Birthday of Simón Bolívar in Venezuela

A fixed national date

The 1971 Law of National Feasts names July 24 among Venezuela’s annual national feast days. It directs the national executive and state governments to arrange appropriate acts to solemnize those dates, but it does not prescribe a particular ceremony or venue.[1]

The law names July 24 annually and contains no provision in the cited text for moving it when it falls on a weekend.[1]

Bolívar’s Venezuelan connection

Venezuela’s Ministry of Education records July 24, 1783, as the birth of Simón Bolívar. He was born in Caracas, and the holiday marks that connection to the country’s capital.[3][4]

Bolívar’s political and military activity extended well beyond Venezuela. Fundación Empresas Polar’s historical dictionary describes his role in the independence of the republics that are now Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, as well as Panama. That wider history helps explain why his birthday is remembered in Venezuela as part of the story of independence across the region.[4]

What the observance involves

The national-feast law calls on the national and state governments to arrange commemorative acts. It leaves the format to those authorities, so the legal text does not establish a fixed nationwide program, a single central location, or a particular annual custom.[1]

The Ministry of Education also lists the Battle of Lake Maracaibo, fought on July 24, 1823, among the date’s historical anniversaries. This places Bolívar’s birthday alongside another major event in Venezuela’s independence history on the same calendar date.[3]

The holiday has no nationwide food tradition, customary parade or consistent regional practice. These details should not be assumed to apply across Venezuela.[1][3]

Work, services and travel

Venezuela’s labor law includes national-feast dates among statutory holidays. It provides for work to be suspended and workplaces to close to the public, while allowing exceptions for activities that cannot be interrupted, such as those required for public interest or technical reasons. Grocery retail may also operate under the stated rules, and some other commerce may open where authorized.[1][2]

The practical effect is that many routine workplace and counter services may be unavailable, but the law does not mean every service stops. SUDEBAN, the banking-sector supervisor, says its public-attention service excludes holidays and banking holidays. Check with a bank or service provider before making a time-sensitive visit.[5]

Travelers should check current local information before travelling.[1][3]