Colombia for the new Republic. Simón Bolívar became the first President of Colombia, and Francisco de Paula Santander was made Vice President. However, the new republic was unstable and three countries emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (New Granada, Ecuador and Venezuela). Colombia was the first constitutional government in South America, and the Liberal and Conservative parties, founded in 1848 and 1849 respectively, are two of the oldest surviving political parties in the Americas. Slavery was abolished in the country in 1851. Internal political and territorial divisions led to the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830. The so-called
Sucre family a lieutenant in the provincial armed forces of the Venezuelan republics, serving under General Santiago Marino. Sucre later became the first lieutenant to the liberator Simon Bolivar and was widely touted to replace Bolivar as the leader of the newly independent Latin American nations before his untimely death in the hands of royalist rebels in 1830. While Bolivar is described as the charismatic leader who rallied the independence forces to fight, historians recognize Sucre as the military genius behind him. Under Bolivar, he was involved in the purchase of armaments, issuing military orders, recruitment, and personnel assignments. Sucre also run