Bolivar: American Liberator

El Libertador

A man forged by the culture and the land where he was born, Bolívar is by far too complex of an individual, at times rational, at times irrational but always with a "method to his madness," and Arana unapologetically delves into each facet of his personality, exposing both the positive and the negative, and explaining the reasons for each qualifier. Unlike most biographies of Bolívar, Marie Arana's style is not to prejudge; she is not a defense attorney, nor a prosecutor-whether Bolívar's departure from Puerto Cabello, his involvement in Francisco de Miranda's demise, the "War to Death," Bolívar's penchant for female companionship, or his personal and military successes and failures, Arana simply provides both sides of the issue, and lets the reader understand the whys and hows of the events.

At 464 pages of narrative, the book is just right, though to this reader, another one hundred or more pages would have been welcomed. While Arana may not offer much new or groundbreaking information, something which is almost impossible to accomplish-as Arana points out, the Library of Congress alone has close to 3000 books/documents related to the man-this publication is still worthy of praise, and worthy of being read. It is one of the few biographies in which the author has managed to describe Bolívar's persona and his military career without detriment to one or the other, and one in which the narrative is fully devoted to the protagonist. Also to Arana's credit, her mastery of the English language is beyond reproach, her imagery is vivid without a fault, and the straightforwardness of the narrative speaks for itself. Arana's style of writing makes it easy to get engrossed in the biography, its protagonist, and the seemingly endless cast of characters she presents. That well balanced combination is what makes the reader look forward to turning the page, to see what comes next. In that sense, the book does read like a novel: Chatty, with flashes of seriousness, with dramatic and light moments, and filled with details which do not make the narrative esoteric, or tedious, and with comments and criticisms which do not make the protagonist another stereotypical "Third World Savage."

Just as there is high praise for Arana and her book, there are some comments. The deliberate choice to omit numerical citations is jarring. Instead, the reading is provided with several pages of quotes which indicate a reference. Without the proper numerical citation in the main text the reader is left adrift, and the information becomes disconnected. The reader has no option but to constantly refer to the back of the book whenever there is something of interest, only to find out there may or amy not be a reference.

As authors in the United Stated have consistently but erroneously done, Arana makes some comparisons between Simón Bolívar and George Washington, when the only commonality between the two is that they led an army in the liberation of their respective countries. Personal, social, geographical, and political circumstances make the comparison between these two men malapropos.

While Arana is not blind to Bolívar's faults, it is disappointing to see her use discredited individuals such as H.L.V. Ducoudray-Holstein and Gustavus Butler Hippisley as references or sources. Ducoudray-Holstein appears as having "served Bolívar in Angostura (p. 419)." Hopefully this is an editorial oversight; Ducoudray never made it beyond Carúpano, where he was discharged in June 1816; Bolívar did not go to Angostura until 1818.

On the death of José Félix Ribas, Arana departs from accepted history, without providing a source for the comments, or further explanation.

Aside from these minor oversights, Arana's biography, "Bolívar: American Liberator" is very well written, and one of the few which is well worth reading-and reading multiple times over. Bolívar comes off the pages not as the saint his apologists would like him to be, but as a flawed yet likeable individual; not as the devil manufactured by his opponents, but as a visionary whose ideas and good intentions, though they may have at times been in conflict, or misunderstood, were far greater than his flaws. Bolívar was self assured to the point of vanity, yet with an undercurrent of kindness and humility, but he was also a social animal who ended up a lonely individual A genius who, among other things, defined, planned, crafted, executed, and achieved, the independence of five nations, Bolívar's successes cover a not insignificant territory of 1, 853,681 square miles-4.31 times larger than the original 13 northern British Colonies. He was a visionary who foresaw the need for, and planned, a Pan American union of states to protect and secure the former Spanish colonies in Latin America, against outside pressure, and influences; and who foretold the need for a canal cutting through the Panama isthmus, fifty-three years before Ferdinand de Lesseps broke ground in 1881. In short, the kind of man with whom the reader can empathize, and identify, for having all of the human qualities, frailties and dreams mere mortals possess, but who, blinded by his own vision, could not at times see through the fog of his ideals. He was just as demanding of himself as of those under him, and yet forgiving of the internal and external enemies who plotted politically against him, or who wanted him dead. This is Bolívar, a selfless patriot and leader, who gave everything he was, and everything he had, to the cause of liberty-a charismatic innovator, leader and a patriot of whom can truly be said that he did not ask from anyone, anything he was not himself willing to give or do for the Motherland. Yet, that insatiable need to accomplish his mission, was in part what led to his downfall. But in spite of all he did or may have done, all he was or may have been, his prophetic words have had a more lasting, if unrecognized, effect throughout Latin America: "Fellow citizens," Bolívar said in his last speech to Congress, ".... independence is the only thing we have won, at the cost of everything else (p. 430)[;]" and to General Flores in Ecuador, Bolívar would write, that "[t]he country is bound to fall into unimaginable chaos, after which it will pass into the hands of an indistinguishable string of tyrants of every color (p. 450) ...." For all the criticism of his ego, and supposed ambition to be a dictator for life, or to be crowned king, even his opponents knew that Bolívar was the common thread between the different peoples and opinions of the five nations he had liberated. If Bolívar held dictatorial powers to maintain stability, most of those who followed, into the Twenty First Century, would give "dictator" a completely new and infinitely negative meaning.

One of the wealthiest if not the wealthiest man in Venezuela at the time of his parents' death, Bolívar devoted his entire fortune to the War of Independence, and never accepted renumeration for his services during, or after, the war. For all he sacrificed, Bolívar died abandoned and rejected by the very people whose freedoms he had forged; without a clean shirt in which to be buried, he breathed his last breath accompanied by, among a few remaining loyal supporters, his old manservant José Palacios, a former slave in the house of Bolívar's mother.

Few authors have taken the time to be as objective and even handed, as Arana has, in showing Bolívar's multifaceted character, and to report history as it happened, instead of a particular notion of the events. In so doing, Arana has succeeded in presenting not only the thinker and unique military man, but the human being that is Bolívar, the American Liberator.

Parts of this review have been previously published in other venues.