Aerial view of the Leander replica in Francisco de Miranda Park in Caracas, February 13, 2023. Photo: Nuevo Dia.
On Monday, February 13, the governor of Venezuela’s Miranda state, Héctor Rodríguez, announced the opening to the public of the replica of the Leander ship in the Parque del Este Generalísimo Francisco de Miranda. The opening comes after a recovery process that took nine months. The replica commemorates Francisco de Miranda and his first maritime operation for the freedom of America from the Spanish empire.
“The ship was completely disassembled,” Rodríguez commented in a televised conversation with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was in the Botanical Garden of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) in Caracas.
Rodríguez explained that the four floors of the ship were fully restored. He announced that the ship will be open to the public starting on February 14 from Tuesdays to Sundays and that guided tours will be provided.
The Minister for Ecosocialism, Josué Lorca, stated that more than 160 men and women were working on the restoration of the ship for nine months. He specified that the works culminated in December 2022 since it is now ready to be visited by the general public. A total of 700 cubic meters of wood were used.
Carlos Vicente Torrealba directed the restoration of the ship, pointing out that this project recreates the ship dating from 1806. “It tells us about the importance of history, as it was the first ship to sail waters for the independence of the peoples,” he stated.
“Here, there used to be a representation of the ships of Columbus,” he said about the replica of the Santa María ship that was there before. “Now there is a representation of the ships that participated in the emancipation of the Latin American people.” This change is one of many decolonization efforts set in motion by the Bolivarian Revolution since President Hugo Chávez became president of Venezuela in 1999.
For almost 40 years, a replica of the Santa María, one of the three ships in which Christopher Columbus arrived in America in 1492, was in that place. It collapsed in 2005, apparently due to a lack of maintenance.
The Venezuelan government inaugurated the Leander ship on October 12, 2011, in a ceremony attended by then-Vice President Elías Jaua, the Ministers for Culture, Indigenous Peoples and Environment, and authorities of the National Institute of Parks.
Manuel Bazó, the ideologue of the project, explained in an article for Correo del Orinoco that it began in 2006 when he wrote an article that President Hugo Chávez read. Later, the president commissioned the anthropologist to crystallize the construction of the replica of the Leander. “Aboard the Leander, Miranda organized the first liberation army of South America and managed to land in Venezuela,” Bazó stated. “Once on the mainland, he hoisted the tricolor of freedom… this is a little-known story among young people and children. Now they will have the opportunity to be aware of certain details of this relevant event.”
Inside the ship, there are furniture and accessories. It also contains a replica of the first printing press that arrived in the country and an arsenal with cannons, rifles, blunderbuss and spears used by the first liberating army.
The ship suffered severe damage due to the economic and political crisis caused by unilateral sanctions affecting Venezuela since 2016. However, in mid-2022, the Ministry of Ecosocialism began reconstructing the ship.
The photos below were taken in July 2022.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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