The Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar, also known as El Libertador, sought to lead Latin America to independence from the Spanish in the early nineteenth century. Ever since he has been held as a model for subsequent Latin American radicals; Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, has dubbed his own programmes of social reform "the Bolívarian Revolution". In his introduction to this collection of Bolívar's writings, Chávez explains why Bolívar continues to inspire.