Word: bolivar
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...tropical swamps half as big as the U.S., is lost on Rivers of Doubt 3,000 miles long. What has been needed is a sympathetic human figure on a scale and of a piece with the continent, and embodying something of its volcanic fierceness. Such a figure is Simon Bolivar...
...earthquake made him a political leader. It came during the first Venezuelan revolt, and destroyed a quarter of the citizens of Caracas and their property in a few moments. In the main plaza, Bolivar found a priest, shouting: "Sodom and Gomorrha! To your knees! . . . God's arm has fallen on your heads in punishment!" Bolivar pushed the monk away, drew his sword and shouted: "Nature has joined forces with tyranny! She is trying to stand in our way. Forward! We will force her to obey...
...Christmas of 1812 he led some 200 "half-caste Negroes and Indios" down the Magdalena River. Their first success gave them guns and made them a legend. Soon there were 500 of them, with 1,400 rifles and four guns. As they approached, 3,000 Spaniards fled. By August Bolivar was in Caracas...
...first act was to call a congress. He took no political title for himself except that of Liberator, El Libertador, given him by the people. Again the revolutionists began to squabble. Again the Spaniards came back. Again Bolivar was an exile, this time in British Jamaica...
...headlong horsewoman followed Bolivar into Peru, spent two years with him while he was liberating that country and Bolivia. More than once she saved his life, for more & more jealous political and military rivals plotted against him. One night, while Bolivar was sleeping, Manuela heard steps, barking dogs, "the thud of a body in the street," shouts of "Death to the tyrant!" She persuaded the Liberator to jump out the window. When the assassins broke in, she met them with a drawn sword, sent them in the wrong direction. Said Bolivar: "Today you have become the Libertadora of the Libertador...