Símon Bolívar: Latin America's Fight For Independence

Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. We’ve all heard these names at some point in our lives. These six nations are part of the 20 countries that make up Latin America. But do you know who helped these six nations gain independence from Spain? Símon Bolívar, that’s who. Who is Símon Bolívar? You might ask. Símon Bolívar was a military and political leader of Venezuela during its wars for independence from 1810-1824. Today, he is known as El Libertador in South America. Símon Bolívar’s leadership for the Latin America’s liberation movement symbolized the vision and statesmanship that led to an enduring legacy of freedom, sovereignty, and repeal of slavery and casteism for that continent. One reason why Símon Bolívar’s stand

His generals also played an important part in gaining independence for the six countries. One of them, General Jose de San Martin, was vital to the defeat of the Spanish. He led expeditions against the Spanish in Chile and Peru. In addition, the government he tried to set up, a country called the Great State of Columbia composed of New Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela, only lasted from 1821 to 1830, only nine years. Símon Bolívar was also largely unsuccessful in his efforts for social equality, the congress would not abolish slavery no matter how many times he pressed them to do so, and even though he tried to give all persons of different races a chance for a better life, the creoles and peninsulares still retained their power even in the new government. However, while Bolívar’s stand for the abolition of slavery was unsuccessful, this demonstrates how passionate Bolívar was about his ideals. In his own words “The sacred doctrine of equality must never be violated. Such a contradiction would demean not so much our sense of justice as our sense of reason; our notoriety would be based on insanity, not usurpation,” (The Bolivian Constitution (1826),Ⅰ. Address to the Constituent Congress, paragraph 30). This shows that Bolívar was adamant in his belief that slavery was a great injustice and immorality, and that it was wrong to fight for freedom while keeping others in bondage. This stand is unique because even though he was fighting a lone battle (We the U.S. had slaves at the time yet we had “All Men are Created Equal” in the Constitution by then) he refused to quit standing up for what he believed in. While Bolívar’s stand for equality for all races did not have much effect, he did manage to give all people, regardless of race, equal legal status, which was completely different than the racial caste system the Spanish had previously established. It also did help