Antonio José de Sucre

South American military leader and nationalist leader

• Born: February 3, 1795
• Birthplace: Cumaná, New Granada (now Venezuela)
• Died: June 4, 1830
• Place of death: In the Berruecos Mountains, Gran Colombia (now on the border of Ecuador and Colombia)

Although little remembered outside South America, Sucre was one of the foremost military and political leaders in that continent’s struggle to achieve independence from European rule, and he played an important role in the creation of modern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Early Life

Antonio José de Sucre (SEW-krah) was a member of the fourth generation of his family to reside in Cumaná, a port city located on the far eastern coast of present-day Venezuela. His great-grandfather, Carlos de Sucre, reestablished the family in northern South America after having served as an official of the Spanish crown in Cartagena and Havana. Carlos’s son, Antonio, married a descendant of a conquistador family and served as a colonel in the royal Spanish infantry. Vicente, son of Antonio, served first as a lieutenant of the Spanish army and, after the independence movement began, as a colonel in the newly formed revolutionary army. Vicente fathered a large family. Antonio José was his seventh son.

The Spanish Empire collapsed in 1808, one of the victims of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s expansionist policies. This event accelerated the aspirations of independence that had developed among the Creole element within the Spanish colonies. The Creoles were the Spaniards born in the Americas. They felt that they had been relegated to a second-class status by the Spanish crown. Positions of power and importance were reserved for the Peninsulares—those Spaniards born in the mother country.

Young Sucre supported this movement for liberation and subsequently devoted his entire life to its service. As early as his sixteenth birthday, he followed the tradition of his family and became a soldier. After a brief stint at a Caracas military school, he returned home, joined the rebel army, and was given command of a company of engineers. From 1813 to 1817, he fought in a series of campaigns against royalist forces. Sucre’s military accomplishments earned him the rank of general in the rebel army at the early age of twenty-three.

Life’s work

In 1819, Sucre met Simón Bolívar, a fellow Venezuelan who would go down in the annals of Latin American history as the “Liberator.” The two formed a lifelong friendship, and Sucre would prove to be Bolívar’s most loyal and trusted supporter in the many military campaigns that followed in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Sucre had earned a good reputation as a military leader in the liberation of both Venezuela and Colombia from the Spanish crown. The struggle against the royalist forces had been bloody, with both sides killing prisoners even after surrender. Two of Sucre’s own brothers were shot while being held as prisoners of war, and a third was assassinated while a patient in a hospital. Moreover, the campaigns were made doubly difficult by fratricidal fights within the ranks of the rebels themselves, a situation that would continue throughout the struggle for independence.

However, it was for his accomplishments under the direction of Bolívar in the emancipation of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia that Sucre acquired his greatest fame. Bolívar sent his young charge into Ecuador to emancipate that country, which was no small compliment to Sucre, because Bolívar had planned to lead the campaign himself. Sucre proved his military ability. Although he was operating in unfamiliar territory—the mountains of the Andes—and commanding an army of his own for the first time, he defeated the royalist forces, first at Yaguachi and then at Mount Pichincha on the outskirts of Quito. He broke the pattern of killing prisoners by offering the royalists free passage from the area if they surrendered the city itself. The Spaniards accepted the offer and left Quito. The power of the Spaniards in Ecuador had ended. Bolívar promoted Sucre to major general and made him governor of Quito.

Hardly had Sucre commenced the task of organizing Ecuador when Bolívar sent him on a new assignment to Lima to command the Colombian forces in the area and to protect the newly won territory from reconquest by a new Spanish army. The task was further complicated by infighting among the Peruvian officials themselves, as well as by Peruvian, Chilean, and Argentine military commanders who failed to achieve agreement on how to meet the new threat.

Sucre persisted despite the problems within the rebel camp. On December 7, 1824, he met the opposing Spanish commander, Viceroy José de La Serna y Hinojosa, in a battle on the Plain of Ayacucho, some eleven thousand feet above sea level. This would be the deciding battle for control of Peru . La Serna, thinking that he had the patriot forces trapped, launched what turned out to be a disastrous attack on Sucre’s well-positioned forces. Despite a royalist force that was one and one-half times as large as his own, Sucre’s superior battlefield tactics won the day. He accomplished this goal in just one hour of intense fighting. The royalists lost twice as many men in the battle as did Sucre. The Spanish prisoners that were taken, including Viceroy La Serna himself, outnumbered the patriots’ own total forces. Ayacucho was to be Sucre’s greatest military victory. He was named grand marshal of Ayacucho as a result. The Spanish hold on South America was broken forever.

Sucre’s next task involved securing the independence of Upper Peru. He marched into the province in January of 1825. Bolívar charged him with restoring order to an area that was in a state of virtual anarchy. Sucre had to assume the role of governor and establish a framework for a stable political structure. The new grand marshal had protested to Bolívar on more than one occasion that such a task was beyond him, that he was a soldier and lacked the necessary formal education to carry on such work. Nevertheless, Bolívar completely trusted his loyal subordinate and prevailed upon him to undertake the task.

The hero of Ayacucho faced an initial problem in the matter of jurisdiction of the area that he had entered. Upper Peru had been assigned to Buenos Aires, not Peru, so he had, technically at least, entered foreign territory. Nevertheless, Sucre took up the task of organizing the newly acquired territory. He issued a decree that dictated the formation of a representative assembly of local citizens to adopt a form of government satisfactory to the constituency, including a guarantee of provincial autonomy if they desired it. Bolívar criticized his old comrade-in-arms for this action, stating that it inferred the right to sovereignty by the Upper Peruvians rather than simply provincial status. Sucre refused to back down in the matter and proceeded with plans to create a truly representative democracy rather than one dominated solely by the upper class. Bolívar reluctantly sanctioned the formation of the assembly and placed Upper Peru under Sucre’s political authority on a temporary basis.

The assembly convened, named the new country Bolivia in honor of Bolívar, and called on Sucre to assume the role of supreme ruler in Bolívar’s absence. Sucre agreed with some hesitation. As he had so often stated publicly, he did not like political life. Shortly thereafter, Bolívar himself visited the new country and promised to use his influence with the Peruvian legislature to promote Bolivian independence. He recommended a series of democratic reforms as well, leaving their implementation to Sucre after his departure.

Sucre then began the challenging process of developing an administrative structure for the country. He introduced a tentative constitution, established ministries, laid out boundaries for departments, and secured, by treaty with Peru, an outlet for Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean. This vital corridor was seized by Chile later during the subsequent War of the Pacific.

Sucre organized a judicial system separate from the political establishment. He introduced a merit system for government employees and a postal program with regular communications to both Lima and Buenos Aires. The marshal also encouraged private enterprise by setting up a favorable economic climate for the country’s mining industry.

After completing this initial labor for the new country, Sucre sought to be relieved from further responsibility. Instead, the new congress prevailed on him to accept the office of the country’s first president, in spite of Sucre’s personal preferences to the contrary. On October 9, 1826, he took the oath of office. Sucre’s two-year term turned out to be a difficult one. Bolivia proved hard to govern, given the continuous unrest that was generated among its various political factions. Sucre himself suffered a serious wound to his right arm in quelling an incipient revolt launched by a group of discontented soldiers stationed at Chuquisaca. The damage was so severe that Bolivia’s first president remained politically crippled throughout the remainder of his life. He was required, at one point, to defend the new country against an incursion by his former allies, the Peruvians. Sucre left office in 1828 with evident relief.

Now a former soldier and a former politician, Sucre returned to Quito, Ecuador, married Doña Mariana Carcelón y Larrea, marquise of Solanda, and entered into private life. His new spouse, a wealthy heir, owned substantial estates in and around Quito. Sucre contented himself with their management. His daughter, Teresa, was born the following year. He continued to maintain regular correspondence with his old Venezuelan comrade Bolívar, expressing sorrow at the political turmoil that existed throughout the countries that they had played such a major role in liberating.

The fratricide that plagued the independence movement throughout the campaigns against the Spaniards continued into the period of nation-building that followed. Sucre himself turned out to be a victim of this tragedy when, on June 4, 1830, while on his way through the Berruecos Mountains of Ecuador bound for Quito, the thirty-five-year-old grand marshal of Ayacucho was ambushed and assassinated. His death was charged to a political rival, José María Obando, commander of the army in nearby Pasto, although the latter never paid for the crime. Sucre lies buried today in the cathedral at Quito, Ecuador.

Significance

Although Antonio José de Sucre played a subordinate role to the more famous liberator, Simón Bolívar, he was instrumental in the accomplishment of many of Bolívar’s military successes. He was a talented soldier who lacked the charisma of his famous leader, but he accomplished much with his quiet, determined, and skilled leadership. His tenure as the first president of Bolivia gave that new country a set of laws and a political structure that launched it on the road to permanent statehood.

Bibliography

Harvey, Robert. Liberators: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence, 1810-1830. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 2000. Chronicles the battle for independence in South America, focusing on Sucre and other liberation leaders.

Hoover, John P. Admirable Warrior: Marshal Sucre, Fighter for South American Independence. Detroit: Blaine-Ethridge, 1977. This is a well-written, uncomplicated biography of Sucre by an author who saw his subject as an unselfish patriot in the cause of the South American liberation from Spain.

Lopez Contreras, Eleazar. Synopsis of the Military Life of Sucre. New York: H. R. Elliot, 1942. This brief biography by a former fellow Venezuelan general emphasizes the military aspects of Sucre’s career.

Lynch, John. The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808-1826. 2d ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986. Lynch gives an overview of all the South American battles for independence, providing a background for the independence movement to which Sucre committed his life.

Robertson, William Spence. Rise of the Spanish-American Republics. New York: Free Press, 1946. Chapter 8 is devoted solely to a detailed biography of Sucre.

Rodríguez O, Jaime E. The Independence of Spanish America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Covers the wars for independence in Mexico and South America between 1808 and 1826, including information about Sucre’s role in the independence movement.

Sherwell, Guillermo A. Antonio José Sucre, Hero and Martyr of American Independence. Washington, D.C.: Byron and Adams, 1924. Sherwell’s flattering biography emphasizes the positive characteristics of Sucre: his honesty, fairness, and humility, even when he led armies of thousands and held a country’s presidency.