Simon Bolivar........The Great Liberator.

     

*     Hundreds of readers like me are indebted to the Great Marquez for introducing us to Simon Bolivar, arguably one of the greatest liberators of the world. I’m quite surprised that the great general is not so well known outside the two Americas and Europe. Until I read, ‘The General in His Labyrinth’ did I know about this great man, who took on the might of the Spanish Army and liberated and created Gran Colombia. Here's a brief about Simon Bolivar.

 Simon Bolivar (1783-1830)

*      Bolivar’s ancestors came from a small village in the Basque Country of Spain and settled in Venezuela in the 16th century. His first South American ancestor was Simon de Bolivar. Simón Bolívar was born in Caracas, Venezuela on 24 July 1783. He was baptized as Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios. His mother was María de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco, and his father was Colonel Don Juan Vicente Bolívar y Ponte. He had two older sisters and a brother. 

*      His father died before Bolívar's third birthday and his mother died when he was almost nine. After his mother's death, Bolívar was placed in the custody of an instructor, Miguel José Sanz, but this relationship didn’t work out and he was sent back home. He went on to receive private lessons from various renowned professors. Don Simón Rodriguez became Bolívar's friend and mentor who instilled in him the ideas of liberty, enlightenment and freedom.

*    Through years of military training, he developed a passion for the armaments and military strategy, which he later would put to use in the wars of independence. A few years later in Paris he witnessed the coronation of Napolean, an event that left a profound impression on him. From that moment, he wanted to bring similar glory to the people of his native land. 

*      After returning to Venezuela, Bolivar joined the group of patriots that seized Caracas in 1810 and proclaimed independence from Spain. He went to Great Britain in search of aid, but could get only a promise of British neutrality. When he returned to Venezuela and took command of a patriots’ army. He recaptured Caracas in 1813 from the Spaniards, but the Spaniards forced him to retreat from Venezuela to New Granada (now Colombia), also at war with Spain. He took command of a Colombian force and captured Bogota in 1814. 

*     The patriots, however, lacked men and supplies, and new defeats led Bolivar to flee to Jamaica. In Haiti he gathered a force that landed in Venezuela in 1816, and took Angostura and became dictator there. He marched into New Granada in 1819 and defeated the Spaniards in Boyar in 1819, thus liberating Colombia. He then returned to Angostura and led the congress that organized the original republic of Colombia (now Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela). Bolivar became its first president on December 17, 1819.

*    Bolivar crushed the Spanish army at Carabobo in Venezuela on June 24, 1821. Next, he marched into Ecuador and added that territory to the new Colombian republic. After a meeting in 1822 with another great liberator, Bolivar became dictator of Peru. His army won a victory over the Spaniards at Auacucho in 1824, which needed Spanish power in South America. Upper Peru became a separate state, named Bolivia in Bolivar's honour, in 1825. The constitution, which he drew up for Bolivia, is one of his most important political pronouncements.

*     He had great difficulty in maintaining control over the vast Gran Colombia. In 1826, internal divisions sparked dissent throughout the nation, and regional uprisings erupted in Venezuela. Gran Colombia had become fragile and was on the verge of collapse. To preserve the union, an amnesty was declared for the Venezuelan rebels, but this increased the political dissent in the neighbouring regions. In an attempt to keep the nation together as a single entity, he called for a constitutional convention in March 1828. 

*      His dream was freedom for all races in the Americas, and for this reason and to prevent a break-up, he sought to implement a more centralist model of government in Gran Colombia, which included a lifetime presidency with ability to select a successor. This move was considered controversial in New Granada and thus failed. 

*   Two months after the failure to write a new constitution, Bolívar was declared president-liberator in Colombia. He considered this as a temporary measure, as a means to re-establish his authority and save the republic, although it increased dissatisfaction and anger among his political opponents. An assassination attempt on 25 September 1828 failed, thanks to the help of his lover, Manuela Saenz. Dissent continued, and uprisings occurred in New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador during the next two years. 

*    Bolívar finally resigned the presidency on 27 April 1830, intending to leave the country for exile in Europe. He had already sent several crates containing his belongings and writings ahead of him to Europe, but he died before setting sail from Cartagena.

*    On 17 December 1830, at the age of 47, Simón Bolívar died of tuberculosis in Santa Marta, Gran Colombia (now Colombia). On his deathbed, Bolívar asked his aide-de-camp, General Daniel F. O'Leary, to burn remaining, extensive archive of his writings, letters, and speeches. O'Leary disobeyed the order and his writings survived, providing historians with a wealth of information about Bolívar's liberal philosophy and thought, as well as details of his personal life, such as his long love affair with Manuela Saenz. 

*     Simon Bolivar was one of South America's greatest generals. His victories over the Spaniards won independence for Bolivia, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. He is called El Liberator (The Liberator) and the "George Washington of South America."

Where is Iran headed to......!!!

*   Minoo Khaleghi, an Iranian woman parliamentarian has been blocked from taking her seat in the Majlis by the Guardian Council because her photos without headscarf have appeared in some newspapers. She was one of 18 women to win seats in the recent general election. She has been accused of uncovering her hair while in China and Europe. 

*  Her successful election stands annulled, despite Khalegi’s protests that her photos were fakes. Now her only hope lay in the hand of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the last word in such cases. 

*  Not long ago a woman was punished for watching men’s volleyball. A few days ago some Iranian models have been arrested for posting their photos on the social media and charged with promoting western culture. 

*   In this century it’s unthinkable that citizens in some countries are not able to enjoy the freedom that folks in liberal and progressive democracies in Europe, Asia, Africa and Americas have. The leaders and people in such must realize that regression would push those countries into dark ages.

Rousseff's Impeachment

*     The impeachment of first woman president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff has begun. The sane folks around the world were expecting the Brazilian lawmakers to delay it until the completion of the Summer Olympics, which are being held in the continent for the first time. These are sad times for the great nation, which can ill-afford the negative publicity and the political turmoil. But the politicians the world over are hardly known possess any graceful. They are driven by pure greed for power.

*     The daughter of an upper class Bulgarian immigrant, Dilma became a socialist during her youth and joined left-wing urban guerrilla groups fighting against the military dictatorship. She was captured, tortured and jailed between 1970 and 1972. After her release, she married Carlos Araújo, and together they founded the Democratic Labour Party. In 2002, she joined the committee responsible for energy policy of the Presidential Candidate Lula, who, after winning the election, made her the Minister of Energy. In 2005, she became the Chief of Staff and remained in office until 31 March 2010, when she stepped down in order to run for the President. She was elected President on 31 October 2010.

*    Spiralling inflation and rising unemployment brought thousands on the street against her policies. And her detractors taking advantage of the situation moved to impeach her. It seems the Western powers uncomfortable with the leftist leaders in Latin America are fishing in the troubled waters. Recently, people in Latin America had chosen the leftist leaders through the ballet. This change had infuriated the West because their companies had lost billions in those countries. The West loves the rightist leaders in other countries, but people in those countries choose the leftist leaders. 

*   The leftist, the rightist, the conservatives, the liberals; these jargon are for the educated. The poor folks know only a few things; jobs, education and affordable medical facilities. Sadly, every politician fails to fulfil people’s these basic aspirations. 

Grandpa's Bench.

Grandpa’s Bench

I’m on my way to my native village. It’s an overdue journey; my last was two decades ago. This time I’m alone. It’s not just another trip, but a journey into my childhood. As I leave the city, I hit the metalled road, where a dirt track existed earlier. My conscious accuses me of behaving like a gapeseed. On either side, the paddy fields interspersed with a few sugarcane ones pass by in quick succession. Now the paddy has replaced the sugarcane, which within a decade has become an uneconomical crop. The sight of the old mango orchard with bletted fruits delight my heart, and lessen my unease. For the first time in an hour, I feel welcome in my own land.

          Thereafter, my drive up to the village reminds me of the hot afternoons when I, with my friends, rode bicycles and raced with one another. Needless to say, I didn’t always win the race. If I had ever won even once, I can’t recollect. I don’t want to and lose the joy of those carefree childhood memories. In joyous mood, I drive on and enter the village. The mud houses have been bricked, and dirt tracks have been paved with bricks. The sound of a motor vehicle drew out several villagers on the street. It did when I was a child. Some things, I guess, in a village life never change.

(for complete story, please go to short story  section)...............

Discrimination........When will it end?

* It's absolutely disgusting to read or hear about discrimination in the civilized world, particularly in the 21st century. Two news items have disturbed me immensely. One, in the world's oldest democracy, and another in the world's biggest democracy.  

*    In the U.S. a famous actress has decided to boycott this year's Oscars because the awards are heavily loaded in favour of the white actors, ignoring the rightful claims of black actors. Imagine, this is happening in the most advanced nation in the world, and not in some banana republic.

*    The second news is from India where in one temple the women are not allowed to perform the puja. This is as strange as stupid, because God, if He exists, wouldn't discriminate between the men and the women. Remember, the women after God are the only being who are blessed with the power to create a life. And what an irony? the mortal creator is being prevented by the conceited man to perform the puja of the immortal creator.

*    Like million others, sometimes I wonder whether we have really evolved as a human being?