Was Bolivar murdered?

• Position: Venezuela - Simon Bolivar - Brief article

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Simon Bolivar, South America's revered liberator, died in 1830--probably of tuberculosis. But now Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez would like a second opinion. He recently ordered an exhumation of Bolivar's body, having teeth and bone fragments removed for DNA testing. He hopes the tests will confirm his claim that the 19th-century aristocrat who freed much of South America from Spain was poisoned by members of neighboring Colombia's aristocracy. Chavez could then use that 180-year-old charge against Colombia's...