Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Ponte Palacios y Blanco ( , , ; 24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire. He is known colloquially as "El Libertador", or the "Liberator of America". Bolívar was born in Caracas into a wealthy family and, as was common for heirs of upper-class families in his day, was sent to be educated abroad at a young age, arriving in Spain when he was 16  and later moving to France. While in Europe he was introduced to the ideas of the Enlightenment, which later motivated him to overthrow the reigning Spanish in colonial South America. Taking advantage of the disorder in Spain prompted by the Peninsular War, Bolívar began his campaign for independence in 1808. The campaign for the independence of Colombia (Gran Colombia)—later New Granada was consolidated with the victory at the Battle of Boyacá on 7 August 1819. He established an organized national congress within three years. Despite a number of hindrances, including the arrival of an unprecedentedly large Spanish expeditionary force, the  revolutionaries eventually prevailed, culminating in the victory at the Battle of Carabobo in 1821, which effectively made Venezuela an independent country. Following this triumph over the Spanish monarchy, Bolívar participated in the foundation of the first union of independent nations in Latin America, Gran Colombia, of which he was president from 1819 to 1830. Through further military campaigns, he ousted Spanish rulers from Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, the last of which was named after him. He was simultaneously president of Gran Colombia (present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador), Peru, and Bolivia, but soon after, his second-in-command, Antonio  José de Sucre, was appointed president of Bolivia. Bolívar aimed at a strong and united Spanish America able to cope not only with the threats emanating from Spain and the European Holy Alliance but also with the emerging power of the United States. At the peak of his power, Bolívar ruled over a vast territory from the Argentine border to the Caribbean Sea. Bolívar is viewed as a national icon in much of modern South America, and is considered one of the great heroes of the Hispanic independence movements of the early 19th century, along with José de San Martín , Francisco de Miranda and others. Towards the end of his life, Bolívar despaired of the situation in his native region, with the famous quote "all who served the revolution have plowed the sea". In an address to the Constituent Congress of the Republic of Colombia, Bolívar stated "Fellow citizens! I blush to say this: Independence is the only benefit we have acquired, to the detriment of all the rest." Early life and family. Simón Bolívar was born on 24 July 1783 in Caracas, the fourth and youngest child of and . He was baptized as Simón José Antonio de la Santísma  Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios on 30 July. Simón was born into the Bolívar family, one of the wealthiest and most prestigious creole families in the Spanish Americas. The first Bolívar to emigrate to the Americas was Simón de Bolívar e Ibargüen, a Basque nobleman and notary official who arrived in Santo Domingo in the mid-16th century. In 1588–89, he joined the staff of Diego Osorio Villegas, Governor of Santo Domingo, when he was named Governor of the Venezuela Province and moved to Caracas. There, Simón de Bolívar's descendants would also serve in the colonial bureaucracy and marry into rich  Caracas families. By the time Simón Bolívar was born, the Bolívars owned property throughout Venezuela. Simón Bolívar's childhood was described by British historian John Lynch as "at once privileged and deprived." Juan Vicente died of tuberculosis on 19 January 1786, and left María de la Concepción Palacios and her father, , as legal guardians over the Bolívar children's inheritances. Those children – (born 1777), (born 1779), (born 1781), and Simón – were raised separately from each other and their mother, and, following colonial custom, by African house slaves. Simón in particular was breastfed and then raised by a slave named Hipólita , whom Bolívar came to view as both a motherly and fatherly figure. On 6 July 1792, María de la Concepción also died of tuberculosis. Believing that his family would inherit the Bolívars' wealth, Feliciano Palacios arranged marriages for María Antonia and Juana and, before dying on 5 December 1793, assigned custody of Juan Vicente and Simón to his sons, Juan Félix Palacios and , respectively. Education and first journey to Europe. As a child, Bolívar was unruly and he obeyed neither his mother nor Hipólita. He came to loathe Carlos, who had no interest in Bolívar other than his inheritance, and  neglected his studies. Even before Bolívar's mother died, he spent two years under the tutelage of the Venezuelan lawyer Miguel José Sanz at the direction of the , the Spanish court of appeals in Caracas. In 1793, Carlos Palacios enrolled Bolívar at run by Simón Rodríguez. Two years later in June 1795, Bolívar fled his uncle's custody for the house of Maria Antonia and her husband. The couple sought formal recognition of his change of residence, which Palacios resisted. In July 1795, the case was taken to the "Real Audiencia" and decided in Palacios's favor. Palacios sent Simón  to live with Rodríguez in his overcrowded home. Bolívar escaped after ten days to argue his case to the Archbishop of Caracas, but was returned to his teacher's custody by a priest along with a letter from the archbishop in Bolívar's favor. After another two months at Rodríguez's home, Bolívar was moved at the direction of the "Real Audiencia" back to the Palacios family home. Bolívar promised the "Real Audiencia" that he would focus on his education, and began to be taught full-time by Rodríguez and by Venezuelan intellectuals Andrés Bello and . In 1797, Rodríguez's  connection to a pro-independence conspiracy forced him to go into exile, and Bolívar was enrolled in an honorary militia force. When he was commissioned as an officer after a year, his uncles Carlos and decided to send Bolívar to join the latter in Madrid. There, Esteban was friends with the Spanish Prime Minister, Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis, and Queen Maria Luisa's favorite, Manuel Mallo. On 19 January 1799, Bolívar boarded the Spanish warship "San Ildefonso" at the port of La Guaira, bound for Cádiz. The ship sailed first to Veracruz to load Mexican silver for transit to Spain . The ship arrived on 2 February, but was prevented from leaving for seven weeks because of an ongoing British blockade of Havana. Taking advantage of the delay, Bolívar traveled to Mexico City, capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and met the Viceroy. By 20 March, the British blockade had been lifted and the "San Ildefonso" departed and, in May 1799, docked in Santoña, on the northern coast of Spain. A little over a week later, Bolívar joined his uncles Esteban and Pedro in Madrid. Esteban found Bolívar to be "very ignorant" and hired tutors to teach him. When he  found himself in financial difficulty, Esteban asked Gerónimo Enrique de Uztáriz y Tovar, a Caracas native and government official, to educate Bolívar. Uztáriz accepted and Bolívar, who moved into his residence in February 1800, was thoroughly educated. At the same time, Mallo fell out of the Queen's favor and Manuel Godoy, her previous favorite, returned to power. As members of Mallo's faction at court, Esteban was arrested on pretense, and Pedro fled to Cádiz. Bolívar meanwhile was banished from court following a public incident at the Puerta de Toledo over the wearing of diamonds without royal permission. Bolívar  also at this time met María Teresa Rodríguez del Toro y Alaysa, the daughter of another wealthy Caracas creole. They were engaged in August 1800, then were separated when the del Toros left Madrid for a summer home in Bilbao. After Uztáriz left Madrid for a government assignment in Teruel in 1801, Bolívar himself left for Bilbao and remained there when the del Toros returned to the capital in August 1801. Early in 1802, Bolívar traveled to Paris while he awaited permission to return to Madrid, which was granted in April. Return to Venezuela and second journey to Europe. Bolívar  and del Toro, aged 18 and 21 respectively, were married in Madrid on 26 May 1802. The couple boarded the "San Ildefonso" in A Coruña on 15 June and sailed for La Guaira, where they arrived on 12 July, and settled in Caracas. There, del Toro fell ill and died of yellow fever on 22 January 1803 and was buried in the Bolívar family crypt at Caracas Cathedral. Bolívar was devastated by del Toro's death, and later told Louis Peru de Lacroix, one of his generals and biographers, that he swore to never remarry. By July 1803, Bolívar decided  to leave Venezuela for Europe. He entrusted his estates to an agent and his brother and in October boarded a ship bound for Cádiz. Bolívar arrived in Spain in December 1803, then traveled to Madrid to console his father-in-law. In March 1804, Madrid ordered all non-residents in the city to leave to alleviate a bread shortage brought about by resumed hostilities with Britain. Over April, Bolívar and , a childhood friend and relative of his wife, made their way to Paris and arrived in time for Napoleon to be proclaimed Emperor of the French on 18 May 1804 . They rented an apartment on the rue Vivienne and met with other South Americans such as , Vicente Rocafuerte, and Simón Rodríguez, who joined Bolívar and del Toro in their apartment. Bolívar soon thereafter began a with the Countess Dervieu du Villars, who hosted a salon frequented by members of French high society. It was likely at this salon that Bolívar met the naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland, who had traveled through much of Spanish America from 1799 to 1804, and allegedly discussed Spanish American independence with them. On 2 December 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor in Notre Dame  de Paris. Though he remained awed by Napoleon, Bolívar was disgusted and, in April 1805, left Paris with Rodríguez and del Toro on a Grand Tour to Italy. Beginning in Lyon, they traveled to Chambéry, where the philosopher Rousseau had once resided, through the Savoy Alps, and then to Milan. The trio arrived in time to witness Napoleon's coronation there on 26 May 1805 as King of Italy. From there, they traveled down the Po Valley to Venice, then to Florence, and then finally Rome, where Bolívar met among others Pope Pius VII, the French writer Germaine de Staël , and Humboldt again. Rome's sites and history fired Bolívar's imagination. On 18 August 1805, he, del Toro, and Rodríguez traveled to the Mons Sacer, where the plebs had seceded from Rome, and swore to end Spanish rule in the Americas. Political and military career. From Rome, Bolívar returned to Paris by April 1806 and sought to return to Venezuela, where Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda had just attempted an invasion with American volunteers. Crossing the Atlantic from France was made impossible by British control of the seas resulting from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, so in October  1806, Bolívar boarded an American ship in Hamburg. Bolívar arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, in January 1807, and from there traveled to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston, then sailed to Venezuela. He arrived in June 1807 and met with other creole elites to discuss independence from Spain. Finding himself to be far more radical than the rest of Caracas high society, however, Bolívar decided to focus on managing his estates and occupied himself with a property dispute with a neighbor, . Venezuela and New Granada, 1807–1821. After a coup on 19 April 1810, Venezuela achieved "de facto" independence  when the Supreme Junta of Caracas was established and the colonial administrators were deposed. The Supreme Junta sent a delegation to Great Britain to get British recognition and aid. This delegation, led by Bolívar, included two future Venezuelan notables: Andrés Bello and . The trio met with Francisco de Miranda and persuaded him to return to his native land. First Republic of Venezuela, 1811–1812. In 1811, a delegation from the Supreme Junta, including Bolívar, and a crowd of commoners enthusiastically received Miranda in La Guaira. During the insurgency conducted by Miranda, Bolívar was promoted to colonel and was made commandant of  Puerto Cabello the following year, 1812. As Royalist Frigate Captain Domingo de Monteverde was advancing into republican territory from the west, Bolívar lost control of San Felipe Castle along with its ammunition stores on 30 June 1812. Bolívar then retreated to his estate in San Mateo. Miranda saw the republican cause as lost and signed a capitulation agreement with Monteverde on 25 July, an action that Bolívar and other revolutionary officers deemed treasonous. In one of Bolívar's most morally dubious acts, he and others arrested Miranda and handed him over to the Spanish Royal Army at the port of  La Guaira. For his apparent services to the Royalist cause, Monteverde granted Bolívar a passport, and Bolívar left for Curaçao on 27 August. In 1813, he was given a military command in Tunja, New Granada (modern-day Colombia), under the direction of the Congress of United Provinces of New Granada, which had formed out of the juntas established in 1810. Second Republic of Venezuela (1813–1814) and exile. This was the beginning of the Admirable Campaign. On 24 May, Bolívar entered Mérida, where he was proclaimed "El Libertador" ("The Liberator"). This was followed by the occupation of Trujillo on 9 June . Six days later, and as a result of Spanish massacres on independence supporters, Bolívar dictated his famous "Decree of War to the Death", allowing the killing of any Spaniard not actively supporting independence. Caracas was retaken on 6 August 1813, and Bolívar was ratified as "El Libertador", establishing the Second Republic of Venezuela. The following year, because of the rebellion of José Tomás Boves and the fall of the republic, Bolívar returned to New Granada, where he commanded a force for the United Provinces. His forces entered Bogotá in 1814 and recaptured the city from the dissenting republican forces of  Cundinamarca. Bolívar intended to march into Cartagena and enlist the aid of local forces in order to capture the Royalist town of Santa Marta. In 1815, however, after political and military disputes with the government of Cartagena, Bolívar fled to Jamaica, where he was denied support. After an assassination attempt in Jamaica, he fled to Haiti, where he was granted protection. He befriended Alexandre Pétion, the president of the recently independent southern republic (as opposed to the Kingdom of Haiti in the north), and petitioned him for aid. Pétion provided the South American leader with abundant provisions consisting of ships , men and weapons, demanding in return only that Bolívar promise to abolish slavery in any of the lands he took back from Spain. The pledge would indeed be upheld, and the abolition of slavery in the liberated territories would be regarded as one Bolívar's main achievements. Campaigns in Venezuela, 1816–1818. In 1816, with Haitian soldiers and vital material support, Bolívar landed in Venezuela and fulfilled his promise to Pétion to free Spanish America's slaves on 2 June 1816. Bolívar led the Expedition of the Keys fought for Venezuela in the east, while Manuel Piar led the Guyana Campaign , which started in the west. In July 1817, on a second expedition, Bolívar captured Angostura after defeating the counter-attack of Miguel de la Torre. However, Venezuela remained a captaincy of Spain after the victory in 1818 by Pablo Morillo in the Second Battle of La Puerta (). After capturing Angostura, and an unexpected victory in New Granada, Bolívar set up a temporary government in Venezuela. This was the start of the Third Republic of Venezuela. With this Bolívar created the Congress of Angostura that, following the wars, would establish Gran Colombia, a state that includes today's territories of Colombia , Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. Liberation of New Granada and Venezuela, 1819–1821. On 15 February 1819, Bolívar was able to open the Venezuelan Second National Congress in Angostura, in which he was elected president and Francisco Antonio Zea was elected vice president. Bolívar then decided that he would first fight for the independence of New Granada, to gain resources of the viceroyalty, intending later to consolidate the independence of Venezuela. The campaign for the independence of New Granada, which included the crossing of the Andes mountain range, one of history's great military feats, was consolidated with the victory at the  Battle of Boyacá on 7 August 1819. Bolívar returned to Angostura, when congress passed a law forming a greater Republic of Colombia on 17 December, making Bolívar president and Zea vice president, with Francisco de Paula Santander vice president on the New Granada side, and Juan Germán Roscio vice president on the Venezuela side. Morillo was left in control of Caracas and the coastal highlands. After the restoration of the Cádiz Constitution, Morillo ratified two treaties with Bolívar on 25 November 1820, calling for a six-month armistice and recognizing Bolívar as president of the republic. Bolívar and Morillo met  in Santa Ana de Trujillo on 27 November, after which Morillo left Venezuela for Spain, leaving La Torre in command. From his newly consolidated base of power, Bolívar launched outright independence campaigns in Venezuela and Ecuador. These campaigns concluded with the victory at the Battle of Carabobo, after which Bolívar triumphantly entered Caracas on 29 June 1821. On 7 September 1821, Gran Colombia (a state covering much of modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela) was created, with Bolívar as president and Santander as vice president. Ecuador and Peru, 1822–1824. Bolívar followed with the Battle of Bombona and the Battle of  Pichincha, after which he entered Quito on 16 June 1822. On 26 and 27 July 1822, Bolívar held the Guayaquil Conference with the Argentine General José de San Martín, who had received the title of "Protector of Peruvian Freedom" in August 1821 after partially liberating Peru from the Spanish. Thereafter, Bolívar took over the task of fully liberating Peru. The Peruvian congress named Bolívar dictator of Peru on 10 February 1824, which allowed him to reorganize completely the political and military administration. Assisted by Antonio José de Sucre, Bolívar decisively defeated the Spanish cavalry at the Battle of Junín on  6 August 1824. Sucre destroyed the still numerically superior remnants of the Spanish forces at Ayacucho on 9 December 1824. According to British historian Robert Harvey: Writing to United States Secretary of State John Quincy Adams in 1824, United States Consul in Peru William Tudor stated: Even though Bolívar condemned the corrupt practices of the Spanish, he ordered some churches stripped of their decorations. On 19 March 1824, José Gabriel Pérez wrote to Antonio José de Sucre about the orders given to him by Bolívar; Pérez talked about "all the ordinary and extraordinary means" that should be applied to assure  the subsistence of the patriot army. Indeed, Pérez said that Bolívar issued instructions to take from churches "all golden and silver jewels" in order to coin them and pay war expenditures. Days later, Bolívar himself said to Sucre that there would be a complete lack of resources unless severe actions were taken against "the jewels of the churches, everywhere". Consolidation of independence, 1825–1830. Republic of Bolivia. On 6 August 1825, at the Congress of Upper Peru, the "Republic of Bolivia" was created. Bolívar is thus one of the few people to have a country named after him. Bolívar returned to  Caracas on 12 January 1827, and then back to Bogotá. Bolívar had great difficulties maintaining control over the vast Gran Colombia. In 1826, internal divisions sparked dissent throughout the nation, and regional uprisings erupted in Venezuela. The new South American union had revealed its fragility and appeared to be on the verge of collapse. To preserve the union, an amnesty was declared and an arrangement was reached with the Venezuelan rebels, but this increased the political dissent in neighboring New Granada. In an attempt to keep the nation together as a single entity, Bolívar called for a constitutional convention at  Ocaña in March 1828. Struggles inside Gran Colombia. Bolívar thought that a federation like the one founded in the United States was impossible in Spanish America. For this reason, and to prevent a break-up, Bolívar sought to implement a more centralist model of government in Gran Colombia, including some or all of the elements of the Bolivian constitution he had written, which included a lifetime presidency with the ability to select a successor (although this presidency was to be held in check by an intricate system of balances). This move was considered controversial in New Granada and was one  of the reasons for the deliberations that took place from 9 April to 10 June 1828. The convention almost ended up drafting a document which would have implemented a radically federalist form of government, which would have greatly reduced the powers of a central administration. The federalist faction was able to command a majority for the draft of a new constitution which has definite federal characteristics despite its ostensibly centralist outline. Unhappy with what would be the ensuing result, pro-Bolívar delegates withdrew from the convention, leaving it moribund. Two months after the failure of this congress to write a  new constitution, Bolívar was declared president-liberator in Colombia's "Organic Decree". He considered this a temporary measure, as a means to reestablish his authority and save the republic, although it increased dissatisfaction and anger among his political opponents. An assassination attempt on 25 September 1828 failed (in Spanish it is indeed known as the "Noche Septembrina"), thanks to the help of his lover, Manuela Sáenz. Bolívar afterward described Sáenz as "Liberatrix of the Liberator". Dissent continued, and uprisings occurred in New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador during the next two years. Bolívar initially claimed to "forgive" those who were considered  conspirators, members of the "Santander" faction. Eventually, though, he subjected them to court martial, after which those accused of being directly involved were executed, some without having their guilt fully established. Santander, who had known in advance of the conspiracy and had not directly opposed it because of his differences with Bolívar, was condemned to death. Bolívar, though, commuted the sentence. After, Bolívar continued to govern in a rarefied environment, cornered by factional disputes. Uprisings occurred in New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador during the following two years. The separatists accused him of betraying republican principles and of wanting to establish  a permanent dictatorship. Gran Colombia declared war against Peru when president General La Mar invaded Guayaquil. He was later defeated by Marshall Antonio José de Sucre in the Battle of the Portete de Tarqui, 27 February 1829. Sucre was killed on 4 June 1830. General Juan José Flores wanted to separate the southern departments (Quito, Guayaquil, and Azuay), known as the District of Ecuador, from Gran Colombia to form an independent country and become its first President. Venezuela was proclaimed independent on 13 January 1830 and José Antonio Páez maintained the presidency of that country, banishing Bolívar. Aftermath. For the  rest of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, the political environment of Latin America was fraught with civil wars and characterized by a sociopolitical phenomenon known as "caudillismo", which became very common in Venezuela, especially after 1830. Indeed, such struggles already existed shortly after the patriot victory over the loyalists because the former Spanish colonies created new nations that proclaimed their own autonomous states, which produced military confrontations with political conspiracy that sent some of the former independence heroes into exile. Moreover, there were attempts by the Spanish monarchy to reconquer their former settlements in the Americas  through expeditions that would help the remaining loyalist forces and advocates. However, the attempts generally failed in Venezuela, Perú and Mexico; thus, the loyalist resistance forces against the republic were finally defeated. Final months and death. Saying that "all who served the revolution have plowed the sea", Bolívar finally resigned the presidency on 27 April 1830, intending to leave the country for exile in Europe. He had already sent several crates containing his belongings and writings ahead of him to Europe, but he died before setting sail from Cartagena. It is said that before Simón Bolívar died, he declared that  America is ungovernable. Bolívar was a man who had seen the negative in things. This negativity may have grown from the distances that had separated the large continent or from the differences in the cultures, languages, ethnicities and the races of the people. Another factor could have been from the lack of political unity, but it is unclear what had led him to being pessimistic. These factors had caused Bolívar to put his hope on hold of uniting the sovereign territory. Old colonial cities had been separated and new trading centers were separated by great geographical features such as mountains , high deserts and arid plains. These were all factors in which played a role and were responsible for the broken states during a time where wars of independence had risen. On 17 December 1830, at the age of 47, Simón Bolívar died of tuberculosis in the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino in Santa Marta, Gran Colombia (now Colombia). On his deathbed, Bolívar asked his aide-de-camp, General Daniel F. O'Leary, to burn the remaining extensive archive of his writings, letters, and speeches. O'Leary disobeyed the order and his writings survived, providing historians with a wealth of information about Bolívar 's liberal philosophy and thought, as well as details of his personal life, such as his long love affair with Manuela Sáenz. Shortly before her own death in 1856, Sáenz augmented this collection by giving O'Leary her own letters from Bolívar. Bolívar's remains were buried in the cathedral of Santa Marta. Twelve years later, in 1842, at the request of President José Antonio Páez, they were moved from Santa Marta to Caracas, where they were buried in the cathedral of Caracas together with the remains of his wife and parents. In 1876, he was moved to a monument set  up for his interment at the National Pantheon of Venezuela. The "Quinta" near Santa Marta has been preserved as a museum with numerous references to his life. In 2010, symbolic remains of Bolívar's later-years lover, Manuela Sáenz, were also interred in Venezuela's National Pantheon. In January 2008, then-President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez set up a commission to investigate theories that Bolívar was the victim of an assassination. On several occasions, Chávez claimed that Bolívar was in fact poisoned by "New Granada traitors". In April 2010, infectious diseases specialist Paul Auwaerter studied records of Bolívar's symptoms  and concluded that he might have suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning, but that both acute poisoning and murder were unlikely. In July 2010, Bolívar's body was ordered to be exhumed to advance the investigations. In July 2011, international forensics experts released their report, claiming there was no proof of poisoning or any other unnatural cause of death. Personal beliefs. Bolívar was an admirer of both the American Revolution and the French Revolution. While he was an admirer of U.S. independence, he did not believe that its governmental system could work in Latin America. Thus, he claimed that the governance  of heterogeneous societies like Venezuela "will require a firm hand". Bolívar felt that the U.S. had been established in land especially fertile for democracy. By contrast, he referred to Spanish America as having been subject to the "triple yoke of ignorance, tyranny, and vice". If a republic could be established in such a land, in his mind, it would have to make some concessions in terms of liberty. This is shown when Bolívar blamed the fall of the first republic on his subordinates trying to imitate "some ethereal republic" and in the process, not paying attention to the gritty political  reality of South America. Among the books accompanying him as he traveled were Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", Voltaire's "Letters" and, when he was writing the Bolivian constitution, Montesquieu's "The Spirit of the Laws". His Bolivian constitution placed him within the camp of what would become Latin American conservatism in the later nineteenth century. The Bolivian constitution intended to establish a lifelong presidency and a hereditary senate, essentially recreating the British unwritten constitution, as it existed at the time. Legacy. Political legacy. Due to the historical relevance of Bolívar as a key element during the process  of independence in Hispanic America, his memory has been strongly attached to sentiments of nationalism and patriotism, being a recurrent theme of rhetoric in politics. Since the image of Bolívar became an important part to the national identities of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, his mantle is often claimed by Hispanic American politicians all across the political spectrum. In Venezuela, Bolívar left behind a militarist legacy with multiple governments utilizing the memory, image and written legacy of Bolívar as important parts of their political messages and propaganda. Bolívar disapproved of the excesses of "party spirit" and "factions", which  led to an anti-political environment in Venezuela. For much of the 1800s, Venezuela was ruled by "caudillos", with six rebellions occurring to take control of Venezuela between 1892 and 1900 alone. The militarist legacy was then used by the nationalist dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez and more recently the socialist political movement led by Hugo Chávez. Monuments and physical legacy. The nations of Bolivia and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and their respective currencies (the Bolivian boliviano and the Venezuelan bolívar), are all named after Bolívar. Most cities and towns in Colombia and Venezuela are built around a main  square known as Plaza Bolívar, as is Bogotá. In this example, most governmental buildings and public structures are located on or around the plaza, including the National Capitol and the Palace of Justice. Besides Quito and Caracas, there are monuments to Bolívar in the Latin American capitals of Lima, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Havana, Mexico City, Panama City, Paramaribo, San José, Santo Domingo and Sucre. In Bogotá, the Simón Bolívar Park has hosted many concerts. Outside of Latin America, the variety of monuments to Simón Bolívar are a continuing testament to his legacy. These include statues in many capitals around the  world, including Algiers, Bucharest, London, Minsk, Moscow, New Delhi, Ottawa, Paris, Prague, Port-au-Prince, Rome, Sofia, Tehran, Vienna and Washington, D.C.. A school in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, is named in his honor. Several cities in Spain, especially in the Basque Country, have constructed monuments to Bolívar, including a large monument in Bilbao and a comprehensive Venezuelan government-funded museum in Cenarruza-Puebla de Bolívar, his ancestral hometown. In the US, an imposing bronze equestrian statue of Simón Bolívar stands at the southern entrance to Central Park at the Avenue of the Americas in New York City which also celebrates Bolívar 's contributions to Latin America. In New Orleans, the Simon Bolivar Monument at Canal and Basin Streets was a gift to the American city from Venezuela in 1957. The Bolivar Peninsula in Texas; Bolivar County, Mississippi; Bolivar, New York; Bolivar, West Virginia; Bolivar, Ohio; and Bolivar, Tennessee are also named in his honor. Monuments to Bolívar's military legacy also comprise one of Venezuelan Navy's sail training barques, which is named after him, and the , a "Benjamin Franklin"-class fleet ballistic missile submarine which served with the U.S. Navy between 1965 and 1995. Minor planet 712 Boliviana discovered by Max  Wolf is named in his honor. The name was suggested by Camille Flammarion. The first Venezuelan satellite, Venesat-1, was given the alternative name Simón Bolívar after him. His birthday is a public holiday in Venezuela and Bolivia. In popular culture. Bolívar has been depicted in opera, literature, film, and other media, and continues to be a part of the popular culture in many countries. In 1883, to celebrate 100 years since his birth, the Italian musician Nicolò Gabrielli composed the triumphal march "Simón Bolívar" and dedicated it to then president of Venezuela Antonio Guzmán Blanco. In 1943 Darius Milhaud composed  the opera Bolívar. He is also the central character in Gabriel García Márquez's 1989 novel "The General in His Labyrinth", in which he is portrayed in a less heroic but more humane manner than in most other parts of his legacy. In 1969, Maximilian Schell played the role of Simón Bolívar in the film of the same name by director Alessandro Blasetti, which also featured actress Rosanna Schiaffino. Bolívar's life was also the basis of the 2013 film "Libertador", starring Édgar Ramírez and directed by Alberto Arvelo. In an episode of the Spanish TV series "The Ministry of  Time", "Tiempo de ilustrados (Time of the Enlightened)", the time agents help him win the heart of his future wife, as this was considered fundamental for Bolívar to fulfil his destiny. Later in the second season of the series the time agents will find him again in 1828 (two years before his death) to avoid his murder, planned by Santander's followers. As of 2019, a Netflix series has been released depicting Bolívar's life and the major events surrounding it. The Netflix series is a Colombian production with Spanish as the main language. The town of Bolivar, TN was  named after Bolívar. In May 2020, he was released as the playable leader of Gran Colombia in Civilization VI's New Frontier Pass. His leader ability allows the recruitment of "Comandante Generals," which are real-life generals who served with him, such as José Antonio Páez, Antonio José de Sucre, and Francisco de Paula Santander.