The
country had received the name of Republica Bolivar (now Bolivia). From
there he went to Potosi, where he remained several weeks, accepting the
homage and gratitude of the people. There he received several members of
the diplomatic corps and a committee sent by the government of Buenos Aires
with the purpose of complimenting him for the services he had rendered to
the cause of South American independence which, as they said, Bolivar had
made secure forever.
He gave Bolivia its first political organization, applying his favorite
ideas about the distribution of powers. Here he repeated what he had done
everywhere when in command. He established educational institutions;
ordered that the rivers be examined in order to study the feasibility of
changing their courses so as to furnish water to arid and sterile areas;
distributed land among the Indians; suppressed the duties on mining
machinery; ordered the planting of trees, and showed in a thousand ways his
untiring energy, all the while keeping in active diplomatic correspondence
and in constant communication with his friends and civil officers, in order
to give instructions in detail. He issued orders from Chuquisaca to have
the Venezuelan soldiers sent back to their country from Peru. He even went
so far as to entertain thoughts of the independence of Cuba and Porto Rico.
In January, 1826, he left Chuquisaca for the coast and from there he sailed
for Peru, and a month later reached Lima, where he rendered an account of
what he had done in Upper Peru and in the South.
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