María Antonia Bolívar and the War for Independence in Venezuela
Exile
By the time the Second Republic collapsed in 1814, Maria Antonia and her family had returned to Caracas. Secure in her political convictions and convinced that she would be safe with the return of Spanish rule, Maria Antonia intended to remain in the city, but Simón Bolívar ordered her family to leave the country for their safety. An armed guard escorted them to La Guaira where they boarded a ship for exile in Curaçao (Boletín de historia y antigüedades 1950). They spent nine years in exile, moving from Curaçao to Havana, Cuba in 1819.
The conclusion of the War to
the Death in 1814 did not improve the condition of women in Venezuela,
whatever their political affiliation. José Tomás Boves,11 a llanero in the Spanish Army, ordered women to leave Cumaná Province in October 1814.12
Issues of safety and security impelled women to seek refuge in convents
or leave Venezuela and seek sanctuary in the Caribbean Islands. The
most extensive migration of women took place in July 1814, when
thousands of women marched east to safety. Casualties were great as
many died of starvation or drowned on the way.13
The lot of émigré women was not a happy or prosperous one. Homesick and consigned to a life of poverty, some took menial jobs to support their families. There is no record that María Antonia Bolívar took on any kind of paid employment during her exile, despite the fact that she could not rely for support on her invalid husband who had epilepsy and dementia, nor on her children who were too young to work.14 Fortunately, she received financial aid from wealthy patrons, Juan Ricardo of Kingston, Jamaica, and Antonio León of St. Thomas.15 From the very beginning of her exile, she repeatedly petitioned the Permanent Council of War and the Royal Audiencia in Caracas regarding her embargoed properties, her involuntary status as an émigré, and her expressed desire to return to Venezuela, but her requests were denied. On August 28, 1816, she wrote: "I beseech Your Majesty that by the weight of the reasons already expressed, and as token of my innocence, you find it worthy to grant me and my family admission to the capital with freedom and delivery of all my possessions according to the stated justifications". 16 María Antonia insisted that her emigration was not one of personal choice; it was mandated by her brother. Like most of the terrorized population, she had to leave to save her life and that of her family. She cited her anti-republican sentiments and her actions as proof of her loyalty to the crown.
When the reformers of Venezuela began their movement to change the face of government, I could not better demonstrate my disgust and opposition to those developments than by quitting the capital and retiring to the town of Macarao. From that vantage point I witnessed the unfolding of unexpected changes and progressive horrors of so disastrous a revolution with the suffering of a sensitive woman and a tender mother who saw the precipitous disappearance of the general peace of the territory, who observed its internal division by the incremental effects on the populace of the spirit of discord, the fanaticism of equality and other destructive monsters. Far too wedded to my principles, I railed often against the false philosophy that assailed our tranquility to force us to succumb to chaos and anarchy and the unfathomable sea of evils and dangers that completely surround us.17
Furthermore, as added proof of
her loyalty, she cited the names of individuals whom she rescued from
the patriot forces. Throughout 1816, the Junta Superior de Confiscos y Secuestros
called witnesses from the village of Macarao to testify regarding
Maria Antonia's political conduct and her support of Spanish rule. They
testified that María Antonia and her husband never opposed the crown,
either in word or deed, that she provided them with money, hid them in
her home, and that she emigrated, not because she was disaffected with
Spanish rule, but on orders of her brother. If she did not leave, he
threatened to take away her children.18 In September 1817, the Real Audiencia de Caracas
acted on her case and decided that as a loyal citizen she would be
allowed to return to Caracas with her family, and that her embargoed
properties and money would be returned to her, including the portion
the government had collected from her estates during her absence. The Audiencia condemned the conduct of Simón Bolívar.19
By the time María Antonia received permission to return to Caracas, she had moved to Havana, Cuba, and decided to remain there for a time. The continued warfare, the uncertainty, and the impoverished state of the country influenced her decision. Instead, in February 1819, María Antonia appealed to the King of Spain through Don Alexo Ruíz, former Secretary of State in the Department of the Treasury. He pleaded her case, confirmed her loyalty, cited her efforts to harbor Spaniards during the War to the Death and her forced emigration ordered by Bolívar. He requested that she be given a pension of 1000 pesos while she remained in Havana, which King Ferdinand VII granted (Quintero 2002). María Antonia followed this request with another petition to the king, citing the fact that her power of attorney in Caracas had been unsuccessful in lifting the embargo on her properties because she carried the Bolívar name. In addition, she requested that the properties of her late brother, Juan Vicente, be turned over to her, despite the fact that they did not belong to her. They included an indigo plantation in Suata, two houses in Caracas, twelve houses in La Guaira, a cacao plantation in Tacagua, a cattle ranch in Caicara, and copper mines in San Felipe. María Antonia was assiduous in claiming the Bolívar family estates and mines as part of their patrimony. The king did not address her claim, but in 1827 the haciendas at San Mateo, Suata, and Caicara and five houses in La Guaira came to her in an agreement abolishing the entail of Juan Bolívar adjudicated with her brother.20 In 1820, after another plea to the king for an increase in her pension, he doubled it to 2000 pesos because ". . . of her heroism and patriotic conduct on behalf of the cause of the king".21