Plaza 25 de Mayo is the social and physical heart of Sucre. A broad, leafy square shaded by tall palms and Washingtonia, its perimeter is lined with the city's most important buildings — the Cathedral, the Casa de la Libertad, the Government Palace, and a string of arcaded colonial mansions now occupied by banks and cafes. The square is named for 25 May 1809, the date of an early uprising in La Plata that historians consider the first cry of South American independence from Spain.
In the early evening the plaza fills with sucrenses — families, students in school uniform, shoeshine boys, ice cream sellers, courting teenagers. A statue of Antonio José de Sucre, the Venezuelan marshal for whom the city was renamed, stands at the centre. Sit on one of the wrought-iron benches and watch the social life of the city roll past; this is one of the best plazas in South America for an aimless afternoon.