This paper is about my maternal uncle who started his extensive research in early 1960s both in Ireland and South America. Eric Lambert, a Dubliner, was working at various British Embassies in South America during the 1960s. One evening he was at a function in an army barracks - someone asked him what he knew about a man whose picture hung there - General O'Leary. Lambert admitted ignorance but promised to check out this man back in Ireland. This he did and it led to a twenty-year research project which culminated in the publication in Spanish in Venezuela in 1982 of "Voluntarios británicos e irlandeses en la gesta bolivariana" Tomo I and in 1996 of Tomo II and III. In 1996 shortly before his death aged eighty-seven and in recognition of his contribution to Venezuelan history, Eric received the Orden del Libertador from the Venezuela Government. And much earlier he was made a Freeman of Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Several short essays were published in The Irish Sword and The Southern Cross. Although "Voluntarios británicos e irlandeses en la gesta bolivariana" has not been published in English, it has been referenced in some English publications. I would like to share some of his findings from his English manuscript, unpublished letters, and notes which now reside in the National Library of Ireland, Manuscript Department. The letters include one from General Noreiga. 

Eric Lambert made many friends among the historians in South America, including Rafael Caldera. And as he was conducting his research mostly from his own financial resources he appealed to local patriotism and managed to eat for free in a Caracas restaurant. The restaurant flourished partly due to Eric's glowing recommendations and is still in existence in Caracas today.

Eric was also the first person to arrange importation of Chilean wine into Ireland through Mitchell's Wine Merchants as well as importation of South American polo ponies in the 1960s. For more general background information about Eric Lambert there is an obituary from The Irish Times by John de Courcy Ireland.