After the fall of the First Republic of Venezuela , Simon Bolivar he undertook the march that became known as the “ Admirable Campaign ”, leaving on May 14, 1813 from Cúcuta, Colombia, with the aim of liberating Venezuela from the Crown of Spain. As background, it is necessary to mention that almost a decade earlier the Republic of Haiti had achieved its independence, but in a very unorthodox and rather bloody way. The turning point in the Haitian Revolution, and which ultimately managed to expel the French troops from the island, was the conversion of an initial class struggle into a racial struggle. I don't know if history has judged this type of extreme action for better or for worse, but the truth is that this same model of xenophobia was adopted by Venezuelan patriots in this armed incursion that managed to reach Caracas amid cheers and flowers. 
Admirable Campaign
And it is that war is like that, it is written by the winners and the minstrels and historians love to recreate themselves in epic deeds, in triumphal entries, in important meetings or in heroic deeds, but they tend to forget most of the atrocities and the horrendous and inhumane decisions that –at certain times and to tip the scales- were made by both the winners and the losers (is it because some believe that in war anything goes? ). That is the story that I do not like, the one that is not fully described, the one that is the result of the patriotism of «blindfold » and that only shines the brilliance of the triumphal entries, the opportunistic speech and the solemn moments signing capitulations. That is only part of the story, but any war, no matter how «just and necessary «, do not doubt it, it has left orphans, widows and many dead innocents. As proud as we are of being free countries, those freedoms have cost the people rivers of tears and blood, because all the politicians and high-ranking military officers normally finished the war without batting an eye. This is one of those stories that doesn't make me feel proud of any hero, because the actions, no matter how necessary they may have been at the time, don't represent me in my time or in my circumstances.
In the month of January 1813, before the Bolívar campaign began, the Venezuelan caudillo Antonio Nicolás Briceño Together with other patriotic officers, they designed a plan to liberate Venezuela -close to a xenophobic proclamation bordering on the limits of genocide- which was given the name of Cartagena Convention . Among his outstanding articles we can mention:
In the name of the people of Venezuela, the following proposals are made to undertake an expedition by land with the object of freeing my country from the infamous yoke that weighs on it. I will comply with them exactly and faithfully because justice dictates them and that an important result must be their consequence.
First:All Creoles and foreigners who present themselves while retaining their degrees will be admitted to form the expedition. Those who have not yet served will obtain the ranks corresponding to the civilian jobs they have held, and in the course of the campaign, each will have the promotion proportionate to his courage and military knowledge.
Second:as the main purpose of this war is to exterminate in Venezuela the cursed race of European Spaniards without excepting the Canary Islanders, all Spaniards are excluded from this expedition no matter how good patriots they may seem, since none of them should stay alive not admitting any exception or reason; English officers may not be accepted as allies of the Spanish except with the consent of the majority of the country's son officers.
Third:the properties of the Spaniards of Europe located in the liberated territory will be divided into four parts, one for the officers who were part of the expedition and have attended the first function of arms, making their distribution by equal portions with abstraction of degrees, the second belongs to the soldiers, indistinctly the other two to the State. In doubtful cases, the majority of the officers present will decide the question […]
Ninth:to be entitled to a reward or a degree, it will suffice to present a certain number of heads of Spaniards or Canary Islanders. The soldier who presents 20 will be made an active flag bearer, 30 will be worth the rank of Lieutenant, 50 that of Captain…
Cartagena de Indias, January 16, 1813. Antonio Nicolás Briceño
Simon Bolivar
This proclamation was transformed into a decree by Simón Bolívar on June 15, 1813, becoming known as the Decree of War to the Death and being in force until November 26, 1820 when the Spanish Pablo Morillo he met with Bolívar to sign an armistice and regularize the war. During the Admirable Campaign «all Europeans and Canarians almost without exception were shot » by the patriotic weapons in its path. In February 1814, at the end of the campaign,Juan Bautista Arismendi On Bolívar's orders, he had 886 Spanish prisoners shot in Caracas. From February 13 to 16, he added to his list more than 500 patients admitted to the La Guaira hospital. .
Signing of the War to the Death Decree
Apart from the cruel and bloody nature of the document, it also had a political background, because what was intended was to appeal to nationalism and change public opinion about the civil war that Venezuela was experiencing to make it look like a pure and simple war between two nations. and not as a rebellion. This proclamation was drafted under the justification of the crimes committed by the royalist Domingo Monteverde and his army over the republicans during the fall of the First Republic. Another justification for the decree was given by Simón Bolívar in the city of Valencia on September 20, 1813, arguing the brutal repression to which Quito was subjected on August 2, 1810 after the so-called First Cry of Independence .
Collaboration of Carlos Suasnavas
Sources:Wikipedia. Cuno Bonito, Fair. (2005). sad topics. Ideologies, discourses and violence in the independence of Nueva Granada 1810-1821