Mini update time!!! The writer's block has me by the balls again, but in order to try to get my writing legs working again, I whipped up another one of these little bios, which have proven to be pretty fun.
Hopefully you guys like it, this dude's fictional, but it should shed some light on what's been going on in New Grenada since I've been pretty mum about it for a while.
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Vicente de Sucre (1830-)
Antonio Vicente Bonifacio de Sucre y Carcelén was the second child and first son of Colombian revolutionary Antonio José de Sucre, born one day after his father’s birthday, June 5, 1830 in the city of Bogotá, New Grenada. As Sucre’s first born son, Vicente was instilled with a strong martial ad athletic drive from an early age, with a future set for the military. In his adolescence various academic tutors praised the boy for his scholarly talents, particularly keen in geography and languages. By the age of 14 Vicente began his education at the Central University in the Neogrenadine capital, where he also proved to excel, eventually completing his studies with excellent marks soon after his 17th birthday in 1847.
That same year a coup d’état orchestrated by General José María Obando overthrew the elected government in Bogotá, with support garnered from the south of the country. That autumn Vicente accompanied his father, who was made Minister Plenipotentiary for Mexico (undoubtedly Obando was motivated by his desire to rid himself of Sucre, as both men shared a mutual hostility for one another). Their time in Mexico left a strong impression on both men, whom arrived in the midst of the Mexican-American War. The elder Sucre even managed to befriend President Iturbide (a fellow admirer of the late Liberator), while the younger Sucre managed to meet both Generals Urrea and Allende the Younger in Coahuila mere months before the latter’s untimely demise.
In August 1849 Obando was deposed in a bloodless coup, but violence still erupted in southern New Grenada when fear of a Spanish invasion via Ecuador reignited the region’s religious tensions. General Sucre was soon recalled from his diplomatic duties, but not long after his return he joined a Liberal conspiracy against the usurper Conservative government, headed by notable statesmen Vicente Azuero and Manuel Murillo Toro. The younger Sucre meanwhile remained in Mexico for another two years, where he received training at the Military Academy in Mexico City. By the time of his return to New Grenada in 1851, he immediately joined his father in battle, as the country had fallen into civil war once more.
The war was in its final days by the time Vicente was reunited with his father, but in the process of taking Bogotá Antonio was injured, which forced him to convalesce in the war’s final weeks. In one of the war’s final battles, Lieutenant Vicente de Sucre inflicted a stinging defeat on conservative General Braulio Henao at the Battle of Cocorná, southeast of Medellín. His victory in Antioquía promoted him to Captain, and at 22 years old, Vicente became somewhat of a celebrity.
In 1853, the new President of New Grenada, Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera made the elder Sucre the new Minister of War, while Vicente was sent to Popayan in the south, charged with monitoring of the border with Spanish Peru. In what became known as the Nine Weeks’ War, Vicente showcased his diplomatic skills, when he managed to negotiate a ceasefire between Neogrenadine forces and an invading Spanish Army, but not before he managed to defeat that same Spanish Army when it attempted to take Vicente’s garrison. To their credit, the sudden Spanish withdrawal probably had more to do with a massive rebellion in Upper Peru which broke out in April 1855.
The following year Vicente, now a Colonel, was transferred clear across the country to Santa Marta. While New Grenada had managed to recuperate well enough following the dissolution of Gran Colombia, Venezuela was not nearly as lucky. After the fall of Paez’s dictatorship in 1846 several Venezuelan provinces seceded and formed their own dysfunctional republics. The Republic of Zulia, which encompassed Lake Maracaibo and bordered New Grenada, had become rife with banditry and lawlessness, which often also poured across the border into the Neogrenadine state of Magdalena. By late 1856 the turmoil in Zulia had intensified to the point that Bogotá sought to do something about it. On October 16, 1856, Colonel Sucre and over 5,000 Neogrenadine soldiers crossed the border east of Santa Marta, intent on the city of Maracaibo. He was not yet aware of it, but Vicente de Sucre was about to start a war that would rage for nearly a decade, and in the process a nation would be reborn.
