THE LIBERATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 163
minority, feared the oppressed natives, blacks, and
half-castes, and as a rule sought to keep their in-
tervention in the struggle to a minimum. This lack
of unity of regions and classes helps explain why
Latin America had to struggle so long against a
power like Spain, weak and beset by many internal
and external problems.
The struggle for independence had four main
centers. Spanish South America had two principal
theaters of military operations, one in the north
and one in the south. One stream of liberation
fl owed southward from Venezuela; another ran
northward from Argentina. In Peru, the last Span-
ish bastion on the continent, these two currents
joined. Brazil achieved its own swift and relatively
peaceful separation from Portugal. Finally, Mexico
had to travel a very diffi cult, circuitous road before
gaining its independence.
SIMÓN BOLÍVAR,THE LIBERATOR
Simón Bolívar is the symbol and hero of the libera-
tion struggle in northern South America. Born in
Caracas, Venezuela, in 1783, he came from an aris-
tocratic creole family rich in land, slaves, and mines.
His intellectual formation was greatly infl uenced by
his reading of the rationalist, materialist classics
of the Enlightenment. Travel in various European
countries between 1803 and 1807 further widened
his intellectual horizons. He returned to Caracas
and soon became involved in conspiratorial activity
directed at the overthrow of the Spanish regime.
In April 1810, the creole party in Caracas or-
ganized a demonstration that forced the abdication
of the captain general. A creole-dominated junta
that pledged to defend the rights of the captive Fer-
dinand took power, but its assurances of loyalty
deceived neither local Spaniards nor the Regency
Council in Cádiz. A considerable number of wealthy
creoles of the planter class also opposed indepen-
dence, and when it triumphed, many emigrated to
Cuba or Puerto Rico. The patriots also disagreed
over what policy to follow; some, like Bolívar, fa-
vored an immediate declaration of independence,
whereas others preferred to postpone the issue.
Perhaps to get Bolívar out of the way, the
junta sent him to England to solicit British aid.
He had no success in this mission but convinced
the veteran revolutionary Francisco de Miranda
to return to Venezuela and take command of the
patriot army. In 1811 a Venezuelan congress pro-
claimed the country’s independence and framed
a republican constitution that abolished special
privileges (fueros) and native tribute but retained
black slavery, made Catholicism the state religion,
and limited the rights of full citizenship to property
owners. This last provision excluded the free pardo
(mulatto) population.
Fighting had already broken out between pa-
triots and royalists. In addition to peninsulars, the
troops sent from Puerto Rico by the Regency Coun-
cil, and a section of the creole aristocracy, the roy-
alist cause had the support of some free blacks and
mulattos, angered by the republic’s denial of full
citizenship to them. In many areas the black slaves
took advantage of the chaotic situation to rise in
revolt, impartially killing creole and peninsularA portrait of the liberator, Simón Bolívar, by José
Gil de Castro. His appearance conforms closely to
descriptions of Bolívar in contemporary accounts.
[ José Gil de Castro, Portrait of Simón Bolívar in Lima (detail),
1825, oil on canvas, Salón Elíptico del Congreso Nacional.
The Granger Collection, New York]