Jose Maria Antunes

Jose Maria Antunes (1805-1868)

This very brave cook, Chief Pastry Master of Bolivar´s entourage of cooks, saved Simon Bolivar on the night of the ¨pointed knives¨, September 25th, 1828. Biographer Ramon Azpurua (1811- 1888) took care of him until his death, and kept his amazing tale for posterity. https://bibliofep.fundacionempresaspolar.org/dhv/entradas/a/azpurua...

As the assassins entered Bolivar´s threshold room, where he was in the sole company of Manuela Saenz, Bolivar jumped from his hammock and half undressed, unsheathed his sword ready to face single handedly the perpetrators. Manuela pushed him out through the balcony´s window (luckily unrailed), where he fell down on the lawn, dropping his sword in the darkness of the night. He ran to the near-by river, and in doing so, Antunes, who was exiting his working shift late on that ill-fated night, saw him. Immediately he ran in his aid, guiding him amidst the confusion underneath the Puente del Carmen, where they both took refuge until the attempted coup on the Liberator´s life was over.

He was amongst the few people present at San Pedro Alejandrino, in Santa Marta, Colombia, who accompanied Simon Bolivar on December 17th, 1830, upon his death.

No one remembered this young hero´s deed, or ever stood to contemplate its magnanimity, throughout the long 40 years that elapsed until his own death. Here´s Ramon Azpurua´s own account of this amazing anecdote: