Sim籀n Jos矇 Antonio de la Sant穩sima Trinidad Bol穩var y Palacios Ponte y Blanco (1783-1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader. He played a key role in Hispanic-Spanish America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire and is considered one of the most influential politicians in Latin American history. He was president of Columbia from 1819 to 1830. Bol穩var was a hero, visionary, revolutionary and liberator. During his lifetime, he led Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia to independence and helped lay the foundations for democratic ideology in much of Latin America. Bol穩var was a Freemason. He was initiated in 1803 in the Masonic Lodge Lautaro which operated in Cadiz, Spain. He died in 1830, at the age of forty-seven after a painful battle with tuberculosis.