Bolívar was very much concerned with the increasing wave of discontent which threatened to destroy his work. As we said at the beginning, there was no public opinion to support him. The masses were moved by their feelings, by early acquired habits, by superstitions or by low interests, and the llaneros (inhabitants of the plains) would follow any chieftain who could guarantee them sufficient loot. At only thirty years of age Bolívar had proved himself as great a statesman as he was a soldier. He arranged for the organization of all public services, and when this was attended to, he took care
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