Bolivar’s bones were exhumed from his tomb at the National Parthenon. DNA tests will be conducted on the remains, which include teeth, hair, remnants of a shirt and boots. More than 50 experts including criminal investigators and forensic pathologists have been examining the remains to see if Bolivar was the victim of a conspiracy rather than disease.

Simón Bolívar was born in Caracas on July 24th of 1783, descendant of a family of Basque origin. Known as "the Liberator", Simon Bolivar led the 19th Century revolutionary war against Spain, winning independence for Venezuela and several other South American nations.

In 1819, Bolivar founded Gran Colombia, a federation of what is now Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador. He led the armies that liberated Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela from the Spanish crown and is credited with spreading democratic principles in Latin America.

Dr. Paul Auwaerter, an American medical infectious disease scientist from Johns Hopkins University, believes arsenic prescribed as a medical treatment contributed to Bolivar’s death.