Today I’m going to tell you a story about a man–no, a legend. Someone who lit the fire of liberty for an entire continent. Someone who was so greatly revered in his culture that he passed into the realm of the immortal. Hi my name is Gabe Bauer and this is Top Shelf History, where we combine great stories with great drinks!
This is El Libertador. It is the cocktail I have made for you today inspired by the fascinating life of Simón Bolívar, the man who freed the majority of Spanish America from colonial rule and became a cultural hero. The drink is made with Orange juice in French vermouth, Saint Elmo‘s fire Lecure and crème de cacao, and finally banana rum cream blue curaçao and aguardiente.
All people have at least a few things in common. We all eat, we all sleep, and we all make an impact on this world. But, not all of us have such a massive geopolitical impact that a country is named after us. That is reserved for the Simón Bolívars among us.
Simón was born into affluence in 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela. His family had made a good fortune from mining copper and gold and had earned their place among Spain’s colonial ruling class. The first few years of his life were great. But tragedy and heartbreak came quickly. Just before his third birthday, Simón’s father passed away from tuberculosis. A few years later, the disease claimed his mom as well. Now a very rich orphan, Simón bounced from guardian to guardian. From teachers to aunts and uncles, to his grandfather, and to his family’s slave, Hipólita.
As he grew older, Simón was educated in everything a privileged young man would be. Under a tutor named Simón Rodriguez, he studied math, science, philosophy, and history, and he was particularly taken with the ideas of liberty, enlightenment, and freedom coming out of the French revolution. Armed with the philosophies of Descartes and Rousseau, Simón’s dreams began to take shape in a new vision for Venezuela.
He traveled to Spain to finish his studies, which he did… even if he was slightly distracted by meeting the love of his life, María Teresa Rodríguez. They were married, and with a new plus one, Simón returned to Venezuela. But tragedy and heartbreak returned. Soon after stepping off the boat into his home country, María Teresa contracted yellow fever and died–changing the course of Simón’s life forever.
Mourning his wife, he threw himself back into philosophy and politics. He even traveled to France to see Napoleon’s coronation, since he esteemed history’s famously short military leader as the ideal of secular republicanism. But then Napoleon declared himself emperor. And once Simon saw the crown placed on his head, His heart broke. Napoleon had betrayed everything he claimed to believe in. Someone had to fight for what was right. So, Simón figured, it would have to be him.
His days as a comfortable South American aristocrat were over. He reunited with Simón Rodriguez and they traveled to Italy. Standing atop one of the seven hills of Rome, Simón swore he would not rest until his country was free of Spanish rule. Political campaigns quickly followed. Simón returned to Venezuela and joined forces with Venezuela’s Republicans to declare independence on April 19, 1810. With his family wealth to back him, he quickly secured a position as the Liaison to the United Kingdom and began working to solicit aid from the British. A tactic which ultimately, didn’t work.
See, the British had allied with the Spanish monarchy to combat Napoleon. Plus, Simón’s brash personality and commitment to the cause of liberty didn’t exactly produce the most nuanced negotiations. But if you think Simón was going to return home empty-handed, you’re very wrong. While in the UK, he met an old military mind, Francisco de Miranda. If he couldn’t get the British, he could at least get Miranda. They returned together and the military campaigns began. Now this tactic… was also unsuccessful. Miranda wasn’t the general Simón hoped he’d be. Suffering defeat after defeat, morale sunk cripplingly low. The largely Catholic Venezuelans didn’t appreciate all these failed secular revolutions. They even began to think that they were being punished by God for leaving Spain. When a massive earthquake struck the struggling country, they were certain. And the new republic fell.
Simón wasn’t done fighting, however. He was going to try again. This time in New Grenada (present day Colombia). Step one: Ingratiate himself in the aristocracy and identify any independent-leaning figures. Step two: Win the hearts of both the rich and the poor. Step three: Be appointed a small garrison to guard an outpost. Step four: Don’t guard that outpost, and instead lead one of the most impressive military campaigns in history. Easy! Simón and his men traveled from royalist town to royalist town, (somewhat ironically) claiming it for independence, uniting all impassioned townsfolk behind his cause.
But things changed when he reached the border to Venezuela. He still claimed victory after victory, but this time, he left no prisoners behind. He showed no mercy. And he earned new enemies. Most notably, the Legions of Hell, and let me tell you, that name… is putting it mildly. They despised Simón and they were brutal. We’re talking Vlad the Impaler kinds of war tactics, with heavy emphasis on “impaler.” And so, between the infighting, bloody conflict, lowering morale, and abandonment of discipline, a quick end came to Simón’s second republic, and once more, he left Venezuela, defeated.
He didn’t go back to New Grenada. He fled to Jamaica where once more, he had a change of heart, and found a new vision for his country. He still had political aspirations, but they had changed. In his work, “A Letter from Jamaica”, he expressed that New Grenada and Venezuela wouldn’t be able to gain independence on their own. He’d tried that. They needed to consolidate under one central power. That’s what he had to do. That’s what had been missing in his first two campaigns. Sound familiar?
Simón was gearing up to fight again. This time, with some extra funding from Haiti. Yup, Haiti funded Simón’s final charge into Spanish America. And this time, he won. New Grenada, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, (modern day Bolivia *wink*) were finally liberated, and Simón Bolívar was the unquestioned dictator of them all. An ironic, and hollow victory. Simón passed away alone a few years later.
It’s a bit of a sour end to an incredible story, but his legacy today in South America is insane. I mean, an entire country was renamed for him. And so were today’s drinks.
