When Napoleon monopolized Spain's attention in 1.808, the patriots joined other Venezuelans in agitating for the recognition of Ferdinand and the stablishment of local autonomy under his crown.
Bolivar was one of those who plotted to kidnap Governor General Vicente Emparan.
During the tumultuous life of the First Republic, Bolivar was only one among many ardent youths who put their elementary military training at the service of the new country.
The First Republic born after 5th July 1.811 was a weak federation of provinces strugling with internal conflicts proved to be an easy target for Monteverde and Spain to recapture Venezuela in 1.812.See also (1)
European affairs affected the independence struggles for in December 1.813, Napoleon made peace with Spain, acknowledged Ferdinand as king, and agreed to withdraw French troops from the Peninsula. A month latter Joseph Bonaparte Abdicated, as a mere formality, for he was already among the ranks of unemployed monarchs.See also (1)
In march 1.814, Ferdinand The Desired returned to Spain. This was what many Spanish-Americans had believed they were fighting for, and the independence movements everywhere moved toward the nadir.
The years from 1.814 to 1.820 were years of reaction and terror in Spain. Many men in both Spain and Spanish-America who risked their lives to preserve Ferdinand's crown and empire were driven into opposition. Ferdinand's senseless and brutal despotism ultimately saved the cause of Spanish-American independence.
The war had made Venezuela a desert, for thousands of people had been killed and once productive plantations were untilled and barren." The war is becoming more cruel" Bolivar wrote "and hopes of a prompt victory I had aroused in you vanished...One more effort and we shall destroy the enemies of the fatherland".
The Year 1.815 was the nadir of the Spanish-American wars of independence. Royalist control had been reestablished in Venezuela and New Granada in the north and Chile in the south; it had never been seriously challenged in Peru and Ecuador.
Bolivar was exiled in Jamaica were he wrote "The Letter from Jamaica" in which he expressed his feelings about the freedom of the Americas as well as his vision of their future. " The bonds that united us to Spain have been severed " he wrote. " The hatred which the Iberian Peninsula inspired in us is greater than the ocean which separate us. The War to the Death has done its works ".
A people that loves freedom will in the end be free.
Other authors called The Letter from Jamaica " the results of his musing on the future of free South America", and in this remarkable document Bolivar foresaw the history of South America for the century after his death.
The letter from Jamaica was intended to influence English opinion in favor of independence, but England did nothing, Bolivar sought a humbler ally. He went to Haiti, where President Petion provided him with 250 well-trained men and seven small ships.
In his Letter from Jamaica, Bolivar recommended for the young infant nations a kind of government that could be defined as a paternalistic democracy, an enlightened authoritarianism a republic with a lifetime president- in sum, a monarchy without a king.
Bolivar's strategy in this campaign would be inspired by a new concept. He foresaw the province of Guayana with its control of the Orinoco river would give him the key to all Venezuela. He might open from his base a two-pronged attack on the cordillera by sea and through the undefended southern plains. He had been making a thorough study of Napoleon's campaigns and he was prepared to use his " war by surprise ", striking the enemy where least expected it.
Early in 1.817 Bolivar rejoined his men in Barcelona. Piar came to the city as did Urdaneta, Santander and others of the Libertador's old guard. This corps of revolutionary leaders marched with Bolivar toward Guayana where Piar had previously begun the siege of Angostura.
General Murillo alarmed at the situation returned from his conquest of New Granada, declaring : " This is not the Venezuela I left with sufficient forces to maintain its integrity ". Margarita had expelled the Spaniards; the provinces of Cumana , Barcelona and the plains are under control of the enemy.
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