Antonio jose de sucre
Antonio José Francisco de Sucre y Alcalá (Cumana, February 3, 1795-Berruecos, June 4, 1830), known as the Mariscal de Ayacucho, was a politician, diplomat, and military strategist. Venezuelan, hero of the independence of South America.
He was awarded the title of "Grand Mariscal of Ayacucho" by the Peruvian congress in 1824, after commanding the United Liberation Army of Peru, granting victory in the battle of Ayacucho by defeating the last Spanish viceroy in America; In 1821 he carried out diplomatic activities that allowed the formation of the Ejército Libertador del Sur de Colombia, to which Simón Bolívar gave the responsibility of commanding receiving the title of General in Chief, work he carried out winning with the help of the army of the Free Province of Guayaquil to the royalist army in the battle of Pichincha, where he obtained the rank of general.
Biography
Antonio José Francisco de Sucre y Alcalá was born on February 3, 1795 in Cumaná, Captaincy General of Venezuela at the time, to a family whose ancestors were originally from Belgium and Spain. He was the son of Vicente de Sucre Pardo y García de Urbaneja, a Spanish military and politician, and María Manuela Alcalá y Sánchez. He lost his father and his mother at the age of seven. Still a teenager, he was sent to Caracas in the care of his godfather, the archdeacon of the cathedral, priest Antonio Patricio de Alcalá, to begin studies in military engineering at the José Mires School. In 1809, with his brother Pedro and other young people, he joined as a cadet the company of Noble Hussars of Fernando VII, in Cumaná, a unit organized by Juan Manuel Cajigal y Niño, governor of the province of Nueva Andalucía.
In 1810, the Cumaná Government Junta granted him the job of second lieutenant of regulated infantry militias. This degree was ratified by the Supreme Board of Caracas on August 6 of that same year. In 1811 he held the position of commander of engineers in Margarita. On July 31 of that year he received the office of lieutenant. In 1812 he is in Barcelona, as commander of the artillery. There, on July 3 of that year, together with other notable citizens, he signed the minutes of the war junta that met that day to resolve what was conducive to the security of the Republic, as a result of the events in Caracas (offensive of Domingo de Monteverde) and the occupation of Cúpira by a group of supporters of Fernando VII.
After the capitulation of General Francisco de Miranda, Sucre, amnestied by Monteverde, returned to Cumaná, where the new royalist governor Emeterio Ureña issued him a passport to move to Trinidad; but there is no record that he made use of said document. In 1813, under the orders of General Santiago Mariño, he joined the group of republicans known as the liberators of the east and participated in the operations for the liberation of that part of Venezuela. As aide-de-camp to General Mariño, in 1814, he attended the conjunction of the forces from the East with those from the West in the valleys of Aragua. That year, his brother Pedro was shot in La Victoria by the royalists; and victims of José Tomás Boves die in Cumaná his brothers Vicente and Magdalena. No less than 14 immediate relatives will perish in the War of Independence. In 1815, after fighting under the orders of General José Francisco Bermúdez in Maturín, he went to Margarita and escaping from General Pablo Morillo, he continued to the Antilles and Cartagena. In this square, with Lino de Pombo as immediate boss, he directs the fortification works to defend the city against the royalist siege by Pablo Morillo. In December he is in Haiti. When he later returned to Venezuela, he was shipwrecked in the Gulf of Paria. In 1816, Mariño named him chief of his General Staff and promoted him to colonel. This same chief designates him in 1817 commander of the province of Cumaná. That year, after the Cariaco Congress (May 8) he was unaware of the actions of said collegiate body and the authority of Mariño and moved to Guayana, where he placed himself under the orders of Simón Bolívar. On September 17 of that same year, he received from Bolívar the designation of governor of Old Guayana and general commander of the Lower Orinoco, and also the order to organize a battalion with the name Orinoco.
He began his government career in which he would hold all the positions of the civil administration up to president of the Republic in Bolivia. On October 7, 1817, he received the appointment of Chief of Staff of the division of the province of Cumaná, under the orders of General Bermúdez, appointed commander of the aforementioned great unit. These appointments also had the purpose of reducing the dissidence that reigned in Cumaná. "General Bermúdez and you are going to do great things in Cumaná and perhaps one day you will be called the saviors of your country," Bolívar told Sucre on that occasion. In August 1819 he was promoted to brigadier general by the Vice President of Venezuela, Francisco Antonio Zea; degree that will be ratified by Bolívar on February 16, 1820. He travels to the Antilles commissioned to acquire war material; mission that he fulfills successfully. That same year he temporarily held the War and Navy portfolio and was the head of State.
The Armistice of Santa Ana
After the liberation of New Granada and the creation of the Republic of Colombia, Bolívar signed with the Spanish general Pablo Morillo, on November 26, 1820, an Armistice, as well as a Treaty to Regularize the War. Sucre drafted this Treaty of Armistice and Regularization of the War, considered by Bolívar as "the most beautiful monument of mercy applied to war". The importance of the documents drawn up by Sucre, in what meant his first diplomatic action, was the temporary cessation of the fights between the patriots and the royalists, and the end of the war to the death that began in 1813. The Armistice of Santa Ana gave him it allowed Bolívar to gain time to prepare the strategy for the Battle of Carabobo, which ensured Venezuelan independence. The document marked a milestone in international law, since Sucre established worldwide the humanitarian treatment that since then began to be received by the defeated by the victors in a war, thus becoming a pioneer of human rights. The projection of the treaty was of such magnitude that Bolívar wrote in one of his letters: & # 34; this treaty is worthy of the soul of Sucre. The purpose of the Armistice Treaty was to suspend hostilities in order to facilitate talks between the two sides, with a view to reaching a definitive peace". The Armistice was signed for six months and forced both armies to remain in the positions they occupied at the time of signing "...For which from now on the war will be waged between Spain and Colombia as civilized peoples do it".
Emancipation of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia
Then the campaign for the liberation of Ecuador began, which culminated in the battle of Pichincha fought on May 24, 1822. With this victory of Sucre, the independence of Greater Colombia was consolidated, that of Ecuador was consummated and the the road ready for battle against the last remaining royalist forces in Peru. After a meeting in Guayaquil between Simón Bolívar and San Martín, the latter ceded part of his army to the former, and definitively withdrew from the battles for Spanish-American emancipation. Thus, Sucre arrived and entered Lima in 1823, preceding Bolívar. On December 1, 1823, he arrived in Yungay, settling there because it was the central point of the cantonment. He accommodated in his vicinity the battalions & # 34; Voltígeros de la Guardia & # 34; and "Pichincha" to which the population supplied supplies and equipment until they were able to march on February 25 towards Huánuco. He participated together with Bolívar on August 6, 1824 in the battle of Junín and, on December 9 of the same year, defeated Viceroy José de la Serna in Ayacucho, an action that meant the end of Spanish rule in the South American continent. The Peruvian Parliament named him Grand Marshal and General in Chief of the Armies.
At the head of these, he went to Upper Peru, where, together with the libertarian leaders, he founded the Republic of Bolívar (later called the Republic of Bolivia) in homage to the Liberator, to whom he commissioned the drafting of its Constitution, which was promulgated in 1826 under the premise of being "the most liberal Constitution in the world." At the head of the Bolivian government, Sucre promulgated progressive laws; he executed the political division of the country in accordance with the Constitution proposed by Simón Bolívar; promoted public instruction; organized the administrative apparatus; and, he directed ambitious programs for economic recovery. On April 18, 1828, a riot broke out in Chuquisaca. Mariscal Sucre was wounded by two bullets. This incident caused the Mariscal to make the decision to leave the position of President of Bolivia to avoid quarrels and contribute to the pacification of the Republic. The local Assembly named him president for life, but he resigned in 1828 as a result of riots and pressure from Peruvians opposed to Bolivian independence. He then retired to Ecuador accompanied by his daughter María Teresa and his wife, Mariana Carcelén de Guevara y Larrea, Marquesa de Solanda y de Villarocha.
Equator Campaign
On January 11, 1821, in Bogotá, Sucre was named commander of the Army of the South by Bolívar, replacing General Manuel Valdés; It was the force that, since 1820, operated in Popayán and Pasto. Sucre did not receive the position because reasons of a strategic and political nature made Bolívar annul such designation and give him a commission to go to Guayaquil, where he would replace General José Mires and assume the mission entrusted to him: to make said province join the Republic of Gran Colombia and take command of the troops that were in Guayaquil, as previous steps for the liberation of Quito, which was the main purpose of the operations that were carried out. On April 6, Sucre arrived in Guayaquil and when he appeared before the Government Junta, he explained the reason for his presence there and the idea of a union between the province and Colombia. On the 15th of the same month, a treaty was signed between Sucre (for Colombia) and José Joaquín de Olmedo, Francisco Roca and Rafael Jimena, members of the Junta. The treaty stipulated that Guayaquil would maintain its sovereignty, but under the protection of Colombia. On that occasion, Sucre was empowered to open the campaign against the royalists, and for this reason, Guayaquil offered him all the resources available to liberate Quito. On August 19, 1821, the battle of Yaguachi (or Cone) took place between Guayaquil independence troops from the Quito Protective Division and Gran Colombian reinforcements, led by Sucre against the royalist troops of Colonel Francisco González. Sucre defeated the Spanish and ensured the final independence of the Free Province of Guayaquil.
After having defeated Yaguachi, Sucre's troops advanced towards Quito, the Spanish under the command of field marshal Melchor de Aymerich followed them closely and took up positions in a piece of land called Huachi where they had already defeated Guayaquil forces a year before. On September 12, 1821, after a brief contact between both forces, the royalists tried to flee. General José Mires allowed the Albión and Guayaquil battalions to pursue the royalists, but they were attacked by royalist cavalry and infantry that turned and surrounded the patriot battalions. With the patriot army in disarray and Sucre wounded and barely saved from being taken prisoner by his aide Manuel Jordán Valdivieso, the patriots returned to Guayaquil, leaving many men and supplies on the battlefield. The royalists stopped the advance towards Quito of the independentistas.
Battle of Pichincha
The Battle of Pichincha occurred on May 24, 1822, on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, more than 3,000 meters above sea level, above the city of Quito, in present-day Ecuador. The meeting, which occurred in the context of the Spanish-American Wars of Independence, confronted the independence army under the command of Venezuelan General Antonio José de Sucre and the royalist, commanded by Field Marshal Melchor de Aymerich. The defeat of royalist forces loyal to Spain led to the liberation of Quito and secured the independence of the provinces that belonged to the Real Audiencia de Quito, also known as the Presidency of Quito, the Spanish colonial administrative jurisdiction from which the Republic of Ecuador. At dawn, without Sucre's knowledge, the sentinels posted near Quito sighted the independence troops ascending the slopes of Pichincha. Aymerich, then aware of Sucre's intention to outflank him by climbing the volcano, ordered his army of 1,894 men up the mountain as soon as possible, to oppose Sucre there.
Finding themselves on such an unlikely battlefield, the two commanders had no choice but to gradually send their troops into battle. There was little room to maneuver on the steep slopes of Pichincha, between deep ravines and dense scrub. The men of the Paya, after recovering from the initial shock, repositioned themselves under enemy fire, being reinforced with the arrival of the Peruvian Trujillo battalion. Sucre, who only hoped that the Spanish were more tired than his own troops, sent the Yaguachi battalion, made up of Ecuadorians. The Alto Magdalena battalion tried to make a flanking movement, but without success, as the terrain did not allow it. Soon, the Paya, Trujillo and Yaguachi battalions, suffering many casualties and with few ammunition, began to withdraw. By then the fate of the Battle for the Patriots seemed to depend on the Albion, which carried much-needed ammunition; however, his whereabouts were unknown. As time passed, the Royalists seemed to gain control of the battle. The other Peruvian Piura battalion was forced back. In desperation, the reserve men of the Paya battalion were ordered to charge the enemy with their bayonets. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but the situation more or less stabilized for the Patriots. Despite this, Aymerich, as part of his strategy, during the ascent to Pichincha separated the Aragón battalion from his main force, ordering it to advance to the top of the volcano, in order to later attack the Patriots by the rear, breaking their lines at the right moment. The Aragón was the best battalion in the royalist army; it was made up of Spanish veterans who had served in both the Spanish War of Independence and other battles in South America, and at that time was ahead of the Patriots and ready to attack. Fortunately for the Patriots, when the Aragón was about to charge the flagging Patriot line, the Albion stopped them dead, entering the battle unexpectedly. Thus, the Albion managed to advance to a higher position than the Spanish. The Magdalena soon joined the battle, and the Aragón, after suffering heavy casualties, broke up. Then the Magdalena advanced to the Patriot line to replace the Paya, and charged against the Royalist line, which ended up being broken".
The aftermath of the battle was quite significant. On May 25, 1822, Sucre entered the city of Quito with his army, where he accepted the surrender of all the Spanish troops established in the territory that the Colombian government called the "Department of Quito", considering it as an integral part of the Republic of Colombia since its creation on December 17, 1819.
When Sucre recaptured Cuenca on February 21, he obtained a decree from his local council proclaiming the integration of his city and province into the Republic of Colombia. Then, with the surrender of Quito, which in turn put an end to Royalist resistance in the northern province of Pasto, Bolívar was able to enter the city, which he finally did on June 16, 1822. Amid the general enthusiasm of the population, the former Province of Quito was incorporated into the Republic of Colombia. For its part, Guayaquil, which had not yet decided its future, with the presence of both Bolívar and the victorious Gran Colombian army in its territory, proclaimed the incorporation of Guayaquil into Gran Colombia on July 13, 1822.
The Capitulation of Pichincha
At twelve o'clock under a resplendent sun, the soldiers of freedom on the top of Pichincha, more than 3000 meters high, gave the cry of victory. The victory belonged to Sucre, and it was completed with the capitulation that the patriot authority granted to Mariscal Aymerich on May 25 of the same year. With the operations whose final actions took place on the slopes of Pichincha and in the city of Quito, Sucre decided in his favor the uncertain and delicate situation of Guayaquil; he gave freedom to the territory that today makes up the Republic of Ecuador, and facilitated its incorporation into Greater Colombia.On June 18 of that year, Bolívar promoted him to division general and appointed him mayor of the department of Quito. Leading the destinies of Ecuador, he developed a positive work of progress: he founded the Court of Justice of Cuenca and in Quito the first republican newspaper of the time: "El Monitor". He installed the Economic Society in that city. Good proof of his personal activity is that, on September 6, 1822, he issued and signed 52 communications in Quito. Interested in education, he can affirm that he found 7 schools in Cuenca and left 20.
Peru requests help from Gran Colombia
After the withdrawal of José de San Martín, the Constituent Congress appointed General José de La Mar as president of the Government Junta. He committed a large part of the army to ambitious campaigns that failed in the battles of Tarata and Moquegua, leaving the Peruvian government in a delicate military condition. Military defeats and political infighting among Peruvian patriots weakened the Peruvian independence forces. The Riva Agüero government was pressured by public opinion to request Bolívar's intervention. The Liberator, who was in Guayaquil monitoring the events in Peru, sent the 6,000 men that he had already prepared in Ecuador in two successive expeditions of 3,000 men at the first Peruvian requests, with General Sucre in command of the forces and in charge of negotiating. with Peru the terms in which La Gran Colombia would intervene in the war.
Black Christmas. Massacre of civilians in Pasto
During the Pasto Campaign, by order of Simón Bolívar, the city of Pasto was taken by the troops commanded by Antonio José de Sucre on December 24, 1822. For three days the patriotic soldiers of the Rifles battalion looted the city, They destroyed public archives, parish books and murdered more than 400 civilian men, women, the elderly and children, a quarter of the population. The massacre is known in Colombia as Black Christmas and is remembered in the Black and White Carnival”.
The Battle of Junín
The battle of Junín was one of the last confrontations between the royalist and pro-independence armies in the process of the independence of Peru. The battle took place in the Junín pampa in the current department of Junín, on August 6, 1824; the victory of the independentistas increased their morale. In 1824 the royalists held the central highlands and Alto Peru (today Bolivia) in their possession. Simón Bolívar, Liberator and President of Gran Colombia continued the emancipation war with Peru. Bolívar had an army of 8,000 men, equivalent in number to the royalist, but the royalist forces were dispersed between the Mantaro valley and Alto Peru. This was due to the uprising in Upper Peru of the royalist General Olañeta, who fractured the viceroyalty's defense and forced the viceroy to send an important part of his armies over Upper Peru, some 5,000 regulars, under the command of Jerónimo Valdez, who had his based in Puno. Bolívar, aware of this advantage, seized the opportunity to isolate the lone royalist forces in the north. In June 1824, Bolívar led his army towards the central highlands of Peru to confront the royalist general José de Canterac.
The Liberation Army had 6,000 Gran Colombianos and 4,000 Peruvians who were heading towards the south of the continent. In Junín, on August 6, 1824, both armies collided. Not a single shot was fired. The fight was with swords and spears. Junín became a great victory for the Libertador. While the Gran Colombian troops disembarked in the port of El Callao under the command of General Antonio José de Sucre, General Andrés de Santa Cruz, who until a short time before had fought in the royalist ranks, was sent to swell Sucre's troops, initiating his march to Upper Peru. In August 1823 he entered the city of La Paz, and forced to fight, Santa Cruz was victorious in the battle of Zepita against a division of General Valdez, on August 25, 1823.
The outlook couldn't be bleaker for the patriots. The independence of Peru was not consolidated, since on February 29, 1824 the royalists managed to occupy Lima again. But this time, the political upheavals that Spain was experiencing had a decisive influence on the division of the Spanish troops in America. General Pedro Antonio Olañeta, a recalcitrant absolutist, rebelled against Viceroy La Serna, who had a liberal and constitutionalist tendency, because he attributed to him the desire to separate from the monarchy to free Peru from the absolutism that Olañeta wanted to impose. Bolívar found the royalists divided and promptly organized an army made up of Colombians. The battle of Junín on August 6, 1824 raised the morale of the patriot army and was decisive in the following battle of Ayacucho. General Sucre, who was marching at the head of the infantry, when he arrived at the Junín field, heard the shouts of joy at the triumph. The entire engagement lasted approximately forty-five minutes at an elevation of 4,100 meters above sea level. The triumph in the Pampa de Junín would revive morale among the united army, thanks to the spears of the Gran Colombian llaneros (Colombians and Venezuelan), which shone in the snowy Andes Peruvians.
"General Sucre... Say Liberator... The opportunity I expected was presented. Spanish general Pedro Olañeta and his army of four thousand men do not know the authority of the Virrey. For a long time Olañeta has ruled the high Peru and resents the authority of the Serna. Now the Virrey has no twelve thousand soldiers, as he had before, but only eight thousand, who now fight against the other four. The time came!" (Blood Dialogue with Sucre before the Battle).
Sucre, Supreme Military Commander
When the first Gran Colombian expedition arrived at the port of El Callao, Santa Cruz and Gamarra were in an offensive near La Paz with almost all the Peruvian forces. Lima had been left almost unguarded by the Peruvian army, a situation that Brigadier Canterac took advantage of to organize an army of 8,000 men in Jauja with which he marched on the capital, entering Lima on June 18. The congress named Sucre general-in-chief, who on June 18 with only 3,700 men, evacuated the city to El Callao. In the days that followed, there were several encounters between the outposts of both forces, including a bloody battle at Carrizal and La Legua on July 1. On June 21, the Peruvian Congress proclaimed Sucre Supreme Military Chief of Peru. In the Battle of Corpahuaico, which took place on December 3, the rearguard forces of General Sucre's United Liberation Army of Peru are defeated by the advanced corps of the Royalist Army under the command of Jerónimo Valdés.
The Battle of Ayacucho
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The Battle of Ayacucho was the last major confrontation in the land campaigns of the Spanish-American Wars of Independence (1809-1826). The battle took place in the Pampa de la Quinua in the department of Ayacucho, Peru, on December 9, 1824. The victory of the independentistas meant the disappearance of the last viceroyalty that was still standing, that of Peru, and put an end to the Spanish colonial rule in South America; the independence of Peru was closed. Thus ended the battles for the independence of Peru, with a military capitulation that years later would be transformed into a diplomatic treaty signed in Paris on August 14, 1879. Before the start of the battle, General Antonio José de Sucre harangued his troops:
"Soldiers, today's efforts depend on the fate of South America; another day of glory will crown your admirable constancy. Soldiers: Long live the Liberator! Long live Bolivar, Salvador of Peru!Antonio José de Sucre
The device organized by Canterac provided for the vanguard division to surround the enemy group alone, crossing the Pampas River to hold it, while the rest of the royalist army descended frontally from the Condorcunca hill, abandoning their defensive positions. Sucre immediately realized the risky maneuver, and with Córdova's division he directly attacked the disorganized mass of royalist troops, who, unable to form for battle, descended in ranks from the mountains. The violent clashes of the line formations pushed the scattered shooters of Villalobos's division, who dragged the masses of militiamen in their retreat without the bulk of Monet's division or the Reserve division, which remained on the mountain., had any chance to participate in the battle. At the other extreme, José de La Mar's second division plus Jacinto Lara's third division together stopped the onslaught of the veterans of Valdés' vanguard division. The battle was won for the independentistas, the Royal Army of Peru was destroyed, and the wounded Viceroy was taken prisoner. At one in the afternoon, the battle of Ayacucho had ended with the resounding triumph of the army of freedom. The colonial curtain had fallen forever on the Quinua pampa, the scene of one of the stellar moments of humanity. But the duels of courtesy and humanity continued. When Viceroy La Serna, wounded and imprisoned, handed over his sword, General Sucre rejected it saying: & # 34; Honor to the defeated. May I continue in the hands of the Brave". Then, the terms of the Capitulation could not have been more generous or chivalrous. Thus it was shown that the nobility and the nobility were as South American as they were Spanish.
Bolívar summoned from Lima the Congress of Panama, on December 7, for the unity of the new independent countries. The project was only ratified by Gran Colombia. Four years later, Gran Colombia, due to a poor institutional vision and Bolívar's personalism, fell apart following the disintegrating process of the independence movement. Following the victory of Ayacucho, in which 5,780 soldiers participated, Mariscal Sucre triumphantly entered Cuzco and later liberated the provinces of Upper Peru. In 1825 he summoned the representatives of said provinces to meet in assembly, and with Bolívar's acquiescence, he decided to create Bolivia. The work carried out by Marshal Sucre in Bolivia is significant, especially in the organization of the Public Treasury and the general administration. He insisted on promoting the freedom of slaves and the distribution of land to the Indians, and above all for the benefit of education and culture. Before Congress, he was categorical in declaring that: "Persuaded that a people cannot be free if the society that composes it does not know its duties and rights, I have devoted special care to public education." In the course of the 13 weeks that go from February 3 to May 5, 1826, he gave Bolivia 13 decrees referring to the creation of colleges of sciences and arts, more institutes for orphans and orphans in all departments, and to establish schools primaries in all cantons of the Republic. History picks up his proud account: & # 34; Public education is what has made the most progress. The colleges are established and are going well in all the capitals of the departments, where mutual education schools have also been opened, which are rapidly advancing. In 1829 the Republic required his services to command the army that must face the Peruvian offensive in southern Ecuador. He triumphed in the battle of Portete de Tarqui and offered the defeated a capitulation that is a model of generous Americanist fraternity, faithful to his motto that "Our justice was the same before and after the battle . 4;. His daughter Teresita, who will live only 2 years, was born on July 10, 1829. In La Paz, a natural son of his and Rosalía Cortés, José María, was born on January 13, 1826. The province of Cumaná, of its permanent affection, he chose him as his representative to Congress. On the way to Bogotá, he learns of the separatist agitation that José Antonio Páez promotes in Venezuela. In the difficult circumstance of 1830, he stands out in the political task due to his consequence towards the person and the work of Bolívar. The Admirable Congress, meeting in Bogotá, elects its president in January of that year; In February, the same body entrusted him with a conciliatory mission before the Government of Venezuela, which meets in Cúcuta.
The capitulation of Ayacucho
It is the treaty signed by the chief of staff José de Canterac y Sucre after the battle of Ayacucho, on December 9, 1824. Its main consequences were several:
- 1.o The Army capitulation only under his command.
- 2. The Permanence Realist in Callao.
- 3.o Peru is born into independent life, with an economic debt to countries that contributed militarily to its independence.
"Don José Canterac, lieutenant general of the royal armies of S.M.C., in charge of the superior command of Peru for having been wounded and prisoner in the battle of this day the most excellent viceroy don José de La Serna, having heard to the generals and chiefs who met after the Spanish army, fulfilling in every way what the reputation of its weapons has demanded in the bloody day of Ayacucho and throughout the war in Peru, has had to cede the field to the independent troops; and having to reconcile at the same time the honor of the remnants of these forces, with the reduction of the ills of the country, I have thought it convenient to propose and agree with the Major General of the Republic of Colombia, Antonio José de Sucre, Commander-in-Chief of the United Liberating Army of Peru". The Battle of Ayacucho was the last battle in the emancipatory process. Under Sucre's orders, an effective representation of the continental unit in officers from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, Guatemala and Mexico fought; in addition to others from different European nations.
Acknowledgments for the victory of Ayacucho
Bolívar, who wrote and published in 1825 his "Succinct Summary of the Life of General Sucre", the only work of its kind by the Father of the Nation, spared no praise for the climactic feat of his faithful lieutenant:
"The battle of Ayacucho is the summit of American glory, and the work of General Sucre. The disposition of it has been perfect, and its divine execution." Coming generations await the victory of Ayacucho to bless her and contemplate her sitting on the throne of freedom, dictating to the Americans the exercise of their rights, and the sacred empire of nature."
"You are called to the highest destinations, and I foresee that you are the rival of my Glory."
"The Congress of Colombia then made Sucre General in Chief, and the Congress of Peru gave him the rank of Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho."
The creation of Bolivia
Entry of Mariscal Sucre to the Royal Audience of Charcas
After the triumph of Ayacucho, and following precise instructions from Bolívar, General Sucre entered Bolivian territory on February 25, 1825. His role was limited to giving overtones of legality to a process that the Bolivians themselves had already started. General Pedro Antonio Olañeta remained in Potosí, where he received the "Union" battalion; Coming from Puno under the command of Colonel José María Valdez, he convened a War Council that agreed to continue the resistance. Olañeta distributed his troops between the fortress of Cotagaita with the battalion & # 34; Chichas & # 34; under the command of Carlos Medinaceli Lizarazu, Valdez with the "Unión" He was sent to Chuquisaca and he went to Vitichi, with 60,000 gold pesos from the Potosí Mint. In Cochabamba he revolted with the First Battalion & # 34; Fernando VII & # 34; Colonel José Martínez; Chayanta was left in the hands of Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Arraya, with the "Santa Victoria" and "American Dragons" and in Chuquisaca the "Dragones de la Frontera" Colonel Francisco López spoke out for the independentistas on February 22. Colonel Medinacelli with three hundred soldiers revolted against Olañeta and on April 2, 1825 they faced each other in the Battle of Tumusla which culminated in the death of Olañeta. On April 7, General José María Valdez surrendered in Chequelte, before General Urdininea, ending the war in Upper Peru.
Chuquisaca Congress
Casimiro Olañeta was a lawyer from Chuquisaca and nephew of the aforementioned general, belonging to the Freemasonry of the lodge and elite of Charcas (Chuquisaca). Together with José Mariano Serrano, Mariano Enrique Calvo, Andrés de Santa Cruz and their relatives, in order not to degrade the importance of the Potosí and Charcas mines, with which they would end up losing their interests as part of the Río de la Plata, they decided that the Alto Peru is an independent nation. Olañeta went to Puno to meet with Marshal Sucre on February 1, where he told him about the plans, of which Sucre was convinced and accepted. Casimiro Olañeta convinced Marshal Antonio José de Sucre to summon all the upper Peruvian provinces to meet in a congress that was to decide the fate of the nation by February 9, 1825, through the Decree of Convocation.
Abascal as a result of the revolution of May 25, 1809 in Chuquisaca, or decisively support the absolute independence of Upper Peru, not only in relation to Spain, but also with reference to the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and the Peru. Both the government of Buenos Aires and that of Peru accepted this third alternative, while Bolívar, on the other hand, although he did not publicly disavow Sucre, reproached him in a private letter for this initiative, since he understood that encouraging an act of sovereignty of this nature at that time, it conspired against the interests of Gran Colombia, since the territory of the Royal Audience of Quito could claim the same treatment as that of Charcas. The General Constituent Congress of Buenos Aires, by decree of May 9, 1825, declared that "although the four provinces of Upper Peru have always belonged to this State, it is the will of the general constituent congress, which they are left in full freedom to dispose of their fate, as they believe suits their interests and their happiness", clearing the way to the independence of Alto Peru.
Declaration of the emancipation of Bolivia
The Deliberative Assembly was convened again in Chuquisaca by Mariscal Sucre, on July 9 and concluded on August 3, 1825, the complete independence of Upper Peru was determined, but the presence of Bolívar was still missing to conclude the foundation of the state on August 3, but since Bolívar, being in Cochabamba, refused to go because they had not convinced him, it was decided to move the date to August 6, due to the attempt to praise him in honor of the one-year anniversary of the Battle of Junín won by Bolivar. Even without the participation of Bolívar, under the republican form, the State of Alto Peru (República de Bolívar on August 11/13) was founded, the president of the Assembly José Mariano Serrano, together with a commission, drafted the "Act of Independence" dated August 6, 1825, in honor of Simón Bolívar. Independence was declared by 7 representatives from Charcas, 14 from Potosí, 12 from La Paz, 13 from Cochabamba and 2 from Santa Cruz who attended, one arriving hours after the founding act and with complete irregularities in his documents and credentials, and the other arriving on August 9 with the same irregularities. The act of independence, drawn up by the president of Congress, José Mariano Serrano, in its expository part says in a vibrant tone:
The world knows that Alto Peru has been on the continent of America, the ara where it poured the first blood of the free and the land where there is the tomb of the last tyrants. The departments of Upper Peru, in their resolutive part, protest to the face of the whole earth, that their irrevocable resolution is to govern themselves.
Through a decree a few days later it was determined that the new state would bear the name of "Bolívar", in homage to the Liberator, who at the same time was designated "Father of the Republic and Chief Supreme Court" and its capital Sucre in honor of the Marshal of Ayacucho Antonio José de Sucre. Bolívar was grateful for these honors, but declined to accept the Presidency of the Republic, for which position he appointed the Marshal of Ayacucho Antonio José de Sucre. After some time, the name of the young nation was debated again, and a deputy, previously a priest, named Manuel Martín Cruz, said the following:
"If of Rómulo, Rome; of Bolivar, Bolivia."
The Deliberative Assembly of the Republic, as the legislative body of the new country, approved the name change suggested by Cruz. Upon hearing this news, Bolívar felt flattered by the young nation. Bolívar up to that moment still did not accept the independence of Bolivia willingly, because he was concerned about its future, because the geographical situation of Bolivia places it in the center of South America, and this according to Bolívar would mean that it would be a harassed nation. and that he would face future wars. Bolívar wanted Bolivia to form part of another nation, preferably Peru, but what deeply convinced him was the attitude of the popular masses. On August 18, when he went to La Paz, there was a demonstration of popular rejoicing. The same scene was repeated when the Liberator reached Oruro, then Potosí, and finally Chuquisaca. This fervent expression of the population moved Bolívar, who called his & # 34; Favorite Daughter & # 34; to the new Nation.
Bolivian Presidency
Marshal Sucre assumed the Presidency of the Republic of Bolivia on January 1, 1826, the year in which the country obtained its first Political Constitution. This organized the state institutions and adopted the model of the departments as an administrative system in January 1826, which at that time were only five.
Because a large part of the Liberation Army was made up of English mercenaries, who had not been paid, on November 14 the mercenaries invaded Cochabamba and looted it; The year after December 24, the mercenaries rebel and kidnap authorities from the City of La Paz, asking for a ransom for their freedom, since they had not been paid for the "services" on loan to the "Bolivian homeland". Sucre worked hard in the government until 1828, when, due to discontent on the part of the population, an attempt on his life was made with motives, a mixture of ideological and administrative disagreements, in which Casimiro Olañeta was the leader, together with others belonging to the Bolivian Freemasonry. On April 18, the lodge of the Bolivian capital, Sucre, organized an act, sending a woman (fiancée of a former adviser of Sucre) to Sucre's quarters, in which, suddenly, the fiancé appears, finds them and He shoots José de Sucre, wounded, flees escaping through the roof of his house, this is followed by a riot organized by the Sucre elite, he manages to flee by settling in a hacienda, while he is convalescing he heals his wounds, with his vice president absent, he leaves Bolivia in disguise As a peasant and later as a priest, in the interim, General José María Pérez de Urdininea assumed power on April 18, and on August 1 Sucre sent his resignation to the Bolivian services. On May 1, 1828, the invasion of Peruvian troops in Bolivia that demanded the withdrawal of Gran-Colombian officials and officials from the Bolivian government, considering withdrawing the government that was based on laws of the 1826 life constitution, which was also imposed in Peru where replaced days later. On July 6, 1828, the Piquiza Treaty was achieved through which Sucre remained president until August 1828 and could go to present-day Ecuador. When he was leaving the capital, he was booed by the population, an incident in which, it is said, Colonel Juana Azurduy de Padilla spat in the face of one of the conspirators, Casimiro Olañeta, to signify her displeasure with the treatment they gave her.
Marriage and offspring
In a letter that he addressed on October 11, 1825 to his friend, Colonel Vicente Aguirre, Mariscal Sucre asked him to have the girl Simona de Sucre Bravo, born on April 16, 1822, who was daughter of Tomasa Bravo, a sentimental partner from Sucre, who had died at that time and of Mariscal himself, according to the mother. Simona's upbringing and education expenses would be borne by the hero. The subsequent fate of this daughter of Sucre was not known.The hero also maintained a sentimental relationship with Rosalía Cortés Silva, from whom his first child, José María Sucre Cortés, was born in La Paz on January 15, 1826.
On April 20, 1828, a few days after the incident that nearly ended his life in Bolivia, the Mariscal married by proxy Mariana Carcelén de Guevara y Larrea, Marquise of Solanda y Villarocha, from Quito. It was held in the church of El Sagrario in the city of Quito, Sucre being represented by his friend Colonel Vicente Aguirre, while the godparents of the wedding were the Marquises of San José: Manuel de Larrea y Jijón and his wife Rosa de Carrión and Velasco, who were also the bride's maternal uncles. That same year, on June 7, in Chuquisaca, Pedro Ceśar de Sucre y Rojas was born, the result of another relationship between Sucre and María Manuela Rojas.
The couple's first meeting as a married couple took place on Sunday, September 28, at Hacienda Chisinche, the Marquesa's rural property near Machachi, south of the capital, and which in the future would become one of the favorites of the Gran Mariscal. The next day they went to the city of Quito, where Sucre had previously acquired the Mansion Carcelén, which had belonged to his late father-in-law and from which he had ordered various spare parts. between the mansion in Quito and the temporary stays in the El Deán Palace, in the midst of a peaceful environment and away from political intrigues.
On June 10, the couple's only daughter was born, baptized the following day in the church of El Sagrario with the name of Teresa in honor of her two grandmothers. The godparents of the little girl were General Juan José Flores and his wife Mercedes Jijón de Vivanco, the latter was also Mariana Carcelén's second cousin. In a later letter, Simón Bolívar expressed his dissatisfaction to Sucre for not having chosen him as godfather, for which he apologized, claiming that it was a a previous promise that he had made to Flores on the battlefield of Tarqui. Unfortunately the girl would not reach adulthood, because two and a half years later, when Sucre had died, the girl died of stomach ailments, a common cause among the children of the time, although there are versions in which the death of the girl is directly blamed on General Isidoro Barriga (second husband of the Marchioness after the death of Mariscal Sucre) who, playing with her one day, would have thrown from the first floor of the house located in what is now the Historic Center of Quito (Carcelén Mansion) dying of a head trauma, although this version has been denied by members of the Carcelén family, there were always doubts about Barriga's behavior after Sucre's death continually visiting his widow, something very frowned upon by society at the time and due to the fact that when Teresa Sucre died, the fortune of the Marquesa would remain in the hands of him and his descendants.
War between Gran Colombia and Peru
The Gran Colombo-Peruvian War (1828–1829) was an armed conflict that pitted the Republic of Gran Colombia against the Republic of Peru for the domain of Quito (now Ecuador) and other areas claimed by Peru. It began with the Peruvian intervention in Bolivia and culminated in the Battle of Portete de Tarqui and the Treaty of Guayaquil. Relations with Peru had been strained since early 1827 when a revolt in Lima overthrew the regime established there by Simón Bolívar earlier. of his return home.
After the definitive independence of Peru, the country was largely under the protectorate of Gran Colombia by order of Simón Bolívar, who closely controlled its affairs. In addition, the 3rd Division of the Gran Colombian army, which had collaborated in the independence, was still stationed in Lima. Bolívar had to leave Peru in 1826, to try to solve the serious problems that arose in Gran Colombia. This fact was taken advantage of by prominent members of the Peruvian government and army to free themselves from Colombian influence, and to be able to include within the territory the new Republic of Bolivia (the former Alto Peru), as well as the Colombian department of Azuay (corresponding to the current southern part of Ecuador, with its capital in Cuenca), and the city of Guayaquil, where an influential part of the bourgeoisie supported its incorporation into Peru. In June 1827, the legislative elections proclaimed General José de La Mar president of Peru.
Meanwhile, Simón Bolívar was convinced that Peru was willing to stir up trouble, with the precise objective of annexing the Republic of Bolivia, Guayaquil, and possibly more Gran Colombian territory. There were also specific disagreements regarding border issues between the two countries, the payment of 7,595,747 pesos, as a debt for the emancipation war, and the dispute over the Colombian territories of Tumbes, Jaén, and Maynas. Diplomatic negotiations with Bolívar failed, and on July 3, 1828, Gran Colombia declared war on Peru. On November 28, 1828, La Mar entered Gran Colombian territory and occupied a large part of the department of Azuay. La Mar also occupied Guayaquil, evacuated by the Gran Colombian Admiral General Juan Illingworth Hunt awaiting reinforcements. After the blockade of Guayaquil, the Peru had won the war at sea.
Given the situation, Marshal Sucre, then already back in Quito after resigning from the Bolivian presidency, concentrated the army of the south of Gran Colombia near Cuenca to put pressure on the Peruvian troops, which had been occupied on the 10th of February 1829. After a brief encounter near the town of Saraguro, where the Gran Colombian vanguard defeated a Peruvian detachment, on February 27 the main encounter between the two armies took place. The Peruvian army was made up of 5,000 soldiers and the Gran Colombiano, 4,200.
The Battle of Tarqui
The battle of Portete de Tarqui was fought on February 27, 1829 in the so-called Portete de Tarqui, a few kilometers from Cuenca, between troops from Gran Colombia, commanded by Antonio José de Sucre, and Peruvian troops commanded by José de La Mar. The combat lasted half an hour, where the Colombian army beat the Peruvian forces. The Gran Colombian victory was due in large part to the separate confrontation against each battalion of the Peruvian army, which at no time acted in a unitary manner and left their battalions isolated from each other. The result of the battle made General La Mar order the withdrawal of the army towards Girón.
Sucre, not satisfied with this result, sends an officer of the General Staff, in order to negotiate with La Mar, being accepted by the Peruvian president and on March 1, in Campo de Girón, the agreement is signed de Girón, which is ratified by Generals Flores and O'Leary, on behalf of Greater Colombia, and Gamarra and Orbegoso, on behalf of Peru.
The Agreement of Girón and the Treaty of Guayaquil
According to the agreement of Girón, the Peruvian forces were to withdraw from the province of Azuay and abandon all the occupied squares. Although the Peruvian forces withdrew, La Mar refused to surrender Guayaquil and, in fact, was preparing to start a new offensive. However, the war ended unexpectedly with a coup by Agustín Gamarra and other Peruvian chiefs in Lima that overthrew La Mar. The new government ceased hostilities and surrendered Guayaquil on July 20. On September 22, 1829, a peace treaty was signed in Guayaquil, where it was established:
- It is recognized by limits that the former Viceroyalians of New Granada and Peru had before their independence, with the variations that they deem appropriate to agree with each other.
- A two-person Commission should be appointed for each Republic to travel, rectify and set the dividing line, work that should be initiated 40 days after the treaty was ratified by both countries. The stroke of the line would begin on the Tumbes River.
- Peru intended to take over Tumbes, Jaén and Maynas, who were indisputably from the Great Colombia, which kept Guayaquil.
Gran Colombia
After Sucre came to the aid of Gran Colombia, he went to Bogotá at a time when the country was already in the process of disintegration, mainly due to separatist movements such as that of La Cosiata in his native Venezuela. constitutional reform of 1830 in Gran Colombia, his enemies manage to establish the rule that to be president or vice president one must be 40 years old (Sucre was 35). And it is also very likely that this was the cause of his murder. With Sucre alive, Bolívar's political vision and the unity of Gran Colombia would continue. Simón Bolívar, who described the greatness of Sucre with a biography in which quotes like this one are reflected:
General Sucre is the Father of Ayacucho: he is the redeemer of the children of the Sun; he is the one who has broken the chains with which Pizarro wrapped the empire of the Incas. The posterity will represent Sucre with one foot in the Pichincha and the other in the Potosi, carrying in his hands the cradle of Manco-Capac and contemplating the chains of Peru broken by his sword.
Last days
Sucre was known in the army by the nicknames of “Mulei” or “Mulengue”, an allusion made by General Luis Urdaneta, when he wrote to Juan José Flores from Tocaima 19 days before the assassination: “... To García, the deputy for Cuenca, I instructed him on everything he should say to you and now I add that you must redouble your vigilance with the M...”. Three days before his death, the newspaper & # 34; El Demócrata & # 34; de Bogotá published an article in which it stated: “We have just learned with astonishment, from letters we have received by mail from the South, that General Antonio José de Sucre has left Bogotá... The Letters from the South also state that This general was already marching on the province of Pasto to attack it; but the courageous General José María Obando, friend and firm supporter of the Government and of freedom, also ran to meet that caudillo and to the aid of the invincible Pasto. Obando may do with Sucre what we did not do with Bolívar..."
From the foregoing, it can be deduced that the assassination of Mariscal Sucre was planned and executed in the Berruecos mountains, near San Juan de Pasto. At the scene of the crime, his corpse remained for more than 24 hours until the residents of nearby towns buried him. If Mariscal Sucre had left for Buenaventura, General Pedro Murgueitio was waiting for him there to kill him; If he opted for the Panama route, General Tomás Herrera was stalking him, and General José Hilario López was watching him from Neiva. The Liberator, Simón Bolívar, upon learning of the assassination, expressed in a letter: “...I think that the aim of this crime has been to deprive the country of a successor of mine...Holy God! Abel's blood has been shed!... The cruel bullet that wounded his heart, killed Colombia (La Gran Colombia) and took my life".
For a long time the news spread that it was General Juan José Flores, a compatriot and companion in independence deeds, who had devised the crime, due to the sympathy of the Quito people for the Mariscal and the possibility of him, by settling in Quito with his wife and daughter, to become the first president of Ecuador –as he held the presidencies of Bolivia and Peru–, a position that Flores held since 1830. Simón Bolívar wrote a letter to Sucre's widow thanking him for the offer to keep her husband's sword, on November 5, 1830. In this way, she complied with one of the clauses of Sucre's will; However, Bolívar, in his, ordered that the hero's sword be returned to her. The remains of Mariscal Sucre were taken to Quito by his wife and kept secret in the Palacio de El Deán, a family property located in the Valle de los Chillos, on the outskirts of Quito. In 1832 and fulfilling the will of Sucre, who wanted to be buried in the Ecuadorian capital, they were secretly deposited in the Carmen Bajo Convent.
In 1900, during the presidency of General Eloy Alfaro, they were taken to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Quito, where they occupy a chapel. An elderly religious woman, who had heard her story from her ancestors, told the Archbishop of Quito, Federico González Suárez, that the Marquesa de Solanda always visited the altar where her remains were placed. Alerted by the Government of this, it asked the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Central University of Ecuador to appoint a forensic medical board, the same one that recognized the skeleton found, and identified it by the bullet wounds in the skull and arm, product of the Berruecos crime and the revolt in Bolivia. However, there is no consensus regarding the whereabouts of the remains of the Grand Marshal, since at the beginning of the XX century, the first woman to entered the Academy of History of Venezuela, Lucila Luciani affirmed in her text "Maravillosa historia de unos restos" she the impossibility that the remains of the great marshal Antonio José Sucre were in Ecuador and she broke down a series of arguments to affirm that the remains would still be in Colombia, although this is no more than simple speculation.
The catafalque that contains the remains of the Grand Marshall is made of andesite from the Pichincha volcano, and the mausoleum is decorated with allegories of Independence, Liberty and Victory. The Venezuelan Government donated a replica of the Liberator's sword, which is on the wall of the mausoleum. Periodically, the Tarqui Grenadier Guard, which guards the nearby Government Palace, honors the heroes.
The capital of the department of Chuquisaca and of Bolivia, the state where he was born and several municipalities in Venezuela, a department of Colombia, the international airport and several neighborhoods of the city of Quito, and the old currency of Ecuador were named in his honor.. The Bolivian Military School of Engineering, which trains civil and military engineers at the university level, also bears her name.
Last letter to Bolívar
On May 8, 1830, Mariscal Sucre sent a letter from Bogotá to Simón Bolívar with this text:
When I went to you to accompany him, he had already left. Is this a good thing, for it has avoided the pain of the most painful farewell. It is not words that can easily explain the feelings of my soul regarding you; you. He knows them, for he knows me a long time and knows that it is not his power, but his friendship that has inspired me the most tender affection to his person. I'll keep it, whatever the luck that burns us, and I'll flatter you. I'll always keep the appreciation you've given me. I will know in all circumstances to deserve it. Goodbye, my general, you receive the tears that at this moment makes me pour the absence of you. Be happy everywhere and everywhere with the services and gratitude of your most faithful and passionate friend.A.J. de Sucre
Several years later, the researcher Jorge López Falcón found in the National Library of Venezuela, a handwritten document written in Bogotá on May 25, 1830 which is another letter that, apparently, the Mariscal addressed as a farewell Sucre to Simón Bolívar, whose text is as follows:
Bogotá, May 25, 1830My dear Bolivar:
Suddenly leave for Quito where the rest is so desired and as I move away from all political struggles, I want to tell you my goodbye and my eternal affection. God well knows how much we have fought for the freedom of all these lands and how bad they have paid us. I know that as I walk away I am not guided by any symptoms of cowardice and treason, only by the great love and affection of my wife and daughter, who for a long time have not embraced, force me to do so and also to leave the position to all our enemies, who with their appetites and their fallacies lead the Republic to chaos and ruin.
There, in the remnant of [palabra broken] da pu [palabra broken] la, in the beauty of my [ilegible]. Sie[small broken] [you shall have, noble and old friend, a post of honor, and [small broken] not to whom you really want it.A.J. de Sucre
However, historian Tomás Straka drew attention to three aspects of this letter: first, the confidence with which Sucre treated Simón Bolívar, whom he always called "Your Excellency"; secondly, the unusual writing style and thirdly, the actual date of the document since, if it had been written on the declared date, it would not have been able to reach the place where the hero was murdered on June 4, since it was only counted with transfer on horseback, as the only means of transportation at that time.
| Predecessor: Simón Bolívar |  1825 - 1828 | Successor: José María Pérez de Urdininea |
| Predecessor: José de la Riva Agüero President of the Republic of Peru |  1822 - 1823 | Successor: José Bernardo de Torre Tagle President of the Republic of Peru |
| Predecessor: Cargo created | Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho 1825 - 1830 | Successor: Mariana Carcelén de Guevara y Larrea |
Legacy
- Sucre Mission
- Sucre Satellite (VRSS-2)
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