 García Márquez comments on the nature of historical fact by drawing attention to the way history is written . The novel <unk> a time in Bolívar 's life that has no historical precedent , as there is no record of the last 14 days of his life . In García Márquez 's account readers observe Bolívar intimately , seeing his human qualities . In the view of critic Isabel Alvarez Borland , by choosing to <unk> a national hero in this way , García Márquez is challenging the claim of official history to represent the truth . In the " My <unk> " section of the novel , García Márquez asserts ironically that what he is writing is more historical than fictional , and he discusses his own historical methodology in detail . By posing in the role of a historian , he challenges the reliability of written history from within the writing process . According to Alvarez Borland , this serves to " remind us that a claim to truth is not the property of any text ; rather it is the result of how a historian ( as a reader ) interprets the facts " . 
