Before departing, he issued a
proclamation denouncing emphatically the action of Miranda, and the conduct
of Monteverde who had transgressed the laws of war by encouraging the
barbarous actions of the undisciplined crowds which, in the interior of
the country, were committing all kinds of atrocities. Monteverde had also
violated the articles of the capitulation stipulating that the lives and
properties of the inhabitants should be respected and that there should
follow a general oblivion of all past actions.
Bolivar was in La Guaira when Miranda arrived there with many other
officers who were escaping persecution from Monteverde. The generalissimo
intended to remain in La Guaira that night, sailing from there the
following day. That evening the most prominent men of the city assembled
and denounced the supreme commander for his conduct. Among the most bitter
judges of Miranda was Bolivar, the man who had asked the London exile to
return to Venezuela to work for liberty in his country. The word treachery
was uttered and all agreed to imprison Miranda, a culpable action performed
on the morning of July 31. That same day the port of La Guaira was closed
by order of Monteverde, and the most distinguished patriots who fell into
his hands were sent to prison, and cruel persecutions were exercised
everywhere. A committee of public safety was established and immediately
the prisons of Caracas and Puerto Cabello were filled with men, many of
whom died of suffocation.
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