Today, July 14th, marks the 210th anniversary of the death of Sebastián Francisco de Miranda, the precursor and first great leader of the patriots, considered the first universal Venezuelan. He initiated the South American independence movement, which was ultimately brought to fruition by the Liberator, Simón Bolívar, along with the Argentinian José de San Martín and the Venezuelan Antonio José de Sucre. He was also a precursor of the Gran Colombia project. His death occurred 27 years after the start of the French Revolution with the storming of the Bastille, in which he served as a field marshal. This is why his name appears on column number 23 of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, making him the only non-French figure inscribed on such an important monument in France. It should also be noted that he participated in the Battle of Pensacola while serving Spain, where he was supporting the Americans in their fight against British colonialism. Another important event in his military career worth mentioning is that Empress Catherine II of Russia granted him the rank of colonel in the Russian army. In addition to this appointment, she granted him diplomatic protection and permission to wear the official uniform of that rank, thus shielding him from the pressures the Spanish Crown was exerting against him at that time. We must also mention his actions in 1806, among which he decreed the Venezuelan flag and raised it on his ship, the Leander, in Coro.
His death occurred in 1816 in the prison of Las Cuatro Torres de La Carraca, in Cádiz, Spain, where he had been held since 1812, after being captured in La Guaira in an act of betrayal by the royalist leader Domingo Monteverde. Miranda had signed the Capitulation of San Mateo with Monteverde on July 25 of that year, which brought an end to the First Republic of Venezuela, agreeing to "the cessation of hostilities and the surrender of the indigenous and republican territories to the Spanish Crown." As mentioned, Miranda died after 1:00 a.m. He was 66 years old, having celebrated his birthday on March 28. He was born in 1750 in Caracas (at the corner of Padre Sierra, where a plaque commemorates his birth).
The prison authorities threw his body into the sea, and in 2000, the 250th anniversary of his birth, the late President Hugo Chávez appointed a commission of scientists to determine the identity of the remains of this great national hero. However, even with the most modern methods, it has not yet been possible to fulfill this important wish of the Venezuelan people. Therefore, a cenotaph stands in his honor in the National Pantheon.
