Bolivar: American Liberator

by Arana, Marie

  the 3rd Division: Its leader was Colonel José Bustamante, a New Granadan, who ousted General Lara and a number of other Venezuelan officers and took over the position of commandant of the Colombian forces in Peru.

  Days later, she was arrested, etc.: Sáenz to Armero, Lima [n.d.], in Lecuna, “Papeles de Manuela Sáenz,” 507; Murray, For Glory and Bolívar, 46.

  “an insult to public honor and morals”: Vidaurre letter, Pilar Moreno de Angel, Santander, su iconografia (Bogotá: Litografía Arco, 1984), 351, quoted in Murray, For Glory and Bolívar, 47.

  shuffled onto a boat, etc.: Moreno de Angel; Murray, For Glory and Bolívar, 49.

  “I come to you with an olive branch”: SB, Proclama a los colombianos en Guayaquil, Sept. 13, 1826, in Groot, V, 147.

  That olive branch was his new constitution: Guerra, La convención de Ocaña, p. 81.

  “Once more, I offer you my services”: Ibid.

  it was not his place to govern: SB’s contemporary and minister, Restrepo, who later became a historian of record in Colombia, says this. Restrepo, III, 549.

  “Everywhere I look”: SB to Santander, Ibarra, Oct. 8, 1826, SB, Cartas: Santander–Bolívar, VI, 43.

  The only way to solve it: SB to Santander, Pasto, Oct. 14, 1826, ibid., 59.

  issuing government appointments, etc.: Restrepo, 549, quoted in Guerra, 88.

  He chafed at his aide O’Leary: SB to Páez, Bogotá, Nov. 15, 1826, SBO, III, 1458–60.

  “A dictatorship would solve everything”: SB to Santander, Sept. 19, 1826, ibid., 1441–42.

  abhor the word “dictator”: SB to the governor of Popayán, quoted in Guerra, 90.

  it was precisely what came to pass: Before leaving Lima, SB had sent Leocadio Guzmán, who traveled throughout Colombia, including Panama, to spread the word about SB’s constitution; Guzmán had urged leaders to press SB to assume dictatorial powers. Ibid., 75, 82–84.

  Santander was furious, etc.: Santander to SB, Bogotá, Oct. 8, 1826, ibid., 85–7.

  Santander wanted no part of it: O’Leary, Bolívar y la emancipación, 775.

  had already warned Bolívar: Santander to SB, Bogotá, July 19, 1826, ibid., 738.

  began to see newspapers, etc.: Guerra, 89.

  had told Santander months before: SB to Santander, Magdalena, July 8, 1826, SBO, III, 1395–97.

  “I fear that Colombia,” etc.: SB to Santander, Neiva, Nov. 5, 1826, SBO, III, 1456–58.

  he wrote to Sucre and Santa Cruz: SB to Santa Cruz, Pasto, Oct. 14, 1826, and Popayán, Oct. 26, 1826, SBO, III, 1449–50, 1453–56. In these, SB asks Santa Cruz to relay the contents to Sucre.

  suffering the pain of inflamed hemorrhoids: Slatta and Lucas de Grummond, 268.

  He was determined to disabuse, etc.: Bushnell, Simón Bolívar, 172.

  met with only a few “Vivas!” etc.: Guerra, 91.

  Viva la constitución!: Ibid.

  As a chilling rain began to drizzle, etc.: Ibid, 90–91, and for all subsequent details.

  “celebrating the army’s glories”: Ibid.

  a dazzling, conciliatory speech, etc.: Santander’s final words: “I will be a slave to the Constitution and to the laws, but a constant and loyal friend of Bolívar.” Ibid.

  vice president was not completely averse: Bushnell, Simón Bolívar, 173.

  talk of a bold, new day, etc.: Guerra, 91.

  “General Castillo opposed me and lost,” etc.: SB to Páez, Cúcuta, Dec. 11, 1826, SBO, III, 1472–74.

  Bermúdez and Urdaneta had declared: Liévano Aguirre, 436.

  Bolívar was advancing on Venezuela: SB to Páez, Puerto Cabello, Dec. 31, 1826, SBO, III, 1486–87.

  He issued a unilateral decree, etc.: SB, Proclama a los colombianos, Puerto Cabello, Jan. 3, 1827, Discursos, 280–81.

  Were they so short of enemies: SB said some version of this on several occasions, most notably on his arrival in Guayaquil, stepping ashore in Colombia after many years in Peru: “What!? Colombia now finds itself short on enemies? Are there no more Spaniards in the world?” Proclama en Guayaquil, Sept. 13, 1826, Discursos, 274; also Proclama en Maracaibo, Dec. 17, 1826, ibid., 278.

  Páez . . . had lost much of the support: O’Leary, Ultimos años, 109–14; DOC, XI, 74–77; O’L, II, 318–19, and VI, 20–21.

  “Enough of the blood and ruin”: SB to Páez, Puerto Cabello, Dec. 31, 1826, SBO, III, 1486–87.

  but he appeared with armed guards, etc.: Bushnell, Simón Bolívar, 175.

  Páez later wrote, etc.: Páez, Autobiografía, 370 fn.

  “A good omen,” etc.: SB, quoted ibid., 370.

  a shudder of dread: Ibid., 371.

  “When catastrophe forced weapons into my hands”: SB to the president of the Congress of Colombia, Cúcuta, Oct. 1, 1821, in O’L, XVIII, 541.

  “I, too, shall play the game”: SB to Santander, Potosí, October 27, 1825, SBSW, II, 547–49.

  in an open carriage, etc.: Páez, 372, and for subsequent details.

  “I value these symbols of victory”: Ibid., 373.

  had carried him four thousand miles: Liévano Aguirre, 454.

  Esteban, who had returned from Europe: SB to Esteban Palacios, Cuzco, July 10, 1825, SBSW, II, 514–15.

  an absence of thirty years: SB says twenty-five to thirty. SB to Santander, Cuzco, July 10, 1825, ibid., 515–19.

  His patriot sister, Juana: She was not in Caracas, as some others have claimed. She was in Barinas with her daughter, Benigna, who had a child that year. That she was not in Caracas is confirmed in SB to Briceño Méndez, Caracas, Jan. 13, 1827, and Jan. 25, 1827, SBO, III, 1494–1504. Benigna had a child in Barinas, Juana Clara Briceño y Palacios, born 1827: V. Dávila, Próceres trujillanos (Caracas: Imprenta Nacional, 1971), 328. Benigna had married Briceño Méndez, one of SB’s generals, who had since been appointed secretary of state in Bogotá. Not only was Briceño Méndez Bolívar’s nephew-in-law, he was also Santander’s brother-in-law. SB to Briceño Mendez, Caracas, Jan. 12, 1827, and Jan. 13, 1827, SBO, III, 1493–95.

  just graduated from school, etc.: This was Germantown Academy, which was founded in 1759 and still exists today. The father of Louisa May Alcott (A. Bronson Alcott) was its headmaster at the time. Rivolba, Recuerdos y reminiscencias, 20–26. (Rivolba is the pseudonym of Fernando Bolívar, and an anagram for the name Bolívar.)

  General Lafayette had visited, etc.: Ibid., 36–40.

  “savior of the nation”: Páez, Autobiografía, 369.

  “General Páez is the most ambitious”: Perú de Lacroix, 71–72.

  He had admitted this to very few: Ibid.

  an affront to those who had worked: Guerra, 125.

  a felicitous opportunity to redefine the republic: Bushnell, Santander Regime, 331.

  trying to boost public morale: Páez, Autobiografía, 369.

  Everywhere he went, he had heard: SB to Briceño Méndez, Valencia, Jan. 6, 1827, SBO, III, 1492–93.

  dissipating it irresponsibly: The most complete analysis of the financial situation in 1823–27 and the accusations of corruption against the Santander regime can be found throughout Bushnell’s excellent The Santander Regime in Gran Colombia.

  “the most scandalous abuses,” etc.: Patrick Campbell to Lord Aberdeen, June 4, 1829, PRO/FO, Colombia, LIV., LXV., LXXIII, quoted in Petre, 372.

  He recalled all too well, etc.: When SB was in Potosí, Santander had proposed that the Liberator take personal ownership of an enterprise to build a canal between the Pacific and Atlantic. “Your name would facilitate the business venture,” he wrote (Santander to SB, Bogotá, Sept. 22, 1825, SB, Cartas: Santander–Bolívar, V, 54). SB had responded with alarm: “No one would be pleased to see either you or me, who sit at the head of our government, mixing in purely speculative projects. . . . I refuse to involve myself in this or any business of a commercial nature” (SB to Santander, Magdalena, Feb. 22, 1826, ibid., 151).

  “Let’s ignore for the moment”: Santander to SB, Bogotá, March 9, 1827, O’L, III, 373–74.

 
extent of hostility he and his circle felt: Bushnell, Santander Regime, 346–8.

  To be blamed for the disastrous financial state: Santander to SB, Exposición, Bogotá, Aug. 17, 1827, DOC, X, 203–8.

  He informed Santander bluntly: SB to Santander, Caracas, March 19, 1827, in O’Leary, Ultimos años, 149; and in Santander to SB, Bogotá, April 29, 1827, O’L, III, 390–92.

  reckless spending, questionable negotiations, etc.: Bushnell, Santander Regime, 113. SB called Zea “Colombia’s greatest calamity”: SB to Santander, Jan. 14, 1823, SBO, II, 718–20.

  Colombia essentially had underwritten the liberation of six, etc.: Bushnell, Santander Regime, 95ff.

  the vice president had had to impose the death penalty: Ibid., 87.

  General Sucre believed he did: Sucre to SB, La Paz, March 19, 1827, Sucre, De mi propia mano, 323–24. But Posada argues that Santander did not know Bustamante, and had to look up his name and rank in order to congratulate him for the uprising. Posada Gutiérrez, Memorias, I, 60.

  so did Bolívar: SB to José Félix Blanco, Caracas, June 6, 1827, Bolívar, Obras Completas, IV, 1597.

  He strolled out into the night: Baralt and Diaz, 202. Santander himself denies this in his own report to SB, but that report reflects a very different tone (and different information) from his letter to Bustamante. Santander to SB, Bogotá, n.d., O’L, III, 370–73.

  wrote to José Bustamante: Santander to Bustamante, Bogotá, March 14, 1827, O’L, III, 434–36.

  signed the order promoting Bustamante: Minister of War to Bustamante, in Baralt and Diaz, 204–7.

  “The Liberator is astonished,” etc.: Revenga to Ministry of War, April 18, 1827, O’L, XXV, 260–62.

  equivalent to absolving Páez: Santander to SB, quoted in Liévano, 458.

  “Santander is a snake,” etc.: SB to Urdaneta, Caracas, April 18, 1827, O’L, III, 383–84.

  the city’s staunchly pro-Bolívarian head: Col. Tomás Mosquera, who would go on to become president of Colombia numerous times.

  the invasion was instigated by Peru: Bushnell, Santander Regime, 348–50.

  “We have arrived at an era of blunders”: Briceño Méndez to SB, on board the Macedonia, July 26, 1826, O’L, VIII, 208–13.

  On June 20, Santander decided to abolish: Guerra, 179.

  “I’m ready to do whatever it takes”: SB to Páez, Caracas, March 20, 1827, O’L, XXXI, 367–69.

  “The Liberator has resolved to march against”: Revenga to Santander, Caracas, June 19, 1827, O’L, XXV, 392–93.

  As Manuela Sáenz was sailing, etc.: Murray, For Glory and Bolívar, 51.

  the most pleasant voyage: SB to the Marqués del Toro, Cartagena, July 12, 1827, O’L, XXXI, 433–34. SB was traveling on the English frigate Druid, which had been made available to him by Sir Alexander Cockburn, the British envoy to Colombia. Cockburn himself accompanied SB on the voyage. Posada Gutiérrez, I, 61.

  he mobilized his generals, etc.: Ibid., I, 60.

  a force powerful enough to quell: SB, Proclama, Caracas, June 19, 1827, O’L, XXV, 394–95.

  they trembled with alarm, etc.: Santander, Escritos autobiográficos, 69; Guerra, 179.

  feigned illness and left the capital: Among these were were Dr. Soto and Vicente Azuero. Petre, 380.

  soldiers would die of hunger, etc.: Santander to SB, Bogotá, DOC, XI, 515; also Masur, Simón Bolívar, 620.

  Santander reminded Bolívar that he had no power, etc.: Guerra, 180.

  plan a preposterous scheme, etc.: Ibid.; Posada Gutiérrez, I, 72.

  CHAPTER 16: MAN OF DIFFICULTIES

  Epigraph: “Nobody loves me in New Granada”: SB to José María de Castillo, Ríobamba, June 1, 1829, DOC, IV, 61–63.

  “Let me say this as clearly as I can,” etc.: SB to José Rafael Arboleda, La Carrera, Aug. 24, 1827, O’L, XXX, 463–64.

  “Can you believe it!”: Ibid.

  a diabolical congress: SB’s words were “The devil is in congress.” Ibid.

  communicated to the president of the senate: He asked his friend Mosquera to deliver the message. Posada Gutiérrez, I, 73.

  a congressional assembly was to receive him: He sent the minister of the interior, Restrepo, ahead to Bogotá with these instructions. Slatta and Lucas de Grummond, 273.

  his old mansion of La Quinta, etc.: SB to Pepe París, Mahates, Aug. 10, 1827, O’L, XXX, 456.

  Not one government cent: “I don’t want the government or anyone, for that matter, to spend one cent on me,” he told París. “If I am to be fed when I arrive, borrow the money; I’ll pay it back.” Ibid.

  had lost some of his love for him: Madariaga, 550. Others (e.g. Posada Gutiérrez, I, 7) claim that Soublette was always faithful to Bolívar. Among his friends who were present: Pepe París, Col. Herrán, Gen. Mosquera.

  burst out laughing when he heard: Larrazábal, Vida, II, 409.

  triumphal arches along the Calle Real, etc.: Mary English to William Greenup, Bogotá, Sept. 10, 1827, Papers of Mary English and the British Legion, Private Collection, Bonhams, New Bond Street, London. Mary English was the wife of James Towers English, who was one of the first Englishmen to enlist to participate in the South American revolution. As described earlier, he died on the island of Margarita in 1819. His widow, who stayed in Colombia, later married Greenup.

  elegantly turned out ladies, etc.: Ibid.

  Santander, who had spewed every imaginable accusation, etc.: Posada Gutiérrez, I, 73.

  sat in the presidential palace: English to Greenup. Also Larrazábal, Vida, II, 409.

  the ancient convent of Santo Domingo: It had been founded in 1550. The nave of the original was destroyed in the earthquake of 1785, but the church was rebuilt on the same plan. The Virgin of the Conquistadors, the image that looked down on the congregation, had been painted in Seville in the sixteenth century.

  double circle of chairs, etc.: English to Greenup, Papers of Mary English and the British Legion.

  Gossiping, buzzing, the people, etc.: Ibid.

  placing bets on when the Liberator: Posada Gutiérrez, I, 73. Also Masur, Simón Bolívar, 621.

  stand on their seats, craning, etc.: English to Greenup, Papers.

  He entered the church at three: Posada Gutiérrez, I, 73. Larrazábal, Vida, II, 409.

  he seemed in acute discomfort, etc.: “My health, badly shaken by the journey.” Bolívar wrote these precise words to Páez, confirming the troubling impression he made. SB to Páez, Bogotá, Sept. 29, 1827, SBSW, II, 663.

  fixed his small, fierce eyes, etc.: English to Greenup, Papers.

  A few cheers rippled through, etc.: Ibid, and for subsequent details.

  “My heart bled for him”: Ibid.

  a moving speech: Larrazábal, Vida, II, 408.

  constitution would be inviolable for ten years: Constitución adoptado en Colombia, Seccion 3, Título 10, Revisión de la constitución, Article 1, Constitutional Documents of Colombia and Panama, 1793–1853 (Leipzig: Grueter, 2010). Also Gil Fortoul, I, 317.

  He had flouted the law, etc.: All gubernatorial changes (his delegation of power to Santander) should have been cleared with congress, according to the constitution of 1821: Gil Fortoul, I, 314. SB’s show of support for Páez was a legal affront to congress. Ibid., 421.

  Bolívar was, in truth, no longer president, etc.: Guerra, 133–37.

  By law, all power: Ley de 2 de mayo, fijando el término de la duración del presidente y vicepresidente de la república, May 1, 1825, Bogotá, Cuerpo de leyes de la República de Colombia, 1821–1827 (Caracas: Espinal, 1820), 361–63.

  the president of the senate, the very official: To be precise, the senate president who swore in SB was Vicente Barrero. His predecessor, Luis Andrés Baralt, was the man who should have been handed the rule on Jan. 2; it was to Baralt that Santander wrote to say that SB had assigned him (Santander) the power. Confirmation of the Barrero/Baralt tenures: Gaceta de Colombia, No. 311, Sept. 30, 1827, and No. 312, Oct. 7, 1827.

  he had cavalierly instructed Sant
ander: SB to Santander, Cúcuta, Dec. 12, 1826, O’L, XXIV, 568; Santander to SB, Bogotá, Dec. 21, 1826, O’L, ibid., 485–86. Also Posada Gutiérrez, I, 61.

  Santander had written to the president of the senate: Restrepo, III, 577; also Santander to Baralt, Dec. 22, 1826, quoted in Guerra, 137.

  He then issued a decree: Parte Oficial, June 9, 1827, Bogotá, Gaceta de Colombia, Sept. 2, 1827, No. 307.

  Santander himself had acted in full contravention: Posada Gutiérrez, I, 64.

  No one could call him “the man of laws” now: Ibid., 63.

  the Liberator was showered with roses, etc.: English to Greenup, Papers.

  When Bolívar arrived at the foot, etc.: Ibid. Also (“apprehensively”) Larrazábal, Vida, II, 409.

  inviting him to a late lunch, etc.: Madariaga, 550.

  Early the next morning, etc.: Ibid.

  deftly turned the conversation: Mosquera, who was present, reported this, in ibid.

  “His force of personality is such”: Larrazábal, Vida, II, 427.

  But by that afternoon, suspicions, etc.: Mosquera, in Madariaga, 550.

  “the illustrious Liberator”: Posada Gutiérrez, I, 99. For countries that sent diplomatic representation, see Gil Fortoul, I, 380.

  a hellfire of belligerence: Posada Gutiérrez, I, 98.

  at social tertulias: These are social gatherings typical throughout the history of Latin America, in which educated people met in one another’s homes to discuss literature and politics, and perhaps listen to music and poetry. They were also known as salones.

  political reputations teetered: Posada Gutiérrez, I, 98.

  the laughingstock of the world: Ibid., I, 99. Note: Posada was Colombian.

  she noted several days later: English to Greenup, Bogotá, Sept. 11, 1827, Sept. 24, 1827, Papers.

  “He is exhausted”: The opinion of a citizen of Colombia in Bogotá, 1827, DOC, XI, 314.

  he aspired only to be with his mistress: Liévano Aguirre, 464.