The Desolation of the Universe - Pedro Baldo

THE DESOLATION OF THE UNIVERSE (1826 – 1831)

FIRST EDITION

Illustration on cover, the Desolation of the Universe – artwork from The Last Airbender - Avatar

Illustration on first page, painting of Simón Bolívar by contemporary artist of his period, José Gil de Castro (1785 – 1837).

Illustration on page 4, Sir Robert Thomas Wilson brass at Westminster Abbey Chapel floor – (complete mosaic).

Illustration on page 5, Storm Brewing with Lightning

Illustration on page 8, Historic Map of " La Gran Colombia" (1824) by Agustín Codazzi

Illustration on page 12, Bolivia´s Coat of Arms (1824), Battle of Ayacucho (12.09.1824) – by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 – 1902).

Illustration on page 18, chart comparison of approximate areas of La Gran Colombia (1822) and the Great Colombian Federation (1826), as conceived after the Constituent Congress held in Peru during early 1826.

Illustration on page 34, Antonio José de Sucre (1795 – 1830)– portrait by Joaquín Pinto (1842 – 1906).

Illustration on page 35, The Death of Sucre in Berruecos (1895) – by Arturo Michelena (Venezuela, 1863 – 1898).

Illustration on page 52, Gran Colombia´s Coat of Arms (1822)

Illustration on page 57, Photo of the plaque in the Palacio de San Carlos

Illustration on page 60, Admiral Jose Padilla, unknown artist

Illustration on page 65, Manuela Sáenz on September 25th – Tito Salas.

Illustration on page 71, Disputed territory between Gran Colombia and Peru (1829) – source Wikipedia: Girón Agreement –

Illustration on page 93, Antonio Jose de Sucre, by Arturo Michelena (Venezuela, 1863 – 1898).

Illustration on page 114, Mariana Carcelen, Marchioness of Solanda and Villarocha – unknown artist.

Illustration on page 134-135, Historic Map of " La Gran Colombia" (1824) by Agustín Codazzi

Illustration on page 141, Barren landscape

Illustration on page 143, The edge of the Milky Way - 222,200 light years away from Earth

Illustration on page 149, Stars being sucked in by the gravitational field of a massive Black hole

Illustration on page 152, Star Depiction Near the Event Horizon of a Giagantic Black Hole – Source: Black Holes: The Edge of What We Know.

Illustration on page 212, Combate de Paya, Labranzagrande, Páramo de Pisba 06.27.1819 – by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 – 1902).

Illustration on page 212, Batalla de Boyacá 08.07.1819 – by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 –1902).

Illustration on page 222, Bolívar on Horseback – by Arturo Michelena (Venezuela, 1863 – 1898).

Illustration on page 281, Battle of Ayacucho (12.09.1824) – by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 –1902) and Portete de Tarqui (02.27.1829)

lllustration on page 321, Juan Illingworth Hunt-Foxcroft (1786 – 1853).

Illustration on page 349, Simón Bolívar by José María Espinoza (1796 – 1883) Miniature on porcelain 1830.

Illustration on page 353, Battle of Portete de Tarqui 02.27.1829

Illustration on page 387, Caricature of Sucre and Bolívar by Pedro Leon Zapata (1929 – 2015).

Illustration on page 420, Le Suicidé ( El Suicidio ), (1877) Oil painting on canvas – by artist Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883).

Illustration on page 439, Batalla de Carabobo (1887). Congress Elliptic-Room Roof Painting. Details 1 & 2,

by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 – 1902).

Illustration on page 447, Bolívar, Alvear, Sucre and Simón Rodríguez in Cerro del Potosí (1911) – by Tito Salas (Venezuela, 1887 – 1974).

Illustration on page 449, Andes Pass (1911) – by Tito Salas (Venezuela, 1887 – 1974).

Illustration on page 455, Manuela Sáenz, bearing the “Order of the Sun (1823)” – by Teola Walker, oil on canvas, from a water color by Marcos Salas, kept at Museo Casa Quinta de Bolívar in Bogotá

Illustration on page 466, General de División Bartolomé Salom (1900) – by Emilio J. Mauri (1855 – 1908).

Illustration on page 471, Batalla de Pichíncha (05.24.1822) – by John Muir (1838 – 1914).

Illustration on page 488, Uniforms of Napoleon's Grande Armée (1812) – by Carle Vernet (1758 – 1836).

Illustration on page 493, General Carlos Soublette – by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 – 1902)

Illustration on page 500, General Antonio José de Sucre (c. 1828) – by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 – 1902).

Illustration on page 515, General Rafael Urdaneta (1788 – 1845)

Illustration on page 548, General José María Zamora (1855) – by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 –1902).

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The Desolation of the Universe

The author wishes to thank Amazon kpd & Barnes and Noble, Inc. Booksellers for their kind endorsement in the printing of this manuscript. February 2023.

Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do ! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress ? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back !

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling

An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

Great men are they that see that spiritual is stronger than any material force; that thoughts rule the world.

When great souls appear, men are compelled by their own self respect to distinguish them.

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

Historic Map of " La Gran Colombia" (1824) by Agustín

Codazzi

Dedicated to my son Guillermo, whom has always been the sole motive of my inspiration and motivation to carry on.

To my Mom, Carmen Evelia Díaz de Baldó, whom in her memory and constant thought, is always there, to guide and protect me, when I am most in need of her. She is that rich crevasse from where all goodness in me steps from.

To my dear friend Nate Hurt To Peter and Carmen Krauth.

Dedicated to all Venezuelan men and women, young and old, rich or poor, and all of those (of sound principles and good-will) that inhabit this magical land, cradle of Liberators, and one of the most formidable stages on which the freedom for Humanity has been wrought.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my brother José Rafael.

To Mrs. Luisa Virginia Henríquez Guerra and Mr. David Jones for all their precious contributions. The same goes for all the people who are mentioned as authors of the various biographies, or in the profile boxes as managers or creators of it. And to Geni for providing the platform.

To the heroes biographed on this book; thanks for giving us such highly valued freedom, in exchange for their inmortal lives. And for giving us the great privilege and honor to those of us who have been born Venezuelan.

And finally to all of those who ever doubted the power of History; all that did was make me even more determined in my purpose of proving them wrong. As a wise man once said: "Only the one who forgets dies. That's why the past can never be forgotten".

There will always be there, someone, to retell the tale, as it really did happen. Even when some think there´s no one left to remember.

To live in the hearts we leave behind, is not to die. Thomas Campbell , Hallowed Ground.

Death comes not to the living soul, nor age to the loving heart.

Phoebe Cary

APOLOGY NOTE TO MY ENGLISH READERS

I have left certain biographies intact in Spanish, since I wanted to convey the essence of the original author that wrote them (sometimes so inspired and in high-note, it is indeed very difficult to translate properly); namely those biographies written by Dávila, R. Azpúrua, Restrepo, J.V. González, Ernesto Blanco and other historians that lived 100 years ago, some of them featured in this book Where possible, I have translated some, but do forgive me for not attempting to translate the referred historians - I did this ( or rather didn´t do it ) in the interests of keeping the same book format as in the Spanish original version. And also because of the cost of printing, which would have been higher. Do forgive me.

“ The dogmatism of civilization produces an indigestion in our spirits, which don´t have the sufficient strength to chew the nutritious food of Freedom. The same thing that should save us, will in the end destroy us. The most pure and perfect doctrines, are the ones that poison our very existence”.

Bolivia´s Coat of Arms (1824)

Battle of Ayacucho (12.09.1824) – by Martín Tovar y Tovar (Venezuela, 1827 – 1902).

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THE DESOLATION OF THE UNIVERSE

Gran Colombia´s Flag (1821 - 1831)

Colombia´s First Coat of Arms (1817 -1820)

“ You are summoned to the highest of destinies, and I foresee that you shall be the rival of my Glory ”

BOLÍVAR, 04.26.1825.

Extract from a letter of the Liberator to Field Marshal Antonio José de Sucre, written from Nasca, Second Administration of General Sucre, Sucre´s Government , Part Three, Birth of Bolívia.

“ The Liberator wanted his Colombia to be (and to a certain extent it already was), the first nation of its time, the most advanced, ranking first in political repute: first, having the most concise and complete set of goals for the dignity of mankind and the effective enjoyment of justice, equality, liberty and democracy.

No nation in Europe or in the other continents surpassed Colombia in these respects. The United States, pursuing its magnificent industrial development (about to enter the industrial revolution) and enjoying a high level of stability and civil liberty, was, nevertheless, afflicted by the cancer of slavery and racial hatred. At that time, only Colombia offered liberty, democracy, justice, equality, unity and culture all together. It was in sum, and in synthesis, the triumph of the logical mind, which based on his mathematical training during his youth in Madrid, reached such a level of clarity and form with Simón Bolívar.

The Liberator knew what he was saying when he declared that the revolution in Latin America was the Hope of the Universe. For mankind, the true era of social justice was about to begin, starting right there in Latin America.

Colombia was to realize the aspirations of the Latin American layman, the long-held hopes of all men who had everywhere suffered humiliating oppression and cruel injustice.

While Europe was cultivating liberal individualism, Bolívar was seeking to establish effective justice and equity in Latin America, promoting true (social and economic) equality and heeding to the just claims of the oppressed.

The Liberator viewed Colombia as the nucleus for unity, as the driving force which would give impetus to integration. A good indication of the prestige of the republic was that it soon succeeded in incorporating Quito, Panamá and Guayaquil (1822 – 1824). There would soon be signs of similar affinity and enthusiastic solidarity in Santo Domingo, and Costa Rica. There were also plans to incorporate Cuba and Puerto Rico (1827) …”

Salcedo Bastardo, J.M.; Uslar Pietri, A. – The Hope of The Universe – 1983 pages 34 – 35. Unesco World Heritage Library Document.

In 1826, the projected state of The Great Colombian Federation composed of 6 States: 3 from Colombia, 2 from Peru and one from Bolivia was conceived. The idea was to establish in each state a life President, to be subordinates of the Liberator-President Bolivar him in turn perpetual President of the Great Federation. These States were all to be governed according to a common Constitution, the Bolivian Magna Carta. The Peru

Bolivian Confederation was a short-lived state that existed in South America between 1836

1839. The country was a loose confederation between the states of Peru, divided into the Republic of North Peru and the Republic of South Peru and Bolivia as the Bolivian Republic with the capital located in Tacna, Peru

Introduction

In response to the multitude that was chanting him and begging of him not to hand over power outside of Congress on 08.15.1826, asking him to delay his return to Colombia, Bolívar said: “ If I had to hear more of the ecos of my heart I would not hesitate to stay in Perú, which has mesmerized me with the most sincere demonstrations of gratitude and happiness; but my home land demands my presence; and when duty calls it is necessary to follow him in lieu of all affections. While I have been absent from Colombia, all manners of discussions and disagreements have occurred, which only I can subdue, because everybody is in the same understanding as I am, because no one opposes me. If Colombia continues with its dangerous altercations, the army will also be affected, and this army, which is the harness of the union, the shield of freedom and model of military discipline, shall become as calamitous as it has been magnanimous up until now: feared by its enemies. You have people in Perú that can handle the affairs of the State: they can guide the ship to safe harbor. If there should come a time when Perú is in real danger, I will jump to its rescue from my homeland to aid this great nation, which I love for its grand gestures towards me, and for its efussions of gratitude ”. “ Ladies: My silence is the only answer I can give in return for those blessed words, which shackle not only my heart but also my sense of duty. When beauty speaks, what bosom can thus resist ! I have been the soldier of beauty, because I have fought in the name of Freedom, which is beautiful, enchanting, takes pleasure to the heart of loveliness, where all flowers of life blossom and take refuge in. But my homeland … Oh my dear ladies, Colombia !! ” Simón Bolívar clearly moved, in an outburst of emotion, could not

continue his eloquent speech. This was Bolivar´s homecoming, his final voyage from the peak of his prestige and glorious career, his end-run across the scarped hills and steep valleys and dells of the Andes back to Caracas, where the house of cards was tumbling and threatening to disband. There are indescribable pains of the heart that leave a very deep dent on the soul of its sensitive bearer; pains of such a nature they cannot wield the ink and pen to be used in writing them, they are open wounds that make all sense tremble and cannot be expressed but with tears. Such are the emotions Bolívar feels as he heads back towards what he knows is one of his greatest challenges yet: keeping it all together, holding all those passions and vanities of men at bay, and steering the massive vessel called Colombia without incidents, making illbehaved newly-born republics, behave, just as you would pamper or reprimand your children when appropriate. He loves people, yet he knows he cannot trust them at all; his generous heart has seen the greatest of sorrows, he has endured all adversities and been stoic in the face of unspeakable ignominy and injustice, but nothing could have prepared him for what was about to come. In Venezuela, the Assembly in Valencia had decided to pay no heed to the decrees issued by the central government in Bogotá. General José Antonio Páez had been encouraged by his fellowmen, to stand his ground, and not to pay attention to the bullying he had been the subject of, under vice - President´s Santander superior authority. Before Bolívar had left Venezuela 5 years before, on November 1821, he had entrusted Páez with the command of one of the three main provinces of Venezuela, even though he still held the highest rank as acting Commander in Chief of all the military forces of the Provinces. This was

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due to his well-deserved prestige, after the Battle of Carabobo, and most recently, having done away with all the remaining Spanish strongholds, particularly Puerto Cabello in 1823, when he had personally led the assault to the Sieged fortress of Castillo de San Felipe, in Puerto Cabello, in a majestic, legendary move of land and sea forces perfectly synchronized to take the enemy completely by surprise. Santander had played along with Páez´s personality, well deserved fame and glory, up until now, but he was already growing tiresome of his rival. This is why on May 1826, he issued orders for Páez to present himself before the Neo Granadian Congress and surrender his authority. But just as Páez was indeed planning to vacate his post, the people in Valencia and those in Congress, pleaded him not to derogate his authority. This is how “the Cosiata” movement is born. It wasn´t in any way the brainchild of malicious intent perse, as some people like to judge it as “mischivousness” on his part, (undermining the all-and-all authority of the Liberator, the Supreme Commander of them all, now far away and very distant in Peru). It was just a measure to protect himself from what was about to happen to him. At this point it is appropriate to quote what had happened to Colonel Leonardo Infante just a few months before. Infante was a hero of the War of Independence, both in Venezuela and New Granada (Colombia). He had fought at Gameza, Peña de Topaga and Pantano de Vargas with amazing bravary, crowning his streak of victories at Carabobo. But Infante was a tempestuous character. Soon after the war was over, he was a troublemaker again in peace time, wooing the wrong ladies and spending all of his salary at a local tavern in Bogotá. Soon Santander found out about this unruly behaviour, and since he had old grudges with the

guy, he decided to take up these issues with him again. It seems that a Sergeant by the name of Perdomo was courting the same “married” lady that Infante was enthralled with, so one evening, late after all the streets in the borough of San Victorino were empty and dimly lit, just as the Sergeant was saying good night to the lovely lady, he was murdered with his own bayonet. People in the morning said they had heard Infante´s voice as the stabbed, unsuspecting casualty fell lifelessly to the ground with the mortal blow, but no one could actually say they saw him commit the murder. This was the perfect alibi Santander had waited to get the revenge he had dreamt on for so long to get back at Infante. For more than a year trials were held to prove his guilt, rather than acquitting him on bail or upholding his right to be considered innocent instead of holding him guilty from the beginning. Even with the skillful defence of Dr. Miguel Peña, a Venezuelan magistrate assigned as Infante´s defence counsellor, he was set for the gallows. At the end, against all formulas for true justice, and without taking into account the saved vote of Dr. Peña, (besides Santander´s heavy mongering of the other judges) Infante was executed. Not before saying in front of the firing squad: “ Infante dies, but not because he is guilty of Perdomo´s death ”. The execution took place on March 26th, 1826. Many historians believe this was the “inflection point” of the beginning of the end for “La Gran Colombia”. Bolívar himself was not easy with the execution of this independence hero, but he acknowledged he had a very disrespectful character. In a letter to Miguel Peña, Bolívar says: “ Please tell Infante no one adored him as I did, but that I was sick of his contempt for life. Anything that moved or lived he killed, when we had taken a village or made

prisoners. All of this he did in my presence ”. So Páez was so justified in being fearful of Santander, for he knew he did not mean well with Venezuelans, and less with people that outshone him. In Ecuador, things couldn´t have been worse. Even with the fortress of El Callao having capitulated in January 1826, and all Spanish dominion and influence over the area totally annihilated, the Pasto area people (Popayán, South of Colombia, and North of Quito) would not be deterred. They would not surrender. General Juan José Flores was at hairs´ ends with the guerrilla situation, and his forces were severely decimated. He had on many occasions battled himself with the insurgents, and taken forced tributes from the people living in the area to support the Ejército Libertador.

One of the unwilling donors to his army was the Marchioness of Solanda and Villarocha´s family, Mariana Carcelén, the betrothed-to-be wife of Marshal Antonio José de Sucre, who were constantly harassed by Flores´ lieutenants and strong armed to give cattle or land produce to the patriotic cause (to the point of not letting them retain anything to eat for themselves), besides having to pay the tribute every landowner was forced to pay. Word of this abuse, of course, got to Sucre, who took it upon himself to set things right with General Flores. Acting with his characteristic chivalry and bulletproof patience, and being president of Perú, and later Bolívia at that time, he didn´t recur to his political power or influence whatsoever. Instead he wrote a very “controlled” letter to Flores (of which he sent Bolívar a copy beforehand), inquiring of him why the necessity to use bullying to require payments from the Carcelén family, and even menaces of imprisonment if they didn’t pay (Mariana´s father, Felipe Carcelén y Sánchez de Orellana, had on many an occasion been made prisoner

and taken away in shackles for not being able to pay, and even her mother, Teresa Larrea y Jijón, had been threatened, after her father´s death) Bolívar could not do very much to help Sucre, for Flores was doing exactly what Bolívar had ordered him to do with all tenants that skipped the scheduled payment. So there couldn´t be any exception to the rule. However, the Grand Marshal offered a very clever alternative to this savage treatment. He said that since he had sacrificed his life to the well – being of the Republic of Colombia (La Gran Colombia, or just “Colombia” (before 1831), from now on), he had the right to demand a special concession be made on his wife´s family, by asking the Administration in Bogotá to pay from his retained salaries (as a General first, and now as vehement President of a nation (Bolívia), on behalf of General Bolívar), whatever the Carcelén family owed, not as a privilege, but as a right His unalienable right. He said that he had no aspirations at all to demand payment of his deprived salaries as a soldier, a General and now a Statesman, other than seeing his loved ones live a life of dignity and peace. Sucre would go on to live from his wife´s state for many years, not earning his well-deserved income until the time of his death, which would not make itself be postponed for too long, his enemies anxious to get rid of him, both out of deep envy as a magnificent soldier and person, but also ensconced resentment from low-lives looking to “ saw down the floor from right underneath his feet ”. Ferocious political ambitions of his enemies, malintent, deep mistrust and scornful jealousy at someone so detached and magnificent as he truly was. He resented having to uphold political power, yet the Liberator forced these responsibilities on him, saying that he was the only one qualified to take up the job, and

imposing administrative, civil and legal tasks on him he preferred to unburden himself from. Starting in 1827, Sucre faces administrative cuts from Bogotá, which limit his power in maintaining the order in the troops stationed in Bolívia. This leads to the first mutiny by Ecuadorian and Peruvian troops, on Bolivian soil. The Calvary Regiment : Granaderos de Colombia (1827) go haywire, mostly because defaults in their regular payments and huge debts owed to them. Sucre treads on very thin ice starting this year with rubbing Generals Santa Crúz and Gamarra the wrong way, as the newly elected authorities in Perú. He also begins a series of reforms that will make him extremely unpopular, namely giving land out to the indigenous people, and organizing the public trust, fiscal and tributary administrations. He organizes the agriculture in the country, and dictates a decree to promote the economic development of the Cobija Port. He writes to Santander with unnerving accuracy, what he sees for Colombia in the near future, in a letter written from Chuquisaca, on 07.10.1827 :

“

… From everything the mail has brought, I deduce that this poor America will succumb to all disorders. The Liberator will leave these lands, very probably, and Colombia will be torn to pieces at that moment; it will exist merely as shattered pieces that will in their turn be crumbled into yet smaller pieces, into very small parts. I see a dark future for my unfortunate homeland; and to complete the sadness of these dark thoughts I note that you have been influenced by a pernicious local feeling affecting the Republic, and I discover that the Liberator has also been contaminated by the same evil feeling …”

On 03.05.1828 he holds an emergency conference with General Agustín Gamarra in order to try and avoid a political crisis, just after the Chuquisaca

incident had taken place. Diplomatic negotiations with Bolívar failed, and on June 03rd, 1828 the war officially was declared. On November 28th, 1828, La Mar entered Gran Colombian territory and occupied Loja and practically the entire department of Azuay thanks to the contribution of 3,700 reinforcements brought by Gamarra. Later, La Mar also occupied Guayaquil after his troops had been rejected in the first instance by the Colombian General Juan Illingworth on December 23rd, 1828, who decided to evacuate the city seeing that he was outnumbered, in addition to the harassment made by the cannons from the warships that were blockading Guayaquil, while he awaited the reinforcements. On January 19th, 1829, the capitulation of the city of Guayaquil was signed, it being occupied by Peruvian troops. Faced with this situation, Antonio José de Sucre, then already back in Quito after resigning from the Bolivian presidency, and Juan José Flores, governor of the department of Ecuador, concentrated the army of southern Colombia near Cuenca to put pressure on the Peruvian troops, that on February 10th had occupied Cuenca. On February 14th, advances of the Peruvian army were attacked for the first time by troops under the command of General Luis Urdaneta, commissioned by Juan José Flores to attack the enemy outposts in Paquichapa, and they were pursued to Saraguro, where the Gran Colombian vanguard made up of the Grenadiers del Cauca, arrived from Guayaquil and twenty men from the Yaguachi Battalion supported by the recently arrived Caracas company, defeated and dispersed a Peruvian detachment made up of 1,300 soldiers that had remained as a garrison, confiscating a large amount of weapons from them. Later the town of Saraguro was set on fire in retaliation for collaborating with the invading army.

The Black Christmas of 1822

Pasto is a mestizo town in present-day Colombia that during the war of emancipation tenaciously opposed Bolivar’s revolution; they were loyal subjects of the King. Thus, under the orders of Agustín Agualongo, they fought tenaciously with sticks and machetes despite the meagre resources at their disposal.

Following direct orders from Bolívar, Generals Sucre and Flores were ordered to take whatever measures were necessary to subdue the Pastusos. These are the terrible events of Christmas 1822 in the town of Pasto

General José María Obando, said: “It is not known how such a moral, humane and enlightened man as General Sucre could have taken the highly unorthodox and cruel measure of delivering that city to many days of looting, murder and all the iniquity that armed licence is capable of; the doors of the houses were opened with the barrage of rifles to kill the owner, the father, the wife, the brother and make the brutal soldier the owner of the property, of the daughters, the sisters, the wives. There was a mother who, against her own will, went out into the street taking her daughter by the hand to hand her over to a white soldier before another black soldier could dispose of her innocence; temples, warehouses, homes and refugees were also assaulted and looted; decency refuses to refer to so many acts of immorality as minor. General Daniel Florencio O’Leary, Simón Bolívar’s private secretary said that: “In the horrible slaughter that followed, soldiers and countrymen, men and women, were promiscuously slaughtered”.

The general consensus is that, yes, there was bloodshed, but the Pasto people had always been extremely cruel to those that sympathized with the revolutionaries. So sadly, yes, this was an eye-for-an-eye situation.

In hindsight, those things that are the hardest to do should be the easiest to let go from. Yet we strive for them, anyway. When our obstinacy to achieve them is in excess, no progress is ever made in the execution of any other purpose.

When this procedure is defective, when “doing the right thing” is applied in excess, it engages us in precipitated and ill-concerted measures and enterprises.

The ideas of happiness, joy, triumph, prosperity are all concerned with every circumstance of character, and diffused over our minds as a pleasing general sentiment of sympathy and humanity. One may venture to affirm that there is no human creature to whom the appearance of happiness (where envy or revenge has no place) does not give pleasure; that of no misery or uneasiness. It seems inseparable from our make and constitution. But they are only the more generous minds that are prompted to seek zealously the good of others, and to have a real passion for their welfare, even at the expense of their own. Their true reward lies in posterior glory, of ageless remembrance, in the longing that a Superior Being is watching, that all injustice will be shattered to pieces , all wrongs will be turned to right. With men of narrow, selfish character, gnawing spirits, this sympathy goes not beyond a slight feeling of the imagination which serves only to excite sentiments of complacency or censure, and makes them apply on their victims either honorable or dishonorable appellations. If the prosperity of nations were laid on the one hand, and their ruin on the other, and he were desired to choose imperviously between the two motives, without

any inclination or propensity to either side, the consequence would be that such a person, being absolutely unconcerned either for the public good of a community or the private utility of others, would look on every quality, however pernicious to society or to its possessor. If instead, we suppose this same man to form his judgment in the case, there is to him a plain foundation or preference where everything else is equal; and however impartial his choice may be, if his heart be selfish or if the persons involved be remote from him, there must still be a choice between what is useful and what is pernicious. Now this distinction is the same in all parts, with the moral distinction, whose foundation has been so often and so much in vain sought after. The same endowments of the mind, in every circumstance, are agreeable to the sentiment of morals, and to that of humanity; the same temper is susceptible of high degrees of the one sentiment and of the other; and the same alteration in the objects, by their nearer approach or by their connections, enlivening the one or the other. By all the rules of philosophy, therefore, we must conclude that these two sentiments are originally one and the same, since in each one in particular, even the most minute; is governed by the same laws and is moved by the same objective behavior. So there´s no such a thing as an inevitable war: if war comes, it will come from the failure of human wisdom. Failure of the human wisdom inevitably derives in evil. Evil is here in the world, not because God wants or uses it here, but because he doesn´t know yet how to remove it … Evil therefore, is a fact not to be explained away, but to be contended with; and contended with not to be endured, but to be conquered. It is a challenge neither to our reason, nor to our patience, but to our temperance and courage.

The Chuquisaca Mutiny

Sucre had been President of Bolívia for two long years now, and it was on April 18th, 1828 when he was the victim of an assassination attempt. The perpetrators were very unhappy officers within the Peruvian regiments that resented Sucre´s authority, as they considered him to be an invading alien within Peru´s boarders, now that the independence war was finally over. It is unquestionable that the mastermind behind this horrendous plot was José Joaquín Casimiro Olañeta y Güemes, the high-Peruvian Statesman who, blind of hatred toward Sucre, not only for his unflinching perseverance and impeccable administration, was also the contender of his personal love-life, Sucre having a long lasting affair with Olañeta´s wife, Manuela de la Concepción ROJAS

IÑIGUEZ. Olañeta was minister of the presidents Andrés de Santa Cruz , José Ballivián , Manuel Isidoro Belzu, José Miguel de Velasco and José María Linares, all sworn enemies of the Grand Marshal. Vicente Pesquera Vallenilla in his book: – Rasgos Biográficos del Grand Marshal de Ayacucho Don Antonio José de Sucre – tells the tale just as it happened. “A hateful riot was plotted in Chuquisaca, (at dawn on April 18th, 1828) and the tenacious Peruvian revolutionaries threw all the fuel of their unbridled passions onto the reddened pyre of discord; parricide mutiny, which cost General Sucre a serious wound that disabled his right arm, yet did not prevent the courageous Cumanese from fulfilling his promise to the Bolivian people, because even though he did not leave Bolívia completely in peace when he descended from power, nonetheless he gave her her own life and led her along the path of goodness until she was ready to maintain and defend her own independence”. Fueling the Chuquisaca

mutiny, its leader was Doctor Casimiro Olañeta, nephew of the Spanish General with the same last name (General Pedro Antonio Olañeta, the rebel Spanish soldier who challenged Viceroy La Serna´s authority before the latter´s demise at the Battle of Ayacucho). This conspiracy recognized no other banner than the overthrow of the General Sucre´s Administration. Among Olañeta's entourage of Pharisees, one of the most exalted was listed as a Mr. Berdeja, who enjoyed Sucre's friendship, and who undertook to assassinate him. In pursuit of his victim, Berdeja took advantage one night on the occasion when General Sucre dismounted from his horse, took off his spurs, and with his back turned on him, Berdeja took out a dagger, and dived on him from behind. Sucre upon hearing noise, suddenly turned, and Berdeja chilled, stunned with cowardice to commit the crime, threw the treacherous weapon to the ground. The hero, surprised by such a villainous action, questioned him in amazement: – "What is it, Berdeja ?"

– Frightened, seized in a frenzy of panic, the perpetrator knelt before Sucre exclaiming: "Please kill me General. I don't deserve to live; I was going to kill you for no other reason than that you are too generous". Sucre, accustomed to discerning forgiveness, pulled him up on his feet, and for all punishment on this fellow, imposed on him banishment from Perú, thus forcing himself thereafter to support the Berdeja family out of his own pocket, for whom he spent 100 pesos a month. Three months after this scandalous event, Berdeja returned, and grateful to General Sucre, devoted himself to his service, with such determined fidelity and adherence to the person of this chief that he forever became his best friend and admirer.

The unfortunate barracks´ riot, finally broke out on April 18th, 1828, with all of its horrors, beginning with the uprising by the squadron of General Sucre's honor guard. When General Sucre learned of the fact, he ordered all his aidesde-camps to mount horses, assigning Colonel Alarcón to assemble the police force, so that he could support himself in the operation that he was going to undertake, and accompanied by Commander Escalona, he went out on the rebellious barracks, in front of which was located an artillery piece, commanded by a Sergeant Balisea. When General Sucre arrived at the door of the building, he raised his voice to call the soldiers to order, but instead of being intimidated, they ordered the artillerymen to fire, at the same time that a heavy firing of rifles announced that hostilities had broken out. Fortunately, Providence took care of the hero's life, because his existence was marked to be extinguished with all of its glitters of glory in the terrifying mountain of Berruecos two years thereafter, and the cannon burned its prime but the fatal shot that was to tear him to pieces did not fire. Sucre noticing this, and seeing the advantage that this casual incident gave him, charged with his aide Escalona on the stubborn soldiers who were firing at him from the door. The shots were accurate and they were all aimed at Sucre, until a bullet hit him in the right arm, rendering it completely useless. Commander Escalona, who in the midst of the confusion noticed the soldier who had wounded General Sucre, pegged him with his spear on to a door, starting a terrifying fight between those two titans against that group of conspirators, when another shot came out of the corridor of the building, bullet which wounded Escalona in the arm. This made him so worked up that, taking the horse's reins with his teeth, he attacked the soldier who had

wounded him, leaving him dead on the spot, restoring order and peace through his heroism, and inspiring obedience amongst the rebels once again. General Sucre, who was riding a spirited horse, was unable to restrain his mount because of the wound, through which he was shedding a great surge of blood, and the brute, startled, began his galloping with full speed in the direction of the Government Palace. Escalona followed his General to the manger where the animal arrived with such impetus that Sucre, to avoid being overwhelmed against the divisions of the cavalry, had to make use of his fractured arm, and resting his bloody hand on the wall, he left it stamped with such perfection, that today this being the building where the Bolivian Congress meets, the bloody imprint is still preserved in a glass box within a gold frame, ordered by that Sovereign Body, with the following inscription that anathematizes the parricidal perpetrators of such a horrendous crime: – "Here is the hand of the Father of Bolívia, its first President, whom treachery and treason tried to immolate” –Pesquera Vallenilla continues: “The people of Chuquisaca, aware of the event, rioted asking to arm themselves in defense of order and public peace, and almost all of the matrons of that generous population kindly presented themselves to assist the illustrious victim, counting among them the wife from Doctor Olañeta himself, Manuela de la Concepción ROJAS IÑIGUEZ, who, stunned by the events, entered the room where the noble champion of liberty was prostrated, so overwhelmed with sadness that she burst into alarming sobs: " General, what is this: what a disgrace!! ", she said.

" Don't be alarmed, my lady – Sucre replied, – these are unquestionably some of don Casimiro's pranks ".The noble lady understanding the felony of the betrayal