164 CHAPTER 8 THE INDEPENDENCE OF LATIN AMERICA
Spanish hacendados. But the majority of the popu-
lation remained neutral, fl eeing from their villages
at the approach of royal or republican conscription
offi cers; if conscripted, they often deserted when
they could or changed sides if prospects seemed
better.
On the patriot side, differences arose between
the commander in chief, Miranda, and his young
offi cers, especially Bolívar, who were angered by
Miranda’s military conservatism and indecisive-
ness. Amid these disputes came the earthquake
of March 26, 1812, which caused great loss of life
and property in Caracas and other patriot territo-
ries but spared the regions under Spanish control.
The royalist clergy proclaimed this disaster a divine
retribution against the rebels. A series of military
defeats completed the discomfi ture of the revolu-
tionary cause.
With his forces disintegrating, Miranda at-
tempted to negotiate a treaty with the royalist
commander and then tried to fl ee the country,
taking with him part of the republic’s treasury. He
may have intended to continue working for inde-
pendence, but the circumstances made it appear
as if he wished to save his own skin. Bolívar and
some of his comrades, regarding Miranda’s act as
a form of treachery, seized him before he could
embark and turned him over to the Spaniards. He
died in a Spanish prison four years later. Bolívar,
saved from the Spanish reaction by the infl uence
of a friend of his family, received a safe conduct to
leave the country.
Bolívar departed for New Granada (present-
day Colombia), which was still partially under pa-
triot control. Here, as in Venezuela, creole leaders
squabbled over forms of government. Two months
after his arrival, Bolívar issued a Manifesto to the
Citizens of New Granada in which he called for
unity, condemned the federalist system as impracti-
cal under war conditions, and urged the liberation
of Venezuela as necessary for Colombian security.
Given command of a small detachment of troops
to clear the Magdalena River of enemy troops, he
employed a strategy that featured swift movement,
aggressive tactics, and the advancement of soldiers
for merit without regard to social background or
color.
A victory at Cúcuta gained Bolívar the rank
of general in the Colombian army and approval of
his plan for the liberation of Venezuela. In a forced
march of three months, he led fi ve hundred men
through Venezuela’s Andean region toward Cara-
cas. In Venezuela the Spaniards had unleashed a
campaign of terror against all patriots. At Trujillo,
midway in his advance on Caracas, Bolívar pro-
claimed a counterterror, a war to the death against
all Spaniards. As Bolívar approached the capital,
the Spanish forces withdrew. He entered Caracas
in triumph and received from the city council the
title of liberator; soon afterward the grateful con-
gress of the restored republic voted to grant him
dictatorial powers.
Bolívar’s success was short-lived, for develop-
ments abroad and at home worked against him.
The fall of Napoleon in 1814 brought Ferdinand
VII to the Spanish throne, released Spanish troops
for use in Spanish America, and gave an important
lift to the royal cause. Meanwhile, the republic’s
policies alienated large sectors of the lower classes.
The creole aristocrats stubbornly refused to grant
freedom to their slaves. As a result, the slaves con-
tinued their struggle, independent of Spaniards and
creoles, and republican forces had to be diverted for
punitive expeditions into areas of slave revolt.
TheLlaneros (cowboys) of the Venezuelan lla-
nos (plains) also turned against the republic as a
result of agrarian edicts that attempted to end the
hunting or rounding up of cattle in the llanos with-
out written permission from the owner of the land
in question. These edicts also sought to transform
the llaneros into semiservile peons by forcing them
to carry an identity card and belong to a ranch.
These attacks on their customary rights and free-
dom angered the llaneros. Under the leadership of
the formidable José Tomás Boves, a mass of cow-
boys, armed with the dreaded lance, invaded the
highlands and swept down on Caracas, crushing
all resistance. In July 1814, Bolívar hastily aban-
doned the city and retreated toward Colombia with
the remains of his army. Although Boves died in
battle in late 1814, he had destroyed the Vene-
zuelan “second republic.”
Bolívar reached Cartagena in September to
find that Colombia was on the verge of chaos.