Image and power: historiographic debates in the reconstruction of Bolívar's face (1825-2012).

Through the exhumation of Simón Bolívar's remains in 2010, two historically established facts were sought to be reformulated: the cause of his death and his corresponding physiognomy. The replacement of the portrait made by Gil de Castro in 1825 with a 3D image was part of a strategy in which scientific procedures and historical discourses were used to strengthen a nationalist mythology. From political history and visual studies, this article addresses the two faces of the Liberator, as well as the debates between historians and politicians, in order to reflect on the role of images in the reconfiguration of the events of the past in light of the political ideologies of our time.