Antonio José de Sucre

Background

Antonio José de Sucre was born on Feb. 3, 1795, at Cumaná in eastern Venezuela.

Career

After the collapse of the latter in 1814, he took refuge in the Antilles, fought at Cartagena in New Granada, and fled again, to Haiti, toward the end of 1815.

In 1816 Sucre was once more in Venezuela.

He served with distinction under Gen. Santiago Mariño against the royalists but refused to follow Mariño when he sought to challenge Bolívar's authority.

He met with success at the battle of Pichincha (May 24, 1822), which delivered Quito into patriot hands and paved the way for its incorporation into the unified republic of Gran Colombia.

Subsequently Sucre went with a Colombian advance guard to continue the struggle in Peru.

Many Bolivians resented him as a foreigner; and he was saddled with an inordinately complicated constitution which Bolívar had drafted.

Early in1830 he served as president of a constitutional convention, meeting at Bogotá, which proved unable to halt the disintegration of Gran Colombia.

References

• Antonio José de Sucre
• Antonio José de Sucre, Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho (Spanish Edition)
• ANTONIO JOSÉ DE SUCRE (Biblioteca Biografica Venezolana, 19)