Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan soldier and statesman who led revolutions against Spanish rule in the Viceroyalty of New Granada (modern Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela). He was president of Gran Colombia (1819–30) and dictator of Peru (1823–26). He is widely regarded as Latin America’s greatest genius.
For Bolivar, Hispanic America was the fatherland. He dreamed of a united Spanish America and in the pursuit of that purpose not only created Gran Colombia but also the Confederation of the Andes, which was to gather the latter together with Peru and Bolivia.
Simón Bolívar - Liberator, South America, Venezuela: Bolívar was now president of Gran Colombia and dictator of Peru. Only a small section of the continent—Upper Peru—was still defended by royalist forces. The liberation of that region fell to Sucre, and in April 1825 he reported that the task had been accomplished. The new country chose to be called Bolivia, a variation on the ...