The General in His Labyrinth

The General receives news that the new Congress has confirmed his pension for life, and he receives his passport; He can now leave the country. The journey to Cartagena resumes, and the General stops along the way to ask every person he meets about "everything" (168). He dispatches Carreno to find the location of Sucre. The arrival in Cartagena is muted and forced, clashing with the General's memories of when the city was swept up in revolutionary zeal. After years of war, the city is a "shadow of what it once had been" (170). Meeting with the city governor, he arranges to pardon Miranda's husband as the governor's opponents protest in the streets. As he sinks into a somber, reflective mood, his friend General Montilla brings him news that Urdaneta is "preparing a coup" (174). Sucre is against the coup, so the General recommends that Sucre should take responsibility.

The General prepares to set sail, but amid the festivities to mark his departure, he decides to stay. To that end, Montilla finds the General a more permanent place of residence which better suits his health. The General sits for a portrait by the Italian painter Antonio Meucci; He likes the portrait but believes that Meucci has depicted him "with too much compassion" (180). When speaking to a young girl, he asks how people in Cartagena think of him. She responds that people say he is well "but pretends to be sick so people will feel sorry for [him]" (181). He encourages her to examine his "ravaged body" (182) as proof of his illness. Later, they lie together and listen to music. Later, the General requests Iturbide to sing old songs, revealing that he is "in a bad humor" (183). He reflects on his exile and the time he has spent away from his home country of Venezuela.

News arrives that several factions in the military have disavowed Urdaneta's coup and seek to return the General to power, but the General believes that this news "comes too late" (185), as he is too sick to do anything. Later, he receives news that Sucre has "been ambushed and assassinated" (186).

The General is anguished. That night, he vomits blood, and José covers up his sickness. Fearing that he is declining, the General cuts his hair, his moustache, and his sideburns. He goes into mourning and shares the despair of his "festering heart" (188) with his officers. He warns them about the United States, a country that will always "accuse [them] of turning the continent into a league of popular states" (188). The subject of corruption abhors him, as he spent so much of his presidency trying to eradicate it. While the political situation worsens, the General's staff tries to hide the worst of it from him. This includes the news that many men in his garrison "were sowing the fiery seed of an immortal gonorrhea" (191), and the sexually transmitted disease is spreading quickly through the town.

In Bogotá, Manuela launches her own "war for the return of the General" (192); Through a series of public provocations, she enrages the local government. Though she is accused of "promoting an armed rebellion to reestablish the absolute power of the General" (193), his health has declined to the point that he cuts himself shaving and needs medical help. The country is divided as to whether the General should return and whether Gran Colombia should remain united. The General is surprised that he is "still alive" (195) when he reaches his 47th birthday, and the anniversary gives him strength. Some members of his entourage depart for Venezuela to fight for their country as the breakup of Gran Colombia gathers intensifies. For all the sadness, the General hopes that "a new war would make the laurels of long ago green again" (197).