![]() ![]() ![]() Today, this would be cause for an International Criminal Court prosecution for genocide similar to that recently faced by convicted Serbian and African leaders. The following June in the western state of Trujillo, an empowered Bolívar famously issued a Decree of War to the Death, whereby Venezuelan guerrillas were absolved of all acts of violence, murder or atrocities against Spanish citizens in Venezuela. His small but victorious army was rewarded with supplies, munitions and Bolívar was promoted to general by a grateful Colombian government in waiting. The defeated Spanish invaders had 20 dead soldiers and tens of wounded whereas Bolívar incurred only a tenth of that. The Spanish general was taken by surprise and rallied his troops who fled in the face of an uphill bayonet charge ordered by Bolívar who was not yet 30 years old. Bolívar and Castillo, with a force half the size of their target, then crossed the Zulia river and attacked Cúcuta on the morning of 28 February 1813, the last Sabbath of Lent. The letter was deliberately intercepted and the Spanish force turned and left the choke point for Cúcuta. He responded by sending a false letter that his counterpart, Colonel Castillo, was advancing on Pamplona to the south. Ordered to attack an 800-strong force of Spanish soldiers under General Ramón Correa, Bolívar began to display the makings of a guerrilla leader when he came upon the Spaniards guarding a high mountain pass. The road to Venezuelan independence and confirmation that Bolívar was a capable military leader began in the little known, or remembered, Colombian town of Cúcuta, which lay just west of the Venezuela border. During this period of his life, Bolívar successfully attacked and captured several towns and cities before being granted permission to continue the Venezuelan liberation movement. As the saying goes, it is better to be on the inside looking out than the outside looking in.īolívar went on to join the independence movement in the united provinces of New Granada, which approximated to modern day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama before it was put down by Spanish forces in 1816. Many early leaders of the Cuban Revolution and possible future competitors to Fidel Castro soon disappeared from public view by incarceration or death, such as Huber Matos and Camilo Cienfuegos. It was not an auspicious beginning for the man regarded as 'El Libertador' or more recently, American Liberator.Ī recurring characteristic of nationalist and guerrilla movements is the jockeying for power among the leadership whereby sub-groups are formed to push a particular person or cabal into the position of ultimate leadership and maintain that appointment. Simon Bolívar made a successful career of failures, defeats, elimination of competing fellow countrymen and repeated exiles, which manifested in the numerous early short-lived republics of Venezuela.Īfter a coup and unilateral declaration of independence by Venezuelan leaders in 1810, Bolívar then a colonel, was put in charge of the fortified coastal town of Puerto Cabello in 1812, which he soon lost to the advancing Spanish forces, in part due to the defection of his fellow commander, Francisco Vinoni.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |