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Simón Bolivar and Xavier Mina: A Rendezvous in Haiti

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

William F. Lewis
William F. Lewis*
Affiliation:
Universidad Central, Caracas, Venezuela
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Extract

The intriguing character of Caribbean history has fascinated many. The epic story of Spanish discovery, conquest and empire is deeply rooted in these ancient island sands. Haiti holds a unique attraction, because, for years, she was a French island in a Spanish sea and was the first Latin American republic to gain independence. On January 1, 1804, after the leadership of the inspired Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haiti emerged a free nation. Twelve years later, Venezuela's valiant Simón Bolívar, deeply committed to the independence struggle on the mainland sailed to Haiti and requested help. There, he met one of Hispanic history's most dynamic personalities, the guerrilla warrior, Francisco Xavier Mina. Until now, the story of their rendezvous and the events surrounding it has remained one of history's many secrets.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , July 1969 , pp. 458 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1969

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References

1 Ardouin, Beaubrun, Etudes sur l'Historie d'Haiti (Segunda edición, Portau- Prince, 1958), VI, 21–69 Google Scholar.

2 Ibid.

3 Boulton, John Fundación, Carta del Libertador (Caracas, 1968), XII, 38;Google Scholar a large number of Bolivar-Hyslop letters appear in this collection.

4 Ibid; see Carta de Jamaica por Simón Bolívar (edición Casa de Cultura, Caracas, 1967).

5 Banco de Venezuela y Fundación Lecuna, Vicente, Cartas del Libertador (Caracas, 1968), I, 254;Google Scholar some historians believe that Bolívar was en route to Cartagena (not Haiti) when he learned that it had been captured by the royalists. Hearing this, he then decided to go to Port-au-Prince. Bolivar's letters, however, prove that he intended to go to Haiti from the beginning; hereafter referred to as Banco Venezuela and Lecuna, Cartas del Libertador.

6 Boulton, op. cit. Sutherland gave Bolivar the following: 1,000 guns, seven ships, and 30,000 pounds of gun powder; the ships and their captains which set sail included the following: La Bolivar, Captain Renato Beluck; La Marino, Captain Vicente Dubouille; La Piar, Captain Juan Pinell or Parnell; La Constitución, Captain Juan Monier; La Brian, Captain Charles Lominé; La Consejo, Captain Bernardo Farrero.

7 Bolivar to Petión, September 4,1816 (Boulton, op. cit., XII, 59).

8 See Lewis, William Francis, Til, “Francisco Xavier Mina, Guerrilla Warrior for Romantic Liberalism, 1789-1817” (Doctoral Dissertation, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1967).Google Scholar

9 Ibid. Mier was a Dominican cleric from Mexico who was sent to Spain as a prisoner of the Inquisition for having delivered a blasphemous sermon on the Virgin of Guadalupe. In and out of prisons in Spain and central Europe, he finally made his way to London in 1810 and was there when Mina arrived four years later. Following the independence wars in Mexico, Mier emerged as a key figure in the evolution of the new nation.

10 Declaration of Padre Mier, Hernández, Juan E. y Dávalos, Colección de documentos para la historia de la guerra de independencia de 1808-1821 (Mexico, 1877-1882)Google Scholar, hereafter referred to as Mier's Declaration in Hernández, Documentos.

11 Obras Completas de Simón Bolívar, ed. Vicente Lecuna (Archivo de Yanes, Caracas); see letter from Bolívar to , Port-au-Prince, October 4, 1816, and letter from Bolivar to Hyslop, Port-au-Prince, September 26, 1816; ibid.

12 Letter from Bolivar to Brión, Port-au-Prince, October 14, 1816, Banco de Venezuela, and Lecuna, Cartas del Libertador, I, 330.

13 Archivo Nacional de Cuba, Asuntos Políticos, legajo 124 and 183; also see José Lucano Franco, Documentos para la historia de Haiti (n.p., Port-au-Prince, 1965); in addition to helping Mina and Bolívar, Sutherland and Petión also helped a number of others, among them Pedro Labatot. He arrived in Haiti in April, 1816, and requested aid for an expedition to New Granada. Sutherland's aid was insufficient so Labatot went to Baltimore where he attempted to get further help from Pedro Gual; see Boulton, Sección Venezolana del Archivo de Gran Colombia, A, XXXII, 10,11,12.

14 The Railleur arrived in Port-au-Prince ready to blockade that port. The French were attempting to crack down on the independence movement; Escudero to , October 24, 1816, Archivo de Indias, Papeles de Estado, legajo 12; Spanish documents were studied in Sevilla, Pamplona, Madrid, Cádiz, and Segovia; hereafter referred to as AGÍ, Papeles de Estado.

15 Began to Escudero, October 25, 1816, AGI, Papeles de Estado, legajo 12.

16 Mier, Declaration, Hernández, Documentos, November 13, 1817, VI, 816— 817; the Caledonia lost its foremast and suffered other damage; Independent Chronicle, Boston, October 24, 1816.

17 Began to Escudero, October 24, 1816, AGI, Papeles de Estado, legajo 12.

18 Archivo Nacional de Cuba, Asuntos Políticos, legajo 124.

19 Onís to Captain General of Cuba, Washington, February 28, 1817, AGI, Papeles de Cuba, legajo 1898; an informant named Losano testified that Mina had 160 men and that a captain named Manchaca arrived in Galveston from the interior at the same time that Mina did; New Orleans letter, May 1817, AGI, Papeles de Cuba, legajo 1900.

20 Like Bolívar, Mina had a large number of ships for his first (and only) assault; they included: the Cleopatra, the Neptune, the Calypso, the August, the Congresso, the La Paz, the Dolphin, and the Ellen Tooker; see Isaac Webb Account of the Mina Expedition, AGI, Papeles de Estado, legajo 14.

21 Archivo Nacional de Cuba, Asuntos Políticos, legajos 109 and 70.

22 Jacmel was the same place where Francisco Miranda made his last minute preparations before attacking the mainland in March, 1806; Boulton, Sección Venezolana del Archivo de Gran Colombia, XXII, 91-94.

23 Apodaca to Crown letters, Mexico, April through August, 1817, AGÍ, Papeles de Mexico, legajo 1492; Viceroy Apodaca sent a number of letters to Petión demanding that he cease aiding the rebels. Petión denied the accusations and continued his assistance.

24 Dispatch from Apodaca to Provinces of New Spain, AGI, Papeles de Mexico, legajo 1492.

25 Letter from Sutherland to Bolivar, Port-au-Prince, July 4, 1817, Boulton, Sección Venezolana del Archivo de Gran Colombia, C. XXII, 91-94.

26 Narrative of Francisco de Orrantia, AGÍ, Papeles de Estado, legajos 4, 31, and 74.