Campo de Carabobo

National monument on the battlefield where Venezuelan independence was sealed in 1821

The Campo de Carabobo is the open plain about thirty kilometres south of Valencia where, on 24 June 1821, Simón Bolívar's army defeated the royalist forces of General Miguel de la Torre — the engagement that effectively ended the Venezuelan war of independence and opened the road to Caracas. The site has been a national monument since the nineteenth century and is the venue of the official independence-day military parade each June.

The monumental ensemble that occupies the field today was redesigned in 1921 for the battle's centenary. A long avenue leads to a triumphal arch and the bronze equestrian statue of Bolívar by Pietro Tenerani; a separate altar holds the remains of the Soldado Desconocido — the unknown soldier. Other monuments around the field commemorate Páez, the British Legion, and the indigenous and Afro-Venezuelan troops who fought in the army of independence. It is the most significant nationalist site in the country outside Caracas.

things to do battlefield historic site sight monument
A story
The Battle of Carabobo lasted little more than an hour. The Spanish line broke when Páez's *llaneros* charged uphill through the brush, and Bolívar entered Caracas a few days later. The campaign that had begun a decade earlier was effectively over by mid-afternoon.