Into a dungeon in Puerto Cabello, a Spaniard
threw five flasks of alkali, thus causing the death by asphyxiation of all
the prisoners locked there.
The properties of the leading citizens were seized. It was enough to have
means of comfortable livelihood to be denounced as an enemy of Spain. The
most peaceful men were dragged from their homes, and the tears of wives and
children never moved to pity Monteverde's agents.
Miranda, a prisoner in Puerto Cabello, appealed in vain to the audiencia
against these crimes. From Puerto Cabello he was sent to Porto Rico and
finally to Cadiz, where he was locked in a fortress called la Carraca.
There he died on July 14, 1816, his remains being thrown with the corpses
of common criminals. Such was the end of the noble man who had been the
guest of Catherine II of Russia, a soldier of Washington and a general of
the French Republic. He spent his last days in a dungeon, chained to
the wall like a dog. Venezuela has erected in the Pantheon of Caracas a
beautiful marble monument in the shape of a coffin, the cover of which is
held open by the claws of a majestic eagle, waiting for the remains of the
great Venezuelan, who committed errors, it is true, but whose devotion to
his country has never been doubted and whose martyrdom, and the fortitude
with which he bore it, place him among the noblest characters of history.
Bolivar remained in La Guaira for a short while, but inactivity was
distasteful. Through the efforts of a Spanish friend, he obtained a
passport from Monteverde and left the port for Curacao at the end of
August.
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