(Redirected from Antonio Jose de Sucre)
'Antonio José de Sucre y Álvarez de Peralta' (
February 3 1795 –
June 4 1830) was a
South American independence leader. Sucre was one of
Simón Bolívar's closest friends, generals and statesmen.
Sucre was born to a wealthy and prominent family in
Cumaná,
Venezuela, which was then part of the
Spanish Viceroyalty of
Nueva Granada and the Captaincy-General of Venezuela. There is some dispute as to his ancestry. According to one noted Venezuelan
genealogist, Sucre is a descendant of Charles de Succre, a member of a French-Flemish family appointed by the king of Spain to be governor of
Cuba. According to the German "Lexikon des Judentums", however, Sucre is a descendant of a
Bavarian Jewish family named "Zucker".
Early military life
In 1811, Sucre joined the battles for American independence from Spain. He proved himself an able military leader; in 1817, he was promoted to the rank of
colonel and in 1819, at the age of 24, he was given the rank of
brigadier general, making him one of the youngest Generals in the army. After the
Battle of Boyacá, Sucre was made Bolívar's chief of staff.
In 1821, Bolívar put him in charge of the campaign to liberate
Quito, and Sucre won a decisive victory at the
Battle of Pichincha on
May 24,
1822. Shortly after the battle, Sucre and Bolívar entered the newly-liberated Quito and Sucre was named President of the Province of Quito, much to his chagrin.
Hero of Ayacucho
Further victories followed over the Spanish forces in
Peru, notably on
August 6,
1824 at the
Battle of Junín. On December 9, Sucre decisively captured the bulk of the Spanish troops and command, including the
Viceroy, at
Ayacucho. The victory ensured the independence of Peru and Alto Perú, which Sucre and others soon established as the new country of
Bolivia, thus ending all fighting for independence in Spanish South America. As a reward for his efforts, Sucre was given the highest possible honorary title of "The Grand Marshall of Ayacucho" at the age of 29.
After the victory at Ayacucho, Bolívar would write his ''Resumen Sucinto de la Vida del General Sucre'', a short biography full of flattering comments about his lieutenant. In a letter telling Sucre of the biography he had written, Bolívar said:
Post-independence period
Sucre was elected president of Bolivia in 1826, but he became dissatisfied with local political developments. In 1828, when a strong movement rose up against Bolívar, his followers and the very constitution he had written for Bolivia, Sucre resigned and moved to Quito, the home city of his wife, Mariana de Carcelén y Larrea, Marquess of Solanda. He was never entirely comfortable in politics and intended to retire from it.
In late 1828, at the urging of Bolívar, the Congress of
Gran Colombia named him President of Congress. They also intended to name him president of the republic as Bolívar's would-be successor, but it never came to pass because Sucre likely would have it turned down. Sucre was named member of a commission, led by
José Antonio Páez, that traveled to Venezuela in 1829 to quell political separatism among local authorities. The difficulty of this task added to Sucre's continuing dissatisfaction with Gran Colombia's political environment.
Death and legacy
In early 1830, when Sucre learned that Bolívar had resigned and intended to leave the country, he decided to go to Quito in order to resume his private life, but was shot from ambush near
Pasto, in southern Colombia, on
June 4,
1830.
The details of the murder were unclear and theories about the reason for it abound. One of the older and better documented theories says that
José María Obando was the assassination's mastermind, and one of the alleged assassins named in this theory was later executed for his apparent role. Later theories implicated different (or additional) individuals, such as
Juan José Flores,
Agustín Gamarra, and
Francisco de Paula Santander.
Some have argued that Sucre was assassinated so as to leave no clear successor to Bolívar. Sucre represented, according to historian
Tomas Polanco Alcantara, "the indispensable complement to Simón Bolívar". When news of Sucre's death came to Bolívar, he said, "Se ha derramado, Dios excelso, la sangre del inocente Abel..." ("The blood of the innocent Abel has been spilled, God almighty ..."). Bolivar later wrote (Gaceta de Colombia, July 4, 1830):
The department of Sucre in
Colombia and the city of
Sucre in Bolivia are named for him. The former currency of
Ecuador was the sucre, and the province of Venezuela in which he was born, Cumaná, was renamed Sucre. Some of his
descendants in Venezuela have followed in his military and political footsteps.
Antonio José de Sucre is buried in the Cathedral of Quito, Ecuador, as it was expresed by him in life "I want my bones to be forever in Quito"
External links
★
biography and links to related events provided by the Ministry of National Defense of Ecuador
★
history
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