Antonio José de Sucre (1795-1830) was a Venezuelan general and first constitutional president of Bolivia. He was one of the ablest military commanders in the war for independence against Spain and an intimate collaborator of Simón Bolívar.

Antonio José de Sucre was born on Feb. 3, 1795, at Cumaná in eastern Venezuela. When he was 13, his family, which belonged to the local aristocracy, sent him away to study in Caracas. Two years later, at the outbreak of the revolution against Spain, he joined the patriot army, and he shared in both the successes and the reverses of the Venezuelan First and Second Republics. After the collapse of the latter in 1814, he took refuge in the Antilles, fought at Cartagena in New Granada, and fled again, to Haiti, toward the end of 1815.

In 1816 Sucre was once more in Venezuela. He served with distinction under...