When Diego Jalón at Barquisimeto heard of the Carora defeat, he rounded up troops and prepared to march against Monteverde. Nature intervened in a deadly, dramatic fashion. On Thursday, March 26, 1812, a massive earthquake struck northeastern Venezuela. The quake swallowed up Jalón and his soldiers, along with their provisions, weapons, and munitions. Friends dug the injured Jalón from the ruins and carried him to San Carlos.
The devastating quake zigzagged through the heart of Patriot-held territory from Barquisimeto and Mérida in the west eastward through San Felipe, El Tocuyo, Caracas, and La Guaira. Thousands of people died in churches, crowded on Holy Thursday, and dozens of Patriot-held towns and cities lay in ruins. Four thousand people died in the churches of Caracas; ten thousand in the whole city; and another ten thousand in the surrounding environs. More of the injured later died.
The Royalist Díaz witnessed the destruction. He left his house in Caracas at four o’clock in the afternoon. As he neared the plaza of San Jacinto, the earth shook and rumbled. He ran toward the middle of the plaza. Balconies from the Post Office fell at his feet. He saw the church of San Jacinto collapse. As he stood alone in the midst of the ruins, he heard groans from the church. “I climbed over the ruins and entered. I saw about forty persons dead or dying under the rubble. I climbed out again, and I shall never forget that moment. On the top of the heap I found Don Simón Bolívar in his shirt sleeves. Utmost terror or desperation was painted on his face. He saw me and cried these impious and extravagant words: ‘If nature oppose us, we will fight against her and force her to obey us.’”
Simón Bolívar’s Quest for Glory / Richard W. Slatta and Jane Lucas De Grummond © 2003
The Right will try anything.