We paused often in this pretty, shaded plaza dedicated to Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), one of the most important men in Columbia´s history. He fought the Spanish and after early defeats, he returned victorious and in 1819 he was President of Gran Columbia - a union of Columbia, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador. He is a nationalist hero.
Simon Bolivar was half British and worked, although independently with the tacit support of the British Government, among a small cohort of other British freelances such as Bernardo O' Higgins - who did much to liberate Chile. Britain was at war with Spain for much of Bolivar's time and financed, as was the way with the British (and still is!) wars by proxy, in arenas too strategically remote and difficult to prosecute openly. A 20th Century example is Lawrence of Arabia and the Arab Revolt which eventually placed the entire Arabian world under British domination and influence (except Syria and Lebanon, which the French were given... and is the only area completely devoid of oil...! who said the British were slow off the mark!) The result of Bolivar's and O' Higgins (et al) efforts did much to liberate South America from Spanish rule, even though they were often defeated during their campaigns. It is one of the reasons why Argentina and Chile, for example, have always had close relations with Britain, in spite of never being colonies. Bolivar was famous for his stunning all red Hussars uniform, flamboyant nature, alarming degree of chivalry, and fiery oratory. O' Higgins, being a Mick, was of coarser stuff, but equally brilliant and utterly fearless - must have been the Celt in him!
ReplyDeleteYours aye... Alex
My God, where are these great spirits now? Instead of cohorts of spineless sycophants, vomiting forth obsolete concepts into an arena entirely devoid of vision, aspiration towards the truth and the dignity of the human spirit...
(Finni says... you need to have a separate box for "Post a Rant" especially for Alex!!!)