Simon Bolivar’s computer-generated face stirs emotions in Venezuela
By MANUEL RUEDA
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez unveiled the “real face” of independence hero Simon Bolivar on Tuesday, and in the process, sparked a new row between his supporters and opposition groups, who accuse Chavez of manipulating the country’s symbols and its history in order to achieve his political goals.
Simon Bolivar is a widely revered character in Venezuela. A tenacious general and political luminary who lived from 1783 to 1830, Bolivar liberated Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador from Spanish rule in the early 19th century, and sent his liberation armies as far south as the Spanish province of Upper Peru, which honored him by renaming itself as Bolivia.
According to the Venezuelan government, the above portrait of Bolivar was made with a sophisticated computer program, that used 3D imagery and data from Bolivar’s skull, which had been removed from its grave in 2010 as part of an investigation into the “real causes” of Bolivar’s death.
The portrait was revealed on Tuesday to celebrate the 229th anniversary of Bolivar’s birth.
