The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, honored Simon Bolivar on the 239th anniversary of his birth.
“To Simon Bolivar, Liberator of America, salute to Cuba, a people with deep Bolivarian ideals…” the president posted on his Twitter account.
Bolívar’s independent and unitary thought was reflected in the Jamaican Charter when he said, “More than anyone else, I wish to see America constitute the greatest nation in the world, not because of its size and wealth but because of its freedom and glory.”
For José Martí, “Bolivar did not defend so forcefully the right of men to rule themselves, as the right of America to be free.”
The Bolivarian model was not only a source of inspiration for the Cuban national hero, but also became a practice for the revolutionary actions of Fidel and Chávez.
Bolivar’s libertarian struggle covered what are now six countries and six million square kilometers, gaining the independence of present-day Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
He led South America’s most symbolic independence battles against the Spanish colonial empire, and served as President of the Spanish American Republic known as Gran Colombia between 1819 and 1830.
At just 47 years old, the Venezuelan fought in 447 battles, only being defeated six times. He rode 123,000 kilometers, and crossed on foot, at the head of his liberated army, without enough clothes, shoes and food, the almost impassable Cordillera de los Andes, with temperatures below zero and a height of more than 6000 meters.
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