Antonio José de Sucre

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Antonio José de Sucre
Image:Antonio José de Sucre.jpg <small/>
In office 2nd President of Bolivia 29 December, 1825 – 18 April, 1828 6th President of Perú 23 June, 1823 - 17 July, 1823
Preceded by	Simón Bolívar (Bolivia) José de la Riva Agüero (Perú)
Succeeded by	José María Pérez de Urdininea (Bolivia) José Bernardo de Tagle (Perú)

Born	February 3, 1795 Cumaná, Venezuela
Died	June 4 1830 Berruecos, Colombia

Antonio José de Sucre (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".

1 Early military life
2 Hero of Ayacucho
3 Post-independence period
4 Death and legacy
5 External links

[edit] 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. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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:

Believe me, General, nobody loves your glory as much as I do. Never has a Chief paid more glorious tribute to a lieutenant. At the moment it is being printed, a telling of your life done by myself; being faithful to my conscience I give you all that you deserve. I say this so that you can see that I am fair: I disapprove much what I do not think is right, but at the same time I admire that which is sublime.

[edit] Post-independence period

Sucre was elected president of Bolivia in 1826, but he became dissatisfied with local political conflicts. In 1828, during a strong movement against Bolívar, his followers and the very constitution he had written for Bolivia, Sucre resigned and moved to Quito. 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.

[edit] Death and legacy

In early 1830, when Sucre learned that Bolívar had resigned and intended to leave the country, he decided to head to Quito in order to resume his personal life, but was shot from ambush en route near Pasto, in southern Colombia, on June 4, 1830.

The details of the murder were unclear and different theories abound. One of the older and more documented at the time named José María Obando as the mastermind of the assassination, and one of his alleged assassins was later executed for his apparent role. Later theories implicated several different (or additional) individuals, such as Juan José Flores, Agustín Gamarra, and Francisco de Paula Santander.

Some have argued that the assassination of Sucre was intended to leave Bolívar without a clear successor. Sucre represented, according to historian Tomas Polanco Alcantara, "the indispensable complement to Simón Bolívar". When news of Sucre's death arrived at Bolívar's home in Santa Marta, Bolívar said, "Se ha derramado, Dios excelso, la sangre del inocente Abel..." ("It has been spilled, God almighty, the blood of the innocent Abel"). Bolivar later wrote (Gaceta de Colombia, July 4, 1830):

If he had breathed his spirit upon the theater of victory, with his last breath he would have given thanks to heaven for having given him a glorious death; but cowardly murdered in a dark mountain, he leaves his fatherland the duty of persecuting this crime and of adopting measures that will curb new scandals and the repetition of scenes as lamentable and painful as this.

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.

[edit] External links

Preceded by: José de la Riva Agüero	President of Peru June 23, 1823 – July 17, 1823	Succeeded by: José Bernardo de Tagle
Preceded by: Simón Bolívar	President of Bolivia 1826–1828	Succeeded by: José María Pérez de Urdininea