Simón Bolívar Autograph Letter Signed.

BOLIVAR, Simón.

$12,500.00

Item Number: 126183

Rare autograph letter signed by ‘El Libertador’, Simón Bolívar as President of Gran Colombia. One page, script in Spanish on both recto and verso. The letter is dated May 13, 1828, and offers the recipient, Colonel José Félix Blanco, Bolívar’s support in his struggle to maintain the security of Barinas (of which was made Governor in 1827) in the midst of heavy criticism from several officers including General José Antonio Páez. Bolívar notes that the offending officers have been dismissed  in order to prevent the possibility of partial influence on the resulting hearings and regrets that he will be unable to the proceedings in Orinoco but expects Blanco’s reputation to be restored in four to six months. Signed by Bolívar at the conclusion of the letter. The recipient, Colonel José Félix Blanco, joined the war of independence in 1810, serving as chaplain, and was appointed intendant Governor of Barinas in 1827. He was among the defenders of Valencia in the first siege of the city and participated in the first battle of Carabobo. Active in a variety of military, government, and religious capacities over the course of several decades, he was later appointed commander of arms of the province of Maracaibo, Secretary of War and Navy in 1837, and Secretary of the Treasury and Foreign Relations in 1847 after an unsuccessful run for the vice-presidency of the Republic in 1844 and for the presidency in 1846. In near fine condition. Double matted and framed with a portrait of Bolívar with a glass pane on the verso of the frame, displaying the letter in full. A unique association.

Venezuelan military and political leader Simón Bolívar, also known as 'El Libertador', led what are currently the countries of Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama to independence from the Spanish Empire in the campaign for the independence of New Granada, which began in 1808 and was consolidated with the victory at the Battle of Boyacá on 7 August 1819. Despite a number of hindrances, including the arrival of an unprecedentedly large Spanish expeditionary force, the revolutionaries eventually prevailed, culminating in the victory at the Battle of Carabobo in 1821, which effectively made Venezuela an independent country. Following this triumph over the Spanish monarchy, Bolívar participated in the foundation of the first union of independent nations in Latin America, Gran Colombia, of which he was president from 1819 to 1830. Through further military campaigns, he ousted Spanish rulers from Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, the last of which was named after him. He was simultaneously president of Gran Colombia (present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador), Peru, and Bolivia, but soon after, his second-in-command, Antonio José de Sucre, was appointed president of Bolivia. Bolívar aimed at a strong and united Spanish America able to cope not only with the threats emanating from Spain and the European Holy Alliance but also with the emerging power of the United States. At the peak of his power, Bolívar ruled over a vast territory from the Argentine border to the Caribbean Sea.