THE Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on Tuesday celebrated its 205th Anniversary of the Final Declaration of its Independence, which officially formalized its freedom from colonial domination after more than three hundred years.
From July 5, 1811, when the Act of the Declaration of Independence was signed, and the first Constitution of Venezuela and South America was created, Venezuela was thrown into a bloody war for its liberation, ending – in the first instance – in 1821 with the Battle of Carabobo, and then ratified with the Naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo which occurred July 24, 1823.
In 1819, even without having consolidated the independence of Venezuela, Liberator Simón Bolívar created the Confederation of Gran Colombia, thus starting – from that moment – the struggle for the liberation of five other nations and an entire continent.
Bolivar’s glory is lost sight of; we can read the arguments put forward by the BBC in choosing The Liberator Simon Bolivar as the most prominent 19th Century American.
• Only 47 years old, fought 472 battles being defeated only six times
• Participated in 79 major battles, with great risk of death in 25 of them
• He rode 123 000 kilometers, more than what Columbus and Vasco da Gama sailed combined
• He was Head of State of five countries.
• He rode with the torch of freedom a linear distance of 6,500 kilometres, covered 10 times more distance than Hannibal, three times more than Napoleon, and twice more than Alexander the Great
• His ideas on freedom were written in 92 proclamations and 2,632 letters, love letters and other documents, totalling more than 10,000 documents
• He freed six countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela)
• He was the creator of the dream of integration of the Republic of the Gran Colombia (1819)
• The army that he commanded never conquered, it only liberated
On Tuesday, The Government and People of Venezuela reaffirmed their commitment to peace, solidarity and friendship with the sister nations of the world, and especially those of Latin America and the Caribbean, with whom it shares common bonds.