A day like today was born a boy who had lands and cattle, owner of mines and slaves, and jewelry and at the time was the most wealthy newborn of all America.
Son of Spaniards, was baptized with the name of Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad. His last names were Bolívar Palacios and the story is simply called Simón Bolívar, the Liberator.
From an early age he was orphaned by his father and mother, and his education was in charge of his grandfather and uncle, and also of a black slave named Hipolita.
He was later educated by the brilliant Caracas-born Don Simón Rodríguez and, as a young man, history witnessed his first insurrectionary acts against Spanish rule.
From then on Bolívar becomes the greatest character in the struggle of the peoples for their freedom:
Bolivar traveled on foot and on horseback, 123 thousand kilometers, more than what Columbus and Vasco de Gama did together.
80 thousand miles through valleys, rivers, deserts, jungles and mountains: enough distance to go around the planet earth three times. Up there came Bolivar in his fight for our freedom.
And if compared to the great rulers of history, Bolivar was President of the Republic of five countries and carried the torch of Freedom at a distance of 11 000 miles: Ten times more than Hannibal the legendary, and triple that of Alexander the Great.
Simón Bolívar was born on a day like today, July 24, 1783, in Caracas, Venezuela. And I was being born for immortality, for America and the world.
That is why we remember, on this day, what the poet said of him:
"Over the centuries your glory will grow as the shadow grows when the sun declines."
