Antonio José de Sucre Antonio José de Sucre y Alcalá ( ; 1795 – 1830 ) , known as the " Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho " ( ) , was a Venezuelan independence leader . Sucre was one of Simón Bolívar ' s closest friends , generals and statesmen . Biography . Family . The aristocratic Sucre family can trace its roots back to origins in Flanders . It arrived in Venezuela through Charles de Sucre y Pardo , a Flemish nobleman , son of Charles Adrian de Sucre , Marquess of Preu and Buenaventura Carolina Isabel Garrido y Pardo , a Spanish noblewoman . Charles de Sucre y Pardo served as a soldier in Catalonia in 1698 and was later named Governor of Cartagena de Indias and Captain General of Cuba . On December 22 , 1779 , Charles Sucre y Pardo arrived in Cumaná , Venezuela , having been named Governor of New Andalucia , present - day Sucre state . Military career . In 1814 , Antonio José de Sucre joined the battles for South American independence from Spain . The Battle of Pichincha took place on May 24 , 1822 , on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano , 3 , 500 meters above sea level , right next to the city of Quito in what is now Ecuador . The encounter , fought in the context of the Spanish American wars of independence , pitted a Patriot army under Sucre against a Royalist army commanded by Field Marshal Melchor Aymerich . The defeat of the Royalist forces brought about the liberation of Quito and secured the independence of the provinces belonging to the " Real Audiencia de Quito " , or " Presidencia de Quito " , the Spanish colonial administrative jurisdiction from which the Republic of Ecuador would eventually emerge . In the Battle of Tarqui , fought on February 27 , 1829 , heavily outnumbered two to one , Antonio José de Sucre defeated a Peruvian invasion force led by third President and General of Peru José de La Mar , whose intentions had been to annex Guayaquil and the rest of Ecuador to Peru . Post - independence . When a strong movement arose against Bolívar , his followers , and the Bolivian constitution in 1828 , Sucre resigned . Assassination of Sucre at Berruecos . Sucre was killed on June 4 , 1830 . General Juan José Flores wanted to separate the southern departments ( Quito , Guayaquil , and Azuay ) , called the District of Ecuador , from the Gran Colombia so as to form an independent country and become its first President . General Flores foresaw that if Antonio José de Sucre arrived in Quito from Bogota , he could thwart his plans , since Sucre was very popular due to his reputation as hero and leader in the Battles of Pichincha , Tarqui and Ayacucho . General Juan José Flores put himself in contact with the anti - Bolívar and anti - Sucre leader Brigadier - General and the Commanding General of Cauca , José María Obando , who was not present at Sucre ' s death but who delegated this criminal act to the Venezuelan Colonel Apolinar Morillo . Commander Juan Gregorio Sarria ( who later confessed he had been paid by Obando ) , José Erazo ( a highway bandit and guerrilla fighter ) , and his three peons were accomplices . The plan was to ambush José Antonio de Sucre on the morning of June 4 , 1830 , in the cold and bleak forested district of Berruecos , along a narrow path that was perennially covered with fog . The five assassins were hiding behind trees along the part of the trail known as La Jacoba waiting for Sucre ' s party , which would be passing the area single file . Sucre ' s retinue comprised seven persons : two muleteers with the baggage , two sergeants , one being the Marshal ' s orderly , a representative to the Congress from Cuenca , and his servant , and finally Sucre himself . When Sucre approached La Jacoba , he was struck by three bullets , two inflicting superficial wounds to his head and one piercing his heart . He fell from his mule , which had been shot in the neck , and died almost instantly . His body remained there for twenty - four hours , as his companions , fearful of a similar fate , had fled in panic . Later , Juan Gregorio Sarria and Colonel Apolinar Morillo confessed that it was Obando who had convinced them to assassinate Sucre . Commander Juan Gregorio Sarria also confessed that Obando had paid him to kill Sucre , since there were anti - Bolivar politicians and officers in Bogota that wanted to see both Bolívar and Sucre eliminated . The ringleader of the anti - Bolívar faction in Bogota was Santander , who was Obando ' s friend and who had failed in his attempt to assassinate Bolivar . The three peons who were part of the Sucre assassination party were poisoned by Apolinar Morillo to prevent them from testifying about Sucre ' s murder . In the end , Colonel Apolinar Morillo was convicted and shot in the main square of Bogota for the murder of Sucre on November 30 , 1842 , and José Erazo died in prison that same year . José Maria Obando should have met the same fate but was granted immunity due to the fact that he was too powerful in the Department of Cauca . Francisco de Paula Santander , although indirectly involved with Sucre ' s death , was directly involved with Bolívar ' s attempted assassination and was exiled . Burial and Aftermath . The following day Sucre ' s orderly , a sergeant named Lorenzo Caicedo , with some help from others , buried the body and marked the makeshift grave with a cross formed of branches . When the widow received news of the assassination , she promptly brought Sucre ' s remains from Berruecos to Quito , where they were interred in secret in the oratory of the chapel of " El Dean " on one of her haciendas . Subsequently , she had the remains transferred , also in secret , to the Carmen Bajo Convent in Quito , where they were placed facing the main altar of the church . Seventy years later , in April 1900 , Sucre ' s remains were discovered and , their authenticity scrupulously verified , transferred to the Quito Cathedral on June 4 , 1900 , in a sumptuous parade led by the Executive and his Ministers , the high dignitaries of the Church , and the diplomatic corps . At the time , the government ordered the building of a crypt , but it was not inaugurated until thirty - two years later , on August 4 , 1932 . This mausoleum consisted of a nine - ton monolith of granite from the quarries of the Pichincha volcano . Its cover , on which a cross is carved in high relief , was so heavy that thirty persons were required to move it into place . According to the December 19 , 1830 " Gaceta de Colombia " , Issue No . 495 , a power - hungry , ambitious General Obando paid an assassin to kill Sucre by falsely informing the assassin that Sucre was a traitor and had to be stopped because Sucre ' s intentions were to go to Quito and separate the Department of Cauca and the three southern departments of Colombia and unite them with Peru . In reality , Sucre , a protégé of Bolívar , was going to Quito to stop the separation of the District of Ecuador from the Gran Colombia and to retire as soon as possible in Quito to live a quiet life with his wife . Some have argued that Sucre was ordered assassinated by General Obando so as to leave no clear successor to Bolívar in the Gran Colombia . Before his death , Bolívar believed Sucre to be the only man who could have reunited the Gran Colombia ; however , Bolívar ' s generals and the majority of the politicians running the separate departments of the Gran Colombia had other selfish and ambitious plans . Sucre represented , according to historian Tomás Polanco Alcántara , " the indispensable complement to Simón Bolívar " . Upon hearing the news of Sucre ' s death , Bolívar said , " Se ha derreamado , Dios excelso , la sangre del inocente Abel . . . " ( " The blood of the innocent Abel has been spilled , God almighty . . . " ) . Bolívar later wrote ( " Gaceta de Colombia " , July 4 , 1830 ) : Sucre is buried in the Cathedral of Quito , Ecuador , as he had said , " I want my bones to be forever in Quito " , where his wife , Mariana de Carcelén y Larrea , Marquise of Solanda , was from . Legacy . Some of his descendants in Venezuela , Ecuador , and the U . S . have followed in his military and political footsteps .