Colonial Venezuela of the Junta as a step toward outright independence. The Venezuelan War of Independence ensued. It ran concurrently with that of New Granada. On 17 December 1819 the Congress of Angostura declared Gran Colombia an independent country. After two more years of war, the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821 under the leadership of its most famous son, Simón Bolívar. Venezuela, along with the countries of Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador, formed part of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1830, when Venezuela separated and became a separate sovereign country. Colonial Venezuela Spanish expeditions led by Columbus and Pepito Perez
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