Venezuelan War of Independence The Venezuelan War of Independence ( 1811 – 1823 ) was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century , when independence movements in Latin America fought against rule by the Spanish Empire , emboldened by Spain ' s troubles in the Napoleonic Wars . On July 5 , 1811 , seven of the ten provinces of the Captaincy General of Venezuela declared their independence in the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence . The First Republic of Venezuela was lost in 1812 following the 1812 Caracas earthquake and the Battle of La Victoria ( 1812 ) . Simón Bolívar led an " Admirable Campaign " to retake Venezuela , establishing the Second Republic of Venezuela in 1813 ; but this too did not last , falling to a combination of a local uprising and Spanish royalist reconquest . Only as part of Bolívar ' s campaign to liberate New Granada in 1819 - 20 did Venezuela achieve a lasting independence from Spain ( initially as part of Gran Colombia ) . On 17 December 1819 the Congress of Angostura declared Gran Colombia an independent country . After two more years of war , which killed half of Venezuela ' s Caucasian population , the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of its most famous son , Simón Bolívar . Venezuela , along with the countries of Colombia , Panama , and Ecuador , formed part of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1830 , when Venezuela separated and became a sovereign country . The First Republic ( 1810 - 1812 ) . Criollos resented the mercantilist policies of Spain . Trade was only allowed in Pacific ports which was a terrible burden for Argentina , Paraguay , and the Caribbean colonies . This is significant as Cuba and Puerto Rico were forced to allow free trade in 1763 by Britain and remained loyal , while the remaining three were the first to declare independence . Venezuela was nearer Spain than most colonies so it was the first to hear of Joseph Bonaparte ' s takeover of Spain and it found the trade restrictions the most irksome . Loyalist criollos were fearful of a Haitian style revolution and slavery ' s abolition . Later events would show that only the whites in the Andean region were enthusiastic about independence . The French invasion of Spain in 1808 led to the collapse of the Spanish Monarchy . Most subjects of Spain did not accept the government of Joseph Bonaparte , placed on the Spanish throne by his brother , Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France . At the same time , the process of creating a stable government in Spain , which would be widely recognized throughout the empire , took two years . ( " See Junta ( Peninsular War ) " . ) This created a power vacuum in the Spanish possessions in America , which created further political uncertainty . On 19 April 1810 the municipal council of Caracas headed a successful movement to depose the Spanish Governor and Captain General , Vicente Emparán . A junta was established in Caracas , and soon other Venezuelan provinces followed suit . The reverberations of this act of independence could be felt throughout Venezuela almost immediately . Across Venezuela , towns and cities decided to either side with the movement based in Caracas or not , and de facto civil war ensued throughout much of Venezuela . The Caracas Junta called for a congress of Venezuelan provinces to establish a government for the region . Initially both the Junta and Congress upheld the " rights of Ferdinand VII , " meaning that they recognized themselves to still be part of the Spanish Monarchy , but had established a separate government due to the French invasion of Peninsula . As the Congress deliberated , a faction proposing outright independence quickly won favor . Persons such as Francisco de Miranda , a long - term Venezuelan expatriate , and Simón Bolívar , a young , Criollo aristocrat — both influenced by Age of Enlightenment ideas and the example of the French Revolution — led the movement . The Congress declared Venezuela ' s independence on 5 July 1811 , establishing the Republic of Venezuela . Even before the Congress began its sessions in November 1810 , a civil war started between those who supported the juntas , and eventually independence , and royalists who wanted to maintain the union with Spain . Two provinces , Maracaibo Province and Guayana Province , and one district , Coro , never recognized the Caracas Junta and remained loyal to the governments in Spain . Military expeditions to bring Coro and Guayana under the control of the Republic failed . In 1811 an uprising in Valencia against the Republic was successfully suppressed . By 1812 the situation increasingly became aggravated for the young Republic . It was short of funds , Spanish Regency set up a blockade ( although it was easily bypassed by British and American merchant ships ) , and on 26 March 1812 , a devastating earthquake hit republican areas . In these desperate moments , Miranda was given dictatorial powers , nevertheless he was unable to stem the royalist advance headed by Captain Domingo de Monteverde . By midyear , after the Battle of San Mateo , the Republic collapsed . Miranda capitulated to Monteverde and signed an armistice on 25 July 1812 . The Second Republic ( 1813 - 1814 ) . Bolívar and other republicans continued the resistance from other parts of the Spanish South America and the Caribbean , or organized guerrilla movements in the interior of the country . In 1813 Bolívar joined the army of United Provinces of New Granada . After winning a series of battles , Bolívar received the approval of the New Granadan Congress to lead a liberating force into Venezuela in what became known as the Admirable Campaign . At the same time , Santiago Mariño invaded from the northeast in an independently organized campaign . Both forces quickly defeated the royalist troops in various battles , such as Alto de los Godos . Bolívar entered Caracas on August 6 , 1813 , proclaiming the restoration of the Venezuelan Republic and his supreme leadership of it , something which was not fully recognized by Mariño based in Cumaná , although the two leaders did cooperate militarily . In the viceroyalties of La Plata and New Granada the Creoles displaced the Spanish authorities with relative ease , as Caracas had done at first . The autonomous movement swept through New Granada , but the country remained politically disunited . Bogotá inherited the role of capital from Spain , but the royalists were entrenched in southern Colombia ( Popayán and Pasto ) . Cali was a bastion of the independence movement just north of royalist territory . Cartagena declared independence not only from Spain but also from Bogotá . Bolívar arrived in Cartagena and was well received , as he was later in Bogotá , where he joined the army of the United Provinces of New Granada . He recruited a force and invaded Venezuela from the southwest , by crossing the Andes ( 1813 ) . His chief lieutenant was the headstrong José Félix Ribas . In Trujillo , an Andean province , Bolívar emitted his infamous Decree of War to the Death with which he hoped to get the " pardos " and any " mantuano " who was having second thoughts on his side . At the time that Bolívar was victorious in the west , Santiago Mariño and Manuel Piar , a " pardo " from the Dutch island of Curaçao , were successfully fighting royalists in eastern Venezuela . Quickly losing ground ( much as Miranda had a year earlier ) Monteverde took refuge in Puerto Cabello , and Bolívar occupied Caracas , re - establishing the Republic , with two " states " , one in the west headed by Bolívar and one in the east headed by Mariño . But neither the successful invasions nor Bolívar ' s decree were provoking a massive enrollment of " pardos " in the cause of Independence . Rather it was the other way around . In the llanos , a populist Spanish immigrant caudillo , José Tomás Boves , initiated a widespread " pardo " movement against the restored Republic . Bolívar and Ribas held and defended the " mantuano " - controlled center of Venezuela . In the east , the royalists started recovering territory . After suffering a setback , Mariño and Bolívar joined their forces , but they were defeated by Boves in 1814 . Republicans were forced to evacuate Caracas and flee to the east , where , in the port of Carúpano , Piar was still holding out . Piar , however , did not accept Bolívar ' s supreme command , and once again Bolívar left Venezuela and went to New Granada ( 1815 ) . " ( See Bolívar in New Granada ) . " Resistance to the Republic this time came from the people of the vast southern plains , the " Llanero s " , who organized under the command of Spanish immigrant , José Tomás Boves . The war was transformed . The " Llaneros " had a dislike for the urban and elite Criollos who led the independence movement . Boves ' s " Llanero " army routinely killed white Venezuelans . Negroes were supplied with maps and lists of rebel plantations by royalists . The " Llanero " army routed the patriots in the center of the country . Finally Boves marched towards Caracas , forcing the Republicans to flee to the east of the country , ending the second republic . Boves died shortly thereafter in battle , but the country had been returned to royalist control . Spanish reconquest of New Granada ( 1815 - 1816 ) . In Spain , anti - French forces had liberated the country , and the restored Ferdinand VII sent a large expeditionary force to Venezuela and New Granada under Pablo Morillo , who had distinguished himself during Spain ' s War of Independence . The traditional image of the Venezuelan llanos swarming with caudillos like Boves exaggerates the situation . Boves was the only significant pro - Spain caudillo and he was acting in concert with Francisco Tomás Morales , who was a regular officer of Spain . In the Battle of Urica , Boves was killed and Morales took command and carried out mopping up operations against the remaining patriot resistance , which included the capture and execution of Ribas . As was still common in the early 19th century , Morales had his head boiled in oil ( to preserve it ) and sent to Caracas . " ( See the Execution of Miguel Hidalgo in Mexico . ) " Morillo arrived in Venezuela and began operations with Morales . Royalist forces under Morillo and Morales captured Cartagena and Bogotá in 1816 . Before leaving for New Granada Morillo had decommissioned most of the irregular forces that had fought under Boves , except those that he took to New Granada . With little prospects , some " pardos " and " llanero s " began to join the rebellions that were breaking out against Spanish rule in the broad plains of southern Venezuela . In the meantime , Bolívar chose to sail to Jamaica to enlist British aid , which was refused . From there , he went to Haiti , which had been the first Latin American republic to become independent . With the support of the Haitian president Alexandre Pétion and with the naval aid of Luis Brión , another émigré , who was a merchant from Curaçao , Bolívar returned to Margarita Island , a secure republican redoubt , but his command of the republican forces was still not firm . Mariño , who had come back with Bolívar from Haiti , headed his own expeditions and succeeded in temporarily capturing Cumaná in 1817 . With Brión supplying a small fleet , Bolívar sailed west along the Venezuelan coast to Ocumare de la Costa ( the Expedition of Los Cayos ) , where , in fulfillment of Pétion ' s request , he officially proclaimed the end of slavery ( although this went unheeded ) . Morales , back in Venezuela after subduing New Granada , attacked the republican expeditionary force with an army that vastly outnumbered the republicans . Bolívar fled , sailing once again to Haiti with Brión . However , Piar and Gregor MacGregor , a Scottish soldier of fortune , who had previously been active in New Granada , managed to escape with their forces into the interior of the country , defeating Moreles at El Juncal in September 1816 before moving south to Guayana . Boves ' s locally - raised " Llanero " army was replaced in 1815 by a formal expedition sent from Spain under the leadership of Pablo Morillo . It was the largest expedition the Spanish had ever sent to the Americas . Venezuela ' s proximity to Cuba , Puerto Rico and Spain made it the first target of the royalist counterattack . The " Llaneros " were either demobilized or incorporated into the expeditionary units . The republican patriots found themselves once more dispersed , and again the war took a local character . Different patriot guerrilla bands formed , but could not agree on a united leadership , much less a united strategy . One group of patriots launched an expedition to eastern Venezuela that ended in failure . Bolívar thereafter sought to join forces with Manuel Piar , another patriot leader but differences between them prevented a united republican front . Bolívar then went to the " Llanos " where he joined forces with José Antonio Páez , but a failed attack on central Venezuela forced Bolivar to retreat back to Apure . Morillo counterattacked successfully but was defeated at the Battle of Las Queseras del Medio . A long - term stalemate ensued in which the royalists controlled the highly - populated , urban north and the republicans the vast , under - populated plains of the south . Stalemate ( 1816 - 1819 ) . Bolívar and Brión returned and tried in 1817 to capture Barcelona , where the Spaniards repulsed them . In the meantime , Piar and Mariño had occupied defenceless Angostura ( a city at the narrowest and deepest part of the Orinoco River , hence its name , subsequently changed to Ciudad Bolívar ) , to where Bolívar headed and was chosen as supreme leader of the independence movement . ( It was at this time that Bolívar ordered the addition of a new star for Guayana to the seven stars on the Venezuelan flag , which represented the number of provinces that originally had favored independence . Since Bolívar plays a central role in the symbolism of the current Venezuelan government led by Chávez , this long - forgotten change was revived in the 2006 revision to the flag . ) Once in Guayana , Bolívar quickly cashiered Piar , who had been trying ( or was accused of trying — historians still debate this ) to form a " pardo " force of his own , by having him arrested and executed after a court martial in which Brión was one of the judges . British veterans of the Napoleonic wars began arriving in Venezuela , where they formed the nucleus of what later became known as the British Legion . Morillo returned to Caracas and Morales was given troops to dominate eastern Venezuela , which he did successfully . Francisco de Paula Santander , a New Granadan who had retreated to the llanos after Morillo ' s invasion , met with Bolívar and agreed to join forces . Morillo ' s other lieutenant , the second in command of the expeditionary force , Miguel de la Torre , was ordered to put down a significant rebellion in the llanos of Apure led by José Antonio Páez . At the time in the Southern Cone of South America , José de San Martín had concluded the liberation of Chile with the essential support of the Chilean Bernardo O ' Higgins . The year 1818 saw a stalemate between the patriots based in Angostura ( and free - wheeling in part of the llanos ) and Morillo ( entrenched in Caracas , triumphant in eastern Venezuela , and operating in the llanos as far as Apure ) . This is the time during which ( according to Marx ) , Bolívar dilly - dallied and lost one skirmish after another , also saying that European officers in Angostura were egging him on to attack the center of Venezuela . ( Bolívar did attempt to do so , but suffered defeat at La Puerta . ) At the time James Rooke did in fact command over 1 , 000 European soldiers within Bolívar ' s army in Venezuela . But Morillo had larger forces , and not just of Spanish line troops but also of pardos still loyal to the Spanish crown . In 1819 Bolívar proclaimed the republic of Great Colombia , which included Venezuela and New Granada . New volunteers arrived in Venezuela , though most , like those that preceded them , were in essence mercenaries probably under the illusion that there were fortunes to be made in Venezuela , which was hardly the case . There is no evidence that the British government was backing them , but since Spain was no longer a British ally , it wasn ’ t hindering them either . In Europe , generally , Bolívar ' s name was known as was the Spanish American movement for independence , which had the sympathy of every liberal - minded person , as did the independence of Greece , then also in the process of emancipation . Morillo had his hands full and pardos were starting to look towards patriot leaders . Campaigns in eastern Venezuela began turning the tide for independence and in the llanos Páez defeated Morillo and Morales in Apure . This cleared the way for Bolívar and Santander to invade New Granada , where , in Pantano de Vargas , the Spaniards were defeated in a battle in which the British Legion played a central role and its commander , Rooke , was killed in action . In the battle of Boyacá ( 1819 ) , Spanish power was crushed in New Granada , except in the south . Páez occupied Barinas and , from New Granada , Bolívar invaded Venezuela . Consolidation of independence . In 1819 , to break this impasse Bolívar invaded New Granada , which had been reconquered by Morillo ' s expeditionary force three years later . Bolívar decisively defeated the royalists at Boyacá . With the liberation of New Granada , the republicans had a significant base from which to attack Morillo ' s forces . A republican Congress at Angostura ( today Ciudad Bolívar ) , which already had a small New Granada delegation , declared the union of New Granada and Venezuela in a Republic of Colombia ( the Gran Colombia of contemporary accounts ) to present a united front against the Spanish Monarchy . In 1821 the Colombian army won a decisive victory at the Battle of Carabobo , after which the only cities in the hands of the royalist forces were Cumaná , which fell shortly thereafter , and Puerto Cabello , which managed to resist a siege before finally capitulating in October 1823 . Aftermath . The Spanish sent a fleet in 1823 to reconquer the country but were defeated at the Battle of Lake Maracaibo . The fight for independence , which killed half of Venezuela ' s white population , was finally over in Venezuela . In the following years Venezuelan forces , as part of the army of Gran Colombia , continued campaigning under the leadership of Bolívar to liberate the southern parts of New Granada and Ecuador . Once this was accomplished , Gran Colombia continued its fight against the Spanish in Peru and Bolivia , completing the efforts of Chilean and Argentine patriots , such as José de San Martín , who liberated southern South America .