The government functions without the personal direction of the President; the Bolivarist republic, once set into motion, continues on with its own momentum. The personal demands on the President are not great, he is there to act as a symbol or hero for the republic and cannot constitutionally become a tyrant, nor can he hinder the republic with ineffective leadership. "Should the president be a man of no great talent or virtue ... he will be able to discharge his duties satisfactorily ... the ministry, managing everything by itself, will carry the burdends of the state" (Angostura Discourse).

While arguing in his 1819 Angostura Discourse that "[n]othing is more dangerous with respect to the people than a weak executive", Bolívar stressed the need for a non-active president when writing his Message to the Congress of Bolivia in 1826. The apparent conflict can be explained in this way: Bolívar saw the strength of the legislative body in 1819 Colombia and saw it as too powerful as a tool of government in relation to the contemporary constitution; for the proposed Bolivian model, the branches of government were divided to give each a separate role, not merely a separate power. The legislature creates laws and maintains the constitution -- without executive interference; likewise, the executive branch runs the bureaucracy of the state without legislative interference.

The executive cabinet envisioned by Bolívar is a bureaucratic body empowered to deal with the everyday running of the state and conducting foreign policy. The President can best be described as an icon for the people who holds no real authority other than his presence but who oversees the workings of the state. In Bolívar's republican model, the executive functions are conducted by the cabinet ministers and their subordinates. Working under a resctricted President, the "ministers, being responsible for any transgressions committed, will actually govern" (Angostura Discourse). The President appoints a Vice-President "who will administer the affairs of the state and succeed the President in office" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). Under the Vice-President, the cabinet ministers run the executive branch managing the finances and diplomatic relations of the state and enforcing the legislation of the Tribunes.

Unlike the United States' model of government, Bolívar's republic does not include a judicial "third branch" of government. Bolívar described the courts as "the arbiters of private affairs" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia) and did not grant them the power to revoke or challenge legislation. The only role of the justices and magistrates is to abide by the laws approved by the Tribunes or legislative assembly; the Anglo-American power of "judicial review" is reserved for the Censors -- a part of the legislative branch. Bolívar argued that "the judges are responsible for the enforcement of laws, they do not depart from them" (Angostura Discourse).

While limiting the positions available to direct popular election, Bolívar recognized that there is "[n]othing more important to a citizen than the right to elect his legislators, governors, judges, and pastors" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). The central republican state -- with the exception of the Tribunes -- is not popularly elected, but local government is left to the hands of the citizens. For the republic, Bolívar proposed a representative electoral system where "[e]very ten citizens will elect one elector" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). The electors are the citizens that will actually vote in republican elections. An elector is not required to own property, but he must "be able to write out his ballot, sign his name, and read the laws" (Message to the Congress of Bolivia). In the Angostura Discourse, the Libertador also divided citizenship into the classifications of "active" and "passive" citizenship. Only active citizens participate as electors in the republic and act as a "check on popular license" (Angostura Discourse) to prevent the masses from inadvertently acting against their own interests.

The limits on direct popular participation are consistent with the development of a life-term President and an hereditary Senate in the republican state proposed by Bolívar. Bolívar recognized that the people need to participate in government if they are to learn and develop civic virtues. But to ensure the triumph of justice over free will, Bolívar "confers only powers of control on the majority (Pouvoir majoritaire) and leaves the business of government to a minority (Pouvoir minoritaire) constituted by authority based on natural qualities of competence, honor, and will to command" (Belaúnde, Víctor Andrés, Bolivar and the Political Thought of the Spanish American Revolution, Preface).

The last foundation of the Bolivarist republic is an autonomous military. In his 1828 Message to the Grand Convention of Ocaña, Bolívar declared that the army "was the glory of freedom ... its obedience to the law, to the chief of state, and to its general were worthy of the heroic age of republican virtues" and then regrets that "[t]hese generous virtues have somehow been eclipsed by the new laws designed to regulate and control the army". The armed forces which had fought for Spanish American independence, Bolívar believed, deserve a special place in the republic; it is an institution that is to be honored and respected, not regulated by civilian leaders. "[T]he liberators ... are entitled to occupy forever a high rank in the Republic that they have brought into existence" (Angostura Discourse). Writing to General Nariño in 1821, Bolívar supported an autonomous military when he stated that "command of the army and the direction of the Republic must be kept separate" (Letter to Nariño). The military is not instituted as a tool of the government in the republic, but rather as another patriotic symbol -- much like the President -- of the republic's sovereignty and liberty.
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The above is only one section from a larger work entitled "Bolivarist Ideology" written under the direction of Dr. Thaddeus Zolty, Central Michigan University. The complete work was submitted for aproval on December, 1995.  
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Editor
About the editor of this website, Miguel Centellas

Works by Simon Bolivar
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Discurso en la Sociedad Patriótica
On the first aniversary of independence, Bolivar urges the need for action (en español)
(3 June 1811)

Manifiesto de Cartagena
In New Granada after the defeat of the first Venezuelan republic, Bolivar proposes invading Venezuela to liberate it (en español)
(15 December 1812)
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Proclamation to the People of Venezuela
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7609/eng/bolivar/venezuela1813.html

Known as the "Declaration of War to the Death," Bolivar opens a campaign against all Spanish-born in America 15 JUNE 1813
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SIMÓN BOLÍVAR, Liberator of Venezuela, Brigadier of the Union, General in Chief of the Northern Army

To his fellow-countrymen:

Venezuelans: An army of our brothers, sent by the Sovereign Congress of New Granada, has come to liberate you. Having expelled the oppressors from the provinces of Mérida and Trujillo, it is now among you.

We are sent to destroy the Spaniards, to protect the Americans, and to reestablish the republican governments that once formed the Confederation of Venezuela. The states defended by our arms are again governed by their former constitutions and tribunals, in full enjoyment of their liberty and independence, for our mission is designed only to break the chains of servitude which still shackle some of our towns, and not to impose laws or excercise acts of dominion to which the rules of war might entitle us.

Moved by your misfortunes, we have been unable to observe with indifference the afflictions you were forced to experience by the barbarous Spaniards, who have ravished you, plundered you, and brought you death and destruction. They have violated the sacred rights of nations. They have broken the most solemn agreements and treaties. In fact, they have committed every manner of crime, reducing the Republic of Venezuela to the most frightful desolation. Justice therefore demands vengeance, and necessity compels us to exact it. Let the monsters who infest Colombian soil, who have drenched it in blood, be cast out forever; may their punishment be equal to the enormity of their perfidy, so that we may eradicate the stain of our ignominy and demonstrate to the nations of the world that the sons of America cannot be offended with impunity.

Despite our just resentment toward the uniquitous Spaniards, our magnanimous heart still commands us to open to them for the last time a path to reconciliation and frienship; they are invited to live peacefully among us, if they will abjure their crimes, honestly change their ways, and cooperate with us in destroying the intruding Spanish government and the reestablishment of the Republic of Venezuela.

Any Spaniard who does not, by every active and effective means, work against tyranny in behalf of this just cause, will be considered and enemy and punished; as a traitor to the nation, he will inevitably by shot by a firing squad. On the other hand, a general and absolute amnesty is granted to those who come over to our army with or without their arms, as well as to those who render aid to the good citizens who are endeavoring to throw off the yoke of tyranny. Army officers and civil magistrates who proclaim the government of Venezuela and join us shall retain their posts and positions; in a word, those Spaniards who render outstanding service to the State shall be regarded and treated as Americans.

And you Americans who, by error or treachery, have been lured from the paths of justice, are informed that your brothers, deeply regretting the error of your ways, have pardoned you as we are profoundly convinced that you cannot be truly to blame, for only the blindness and ignorance in which you have been kept up to now by those responsible for your crimes could have induced you to to commit them. Fear not the sword that comes to avenge you and to sever the ignoble ties with which your executioners have bound you to their own fate. You are hereby assured, with absolute impunity, of your honor, lives, and property. The single title, "Americans," shall be your safeguard and guarantee. Our arms have come to protect you, and they shall never be raised against a single one of you, our brothers.

This amnesty is extended even to the very traitors who most recently have committed felonious acts, and it shall be so religiously applied that no reason, cuase, or pretext will be sufficient to oblige us to violate our offer, however extraordinary and extreme the occassion you may give to provoke our wrath.

Spaniards and Canary Islanders, you will die, though you be neutral, unless you actively espouse the cause of America's liberation. Americans, you will live, even if you have trespassed.

General Headquarters, Trujillo, June 15, 1813. The 3d [year].

SIMON BOLVAR
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Taken from: Lecuna, Vicente (comp.). Selected Writings of Bolívar. Trans. Lewis Bertrand. New York, The Colonial Press, 1951, pp. 31-32. Taken from: Lecuna, Vicente (comp.). Selected Writings of Bolívar. Trans. Lewis Bertrand. New York, The Colonial Press, 1951, p. 765.
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Manifiesto de Carúpano
(7 September 1814)

Congreso de Angostura
Venezuela liberated, Bolivar presents ideas for a political constitution (en español)
(15 February 1819)

Discurso ante el Congreso de Cúcuta
(3 October 1821)

Mensaje al Congreso de Bolivia
Asked by the Constituyent Congress of Bolivia, Bolivar presents his ideas for a political constitution
(25 May 1826)

Convención Nacional de Ocaña
Boliviar criticizes the constitution of Colombia and presents ideas for its remedy (en español)
(29 February 1828)

Congreso Admirable
Gran Colombia disintegrating, Bolivar presents his last message to its congress (en español)
(20 January 1830)

Proclamation to the People of Colombia
Nearing his death, Bolivar once more emphasizes his desire for a unified Gran Colombia.
(10 December 1830)

  Works by Other Authors
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Gerald E. Fitzgerald
"The Political Thought of Bolívar"
Brief introduction to the political thought of Bolivar
(The Hague, 1971)

Hendrick Barreto y Eli Saul Rojas
"Analysis de la Carta de Jamaica y Nuestra América" (en español)
(Barquisimeto, 1996)
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