Statues of Latin American Liberators Along Washington’s Virginia Avenue

Between 1808 and 1826 Hispanic liberators fought the Spanish Empire in the Wars of Independence and freed most of its colonies in the Western Hemisphere, all but Cuba and Puerto Rico. The success of the American colonists against the British influenced them as they sought republican ideals. Washington, DC, honors several of them in the National Mall and Memorial Parks, in statues given to the United States by Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela. The National Park Service's article lays out a walking tour along Virginia Avenue NW, from Constitution Avenue to New Hampshire Avenue, with side trips to Farragut Square and the Columbus Memorial Fountain.

Front view of the Pan American headquarters building in Washington, DC, 1943 (Library of Congress; photo credit John Collier).

The starting point

The tour begins at the Organization of American States Building, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1908 of Georgian, Tennessee and Italian marble, with architects blending North and South American styles, it was built to house the Pan American Union, later renamed the Organization of American States, which was set up to strengthen relations among the nations of the Americas, support democracies and settle international issues peacefully. The area around it became a center for statues of the liberators.

The statues

José Artigas. The bronze statue stands at 18th Street and Constitution Avenue. Born in Montevideo on June 19, 1764, Artigas was a gaucho for many years and served in the Corps of Blandengues, a unit of the Spanish military that resisted the British invasion of the Río de la Plata region. By 1810 he had offered his support and military skill to the junta in Buenos Aires, a new military government that wanted to free the region from Spain, and he commanded a small army of gauchos and volunteers that defeated the Spanish at Las Piedras and briefly besieged Montevideo. When Buenos Aires tried to assert centralized economic and political control over the region, he objected, believing each area should be autonomous, and broke from it by 1813. He became the leader of Uruguay's independence, retreated to the interior and proclaimed himself "Protector of Free Peoples." In 1820 he unsuccessfully fought Brazil's annexation of Uruguay and was forced into exile in Paraguay. Uruguay finally became independent in 1825, a triumph due in part to his early efforts.

Simón Bolívar. The 27-foot bronze equestrian statue stands at 18th and C Streets. Called The Great Liberator and a revolutionary genius, Bolívar fought in more than 200 battles against the Spanish and provided the political and military leadership that freed Bolivia, Colombia (then including Panama), Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela; the water fountains beside the statue represent those nations.

José de San Martín. The equestrian memorial at 20th Street and Virginia Avenue has a bronze plaque on its back linking San Martín to George Washington for their shared desire for democracy, justice and liberty. Born into an aristocratic family in Argentina and educated in Spain, he built a career in the Spanish Army, fought against Napoleon, and asked to be relieved of his command to return to South America when Argentina declared independence. He served the Argentinean, Chilean and Peruvian struggles for freedom and led a dangerous 24-day march through the Andes to defeat the Spanish and liberate Chile, and he sought an alliance of nations in South America.

Bernardo de Gálvez. As governor of the Spanish province of Louisiana during the American Revolution, though he owed allegiance to the Spanish Crown, Gálvez played a pivotal role in the colonists' fight: he supplied them, forced the British out of west Florida, corresponded directly with leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, and sealed off New Orleans so the British could not use the Mississippi River.

Benito Juárez. The 12-foot bronze statue at Virginia and New Hampshire Avenues is a copy of the original on a mountain in Oaxaca, Mexico. Born into poverty, Juárez became a lawyer, an active liberal politician and, from 1858 until 1872, President of Mexico, defending his government against the French, the Catholic Church and military and conservative opponents. He is remembered as a progressive reformer committed to democracy.

Two more stops

Farragut Square, about 10 blocks north of the OAS Building, has a statue of David G. Farragut (1801-1870). Congress commissioned it in 1872 and it was dedicated on April 25, 1881; its sculptor was Lavinia Ellen Ream Hoxie (1847-1914). Farragut's father was a Spanish merchant captain who served in the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and Farragut became a U.S. Navy sailor at the age of 9. Although he grew up in the South, he fought for the Union in the Civil War and is best known for taking New Orleans and securing Mobile Bay.

The Columbus Memorial Fountain stands in front of Union Station. A globe tops a monument ringed by figures representing the old and new worlds, with a statue of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer who sailed west in 1492 for the Spanish monarchy, at the front of a ship with a winged figurehead that symbolizes discovery. Three flagpoles around the fountain stand for the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

Virginia Avenue and the Columbus Fountain have been documented by the Park Service's Historic American Buildings Survey.

Sources

• National Park Service, Avenue of Latino Leaders: National Mall and Memorial Parks, Washington, DC; four photographs credited only to Wikimedia Commons are left out; rewritten in hubnx's own words.