BESIDE BOLIVAR: The Edecan Demarquet

Simon Bolivar said of Eloy Demarquet: “Demarquet does not know how to lie or slander; I believe him loyal and sincere”. Though this French officer, a veteran of Napoleon's wars, is rarely mentioned in works on Bolivar, the latter's correspondence documents the close relationship between the two men and the high esteem in which Demarquet was held not only by his leader, but by others in Bolivar's circle. The Liberator's trust in one of his most important aides-de-camp was such that, when he neede…