Santa Marta, December 10, 1830.

Colombians:

You have witnessed my efforts to establish liberty where tyranny once reigned. I have labored unselfishly, sacrificing my fortune and my peace of mind. When I became convinced that you distrusted my motives, I resigned my command. My enemies have played upon your credulity and destroyed what I hold most sacred — my reputation and my love of liberty. I have been the victim of persecutors, who have brought me to the brink of hte grave. I forgive them.

As I depart from your midst, my love for you tells me that I should make known my last wishes. I aspire to no other glory than the consolidation of Colombia. You must all work for the supreme good of a united nation: the people, by obeying the present government in order to rid themselves of anarchy; the ministers, from their sanctuary, by addressing their supplications to Heaven; and the military, by unsheathing the sword to defend the guarantees of organized society.

Colombians! My last wishes are for the happiness of our native land. If my death will help to end party strife and to promote national unity, I shall go to my grave in peace.

Hacienda de San Pedro, in Santa Marta, December 10, 1830. The 20th [year].

SIMÓN BOLÍVAR