Whenever actually present in the territory of the republic, the Liberator was to enjoy supreme command, in case he wished to exercise it.
In 1826 Simon Bolivar stood at the zenith of his glory and power.

No adherents of the Spanish regime were left in South America to menace the freedom of its independent states.

In January a resistance kept up for nine years by a handful of royalists lodged on the remote island of Chiloe, off the southern coast of Chile, had been broken, and the garrison at the fortress of Callao had laid down its arms after a valiant struggle.

Among Spanish Americans no one was comparable to the marvelous man who had founded three great republics stretching from the Caribbean Sea to the Tropic of Capricorn.

Hailed as the "Liberator" and the "Terror of Despots," he was also acclaimed by the people as the "Redeemer, the First-Born Son of the New World!" National destinies were committed to his charge, and equestrian statues were erected in his honor.