WILLEMSTAD – With a powerful appeal, Curaçaoan activist and historian Tico Vos is urging renewed attention to the overlooked legacy of General Manuel Carlos Piar, a key figure in Latin America's fight for independence and a symbol, according to Vos, of freedom, racial equality, and social justice. 

In a public manifesto and speech, released in connection with the commemoration of Piar’s birth in 1774, Vos argues that Piar’s role has been minimized in official histories despite his deep contributions to the ideals of liberty and equality. 

Born to an Afro-Curaçaoan mother and raised in Venezuela, Piar rose to prominence as a military leader during the wars of independence against Spanish colonial rule. However, Vos stresses that Piar’s true mission went far beyond military victory—he advocated for the abolition of slavery and the inclusion of all racial and ethnic groups, including Black, Indigenous, and Mestizo populations. 

These radical views, Vos states, ultimately brought him into conflict with the creole elite, including his former ally Simón Bolívar. In 1817, Piar was executed—not due to military failure, Vos contends, but because his vision of justice and equality was seen as too dangerous and revolutionary for the time. “He was condemned because, as a mulatto, he dared to dream of equality,” said Vos. 

Vos also highlights Piar’s links to Haiti, then the only free Black republic in the Americas. Piar viewed the abolition of slavery not as a strategic move but as a moral obligation. This ethical commitment, Vos says, distinguished Piar from many other leaders of his era. 

With this renewed call to action, Vos seeks to reposition Manuel Carlos Piar as a central figure in the struggle for justice across the Caribbean and Latin America. “The Americas owe him more than a statue or a street name—we owe him truth, remembrance, and the continuation of his struggle,” the manifesto declares.