1816: Bolívar decreed the abolition of slavery, the first act of justice and humanity in the country

Published at: 02/06/2024 08:43 AM

On June 2, 1816, the Liberator Simón Bolívar, in exercise of the authority that concentrated on the executive, legislative and judicial matters and which emanated from his appointment as Supreme Head of the Republic, issued in Carúpano the decree of “absolute freedom of slaves”, with the purpose of doing justice to the mass of women and men subject as the property of another, and with the clear political objective of adding them to the independence cause.

This decree was the first act of justice and humanity that was taken in the republican history of the country with the rank of State, and which would later be partially ignored by the Constituent Congresses of Angostura in 1819 and Cucuta in 1821; it signified the fundamental rung of social law and equality between human beings recognized today by contemporary constitutionalism in South America.

The Carúpano Decree of June 2, 1816, was the beginning, as José Marcial Ramos Guédez recalls, “... of the opposition... of the oligarchic sectors and the landowner-landowners (slave masters), who acted from the very bosom of the patriot army and government institutions”.

The Liberator, aware of the simulated forms of slavery and semi-slavery practiced by the masters, also expressly exempted former slaves, women, children and the elderly “from domestic and country service”.

Decree the absolute freedom of slaves:

“Considering that justice, politics and the Homeland imperatively demand the imprescriptible rights of nature, I have come to decree... the absolute freedom of slaves who have groaned under the Spanish yoke for the past three centuries. Considering that the Republic needs the services of all its children, we must impose on the new Citizens: Art 1: Every robust man, from the age of 14 to sixty years, will appear... to enlist on the flags of Venezuela (...) Art 2: The elderly, women, children and the disabled, will be exempt... forever from military service, as well as from domestic and country service (...) This Regulation shall have the force of law. Carúpano Headquarters, June 2, 1816/Simon Bolivar”.

Mazo News Team