Baltasar remained in silence for some time.
His gaze rested upon the map, though he no longer seemed to see it as lines and territories, but as weight—decisions layered upon decisions. Bogotá, in its present state, could not be held at full strength. That much was evident. To abandon it now, to redirect their forces toward Venezuela, was—purely in strategic terms—a sound course.
Venezuela offered something Bogotá no longer could: space, cohesion, access to the sea. A gateway. A foundation upon which a Reconquista might one day be built.
And yet—
The loss of the capital, in the year 1795, amid the turmoil of revolution and civil unrest, carried a significance that extended far beyond military calculation. It was not merely a withdrawal.
It was a statement.
