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Simón Bolívar Among the heroic figures of Spanish American independence movements, none was more significant than Simón Bolívar, shown here in a moment of triumph entering his hometown of Caracas in present-day Venezuela. But Bolívar was immensely disappointed in the outcomes of independence as his dream of a unified South America perished amid the rivalries of separate countries. (By R. Weibezahl, 1829/Sammlung Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte/akg-images)