Senate Resolution No. 5431

BY: Senator PERALTA

COMMEMORATING the 193rd Anniversary of the
Independence of Bolivia on August 6, 2018

WHEREAS, The Bolivian region in the Andes has likely been inhabited
for nearly 20,000 years; it was home to the Tiwanakan culture, the
Moxos, Mollos, and later the Incas until the Spanish conquest in 1525;
and

WHEREAS, What is today Bolivia was long deemed a part of the Spanish
Viceroyalty of Peru, known as Alto Peru; and

WHEREAS, There was a long conflict in authority between Upper Peru
and Peru, and the colonies with the Spanish crown; this conflict of
authority resulted in a local power struggle in Upper Peru between 1808
and 1810, which constituted the first steps taken toward autonomy; and

WHEREAS, In 1808, the President of the Audiencia, Ramon Garcia Leon
de Pizarro, leaned towards affiliation with Carlotta, but the oidores of
the Audiencia favored the Supreme Central Junta; on May 25, 1809, the
oidores deposed President Garcia Leon de Pizarro and established a junta
to govern in the name of Ferdinand VII; and

WHEREAS, During the following seven years, Upper Peru became the
battleground for forces of the United Provinces of the River Plate and
royalist troops from Peru; although the royalists repulsed three
Argentine invasions, guerrillas controlled parts of the countryside,
where they formed six major republiquetas; and

WHEREAS, By 1817, Upper Peru was relatively quiet and under the
control of the Viceroyalty of Peru; and

WHEREAS, By the early 1820s, General Simon Bolivar succeeded in
liberating both Venezuela and Colombia from Spanish domination; in 1822,
he dispatched Antonio Jose de Sucre to Ecuador to defeat the Royalists
at the battle of Pichincha; and

WHEREAS, After years of guerrilla action against the Spanish and the
victories of Bolivar and Sucre in the battles of Junin and Ayacucho,
Peru won its independence; and

WHEREAS, At this point, Sucre incited a declaration of independence
for Alto Peru, and exactly one year later, on August 6, 1825, the new
Republic of Bolivia was founded by a constitutional congress in honor of
Simon Bolivar; and

WHEREAS, Bolivar and Sucre served as Bolivia's first and second
presidents; and

WHEREAS, Many Bolivians have made New York their home, and this
Legislative Body is justly proud to thank the Bolivian people for their
contributions to this great Empire State; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 193rd Anniversary of the Independence of Bolivia on
August 6, 2018.