2020-07-24 Fri

24th July is celebrated as Simon Bolivar Day throughout Latin America which commemorates the Birth Anniversary of the most powerful leader in South America.

Nicknamed “El Libertador” (the liberator), Simon Bolivar was born on 24th July 1783. He is famous for the help given to the nations to become independent from Spain. Inspired by the American Revolutionary War and admired the work of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Bolivar hoped to unite all South American countries into one nation.

He did not succeed in this plan. Instead, his leadership helped establish what we call today the nations of Colombia, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Venezuela. Both Bolivia and Venezuela (officially, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) are named after Bolivar, as are the currencies of both nations (the Bolivian boliviano and the Venezuelan bolivar).

Simon Bolivar is considered to be the Mahatma Gandhi of Venezuela for his contribution to the freedom struggle as well as to abolish poverty. In the year 2017, a 100,000 Bolivar note was issued in the honor of Simon Bolivar. The banknote depicts the portrait of Simon on the obverse and the reverse depicts a pair of two red siskins with the national park "El Avita" on the background.

Image Courtesy: banknotecoinstamp.com