Bolivar's generosity extended as far as to forgive those who were bold enough to be insubordinate. He vehemently resented having a man judged and shot in the field for challenging his orders.

His faith in his ideals and in himself gave Bolivar the courage to face adversity as few men in history have faced it. Defeated on many occasions, he never once admitted defeat during the fifteen years that he battled to overcome Spain. What is remarkable and also a measure of the man is that from each reversal at the hands of Spain and its allies he emerged stronger than before.

Latin American intellectuals historically have preferred to dwell upon Bolivar as the visionary or the inspirational leader or the heroic man. Admittedly, his grand design for the emancipation of Spanish America was the work of a vissionary. No hard-headed practical realist could have entertained such a dream. Foreseeing anarchy, he pleaded for a kind of confederation that would amalgamate Creole power into a continental articulation of Spanish-Amercan interests. From his pen in 1812 came the "Cartagena Manifesto," northern South America's first great document of hemispheric unity.

His ability to work and fight with all types of men was truly remarkable. His personal charm disarmed his critics. His readiness to attempt the heroic, inspired men to subordinate their conduct to the welfare of the cause. A consummate orator, actor, and writer, Bolivar was able to direct inspiration and heroism to wherever it was most urgently required: on the battlefield or in the halls of Congress, to a constitution, a treaty, or a battle plan.

However great his qualities and however outstanding his achievements, he was above all a man of action. His personality in fact compelled him to act, and as a man of action he was not faultless. He could be inconsistent. On some occasions, he made poor judgments which first affected the course of the Independence movement and later the evolution of the republics he brought into being.

His communications abound in grace, clarity and directness. His military orders to his lieutenants were always issued in the most minute detail; everything was foreseen and thought out in advance. He had the gift of persuasion and knew how to inspire confidence in others. To these qualities were mostly due the amazing victories obtained by him under circumstances so difficult that anyone without these gifts and lacking his perseverance would have failed. An excellent creative genuis, he obtained resources where there were none. Bolivar's sterling qualities of leadership were greater in adversity than in success. "A DEFEATED BOLIVAR WAS MORE TO BE DREADED THAN A VICTORIOUS," commented his enemies. Misfortune madehim superior to himself.

The period between 1814 and 1819 were possibly the blackest and most trying years in the history of the Venezuelan Revolution.

Bolivar and his general suffered a series of disastrous defeats, forcing him to go twice into exile, while his unfortunate country was submerged in a bath of blood and untold sufferings.