Counter-stories and meta-stories around the independence struggle in the South of Venezuela (1817-2017)

When the Independence Act (1811) was signed in the Province of Venezuela, in Guayana a social base emerged that was opposed to the emancipatory interests of Caracas. However, these disagreements would have a final chapter when the forces led by Manuel Piar in the Battle of San Felix (1817), managed to take definitive control of the region. This event, which circumscribes the campaign carried out in southern Venezuela between 1816 and 1817, gave rise to the making of a national discourse that is still valid today among the inhabitants of Ciudad Guayana (Bolivar State). In this way, a series of oral and written accounts are included about the events of national independence and stories that seem to go against what is stated by the official historiography. Two hundred years later, the heroic imaginary has permeated regional history and therefore the identity of the Guyanese people, so its study is considered essential when it comes to understanding the place that the Guayana region occupies in the history of Venezuela.