Tánaiste pays tribute to Corkman who helped win independence for South America

Daniel Florence O’Leary served as a top general to Simon Bolívar, the Venezuelan revolutionary that helped lead the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and more to independence from the Spanish empire

The bust of General Daniel Florence O'Leary in Fitzgerald Park, Cork. Picture: Clare Keogh

Almost immediately after his arrival in Bogotá, Colombia, Tánaiste Micheál Martin was whisked away from El Dorado Airport towards the neighbourhood of Teusaquillo, where Cork-man Daniel Florence O’Leary is memorialised.

At the centre of a small park in the neighbourhood, surrounded by flowers, lies a bust of O’Leary — who played a key role in the wars to win South American independence in the 1800s.

He served as a top general to Simon Bolívar, the Venezuelan revolutionary that helped lead the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and more to independence from the Spanish empire. Alongside his role as a general, O’Leary served as an aide-de-camp for Bolívar.

O’Leary, who was born in Cork City in 1801, left Ireland for South America in 1817 and remained there until his death in 1854. While he died in Bogotá, he is buried in the National Pantheon of Venezuela.

A further memorial to O’Leary is on display in Fitzgerald Park in Cork City, with the Venezuelan Government providing the bust.

Upon arriving at the park, the Tánaiste stepped out of his car and took the short walk over to the site, where the bust lies atop a marble slab and is adorned with no explanation as to who he was — just the name O’Leary.

His history in Bogotá was explained to the Tánaiste by Irish Ambassador to Colombia Fiona Nic Dhonnacha. 

O'Leary's extensive 34-volume memoirs are held in the Colombian National Archives.

A plaque on Barrack Street, Cork, commemorating the birthplace of Daniel Florence O’Leary. Picture: Brian Lougheed

Alongside his own memoirs, after the death of Bolívar in 1830, O'Leary rejected direct orders to have the personal notes and diaries of the revolutionary destroyed. He instead opted to organise them, spending a significant amount of his remaining life chronicling Bolívar's notes.

In recent years, the Tánaiste is not the only Cork politician to visit the site, with former lord mayor of Cork John Sheehan visiting the monument while attending a conference in Bogotá in 2019.

One of the focuses of the Tánaiste’s trip to Latin America has been the links between Ireland and countries in Central and South America, with O’Leary and the stories of the Batallon de San Patrico (St Patrick’s Battalion) being two focal points.

During his time in Mexico City, the Tánaiste visited the historic colonia of San Ángel — where the San Patricio’s are believed to have fought and died against the US army during the Mexican-American war.

The battalion themselves are stuff of legend in Mexico, with folklore tales of how they were executed by the United States following the Battle of Churubusco. The battalion are also the only non-Mexican names inscribed on the Wall of Heroes within the national parliament.

The story is told that the Irish prisoners had been captured and were awaiting execution by hanging, with orders from the US army not to execute them until the American flag was raised above the massive Chapultepec Castle.

The moment the US raised the flag above the castle, the men were immediately dropped and executed by hanging.