June 15, 1813: Liberator Simon Bolivar proclaimed the Decree of War to the Death

Published at: 15/06/2024 09:49 AM

The War to the Death Decree was a declaration made by General Simón Bolívar on June 15, 1813 in the Venezuelan city of Trujillo during the development of the Admirable Campaign. The declaration was preceded months earlier by the Cartagena Convention by Antonio Nicolás Briceño.

This decree meant that Spaniards and Canarians who did not actively participate in favor of Independence would be put to death, and that all Americans would be pardoned, even if they cooperated with the Spanish authorities. In addition, it added the objective of irreversibly committing individuals to the revolution.

It was drafted under the justification of the atrocious crimes committed by Domingo Monteverde and his army against the Republicans during the fall of the First Republic.

The state of War Without Quarter and War to the Death lasted seven years, from June 15, 1813, to November 26, 1820, when the meeting took place between the Spanish general Pablo Morillo, who met with the Liberator Simon Bolivar in Santa Ana, in Trujillo, to conclude a Treaty of Armistice and Regularization of the War.

Mazo News Team