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
USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641) Bolivar". As part of a "warm – cold water" refit exchange program, in 1977 the ship conducted one "cold water" refit from the Holy Loch SSBN site in Scotland with maintenance and supply services provided by submarine tender . Departing Holy Loch for her assigned operating areas the ship then completed its 34th deterrent patrol. Following a trans-Atlantic transit, "Simon Bolivar" returned to the "warm water" Charleston SSBN site to continue its normal refit-patrol operating cycle from the continental US. In February 1979, following her 40th deterrent patrol, "Simon Bolivar" entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for overhaul and