We are not Europeans; we are not Indians; we are but a mixed species of aborigines and Spaniards. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, vol. La Gran Colombia: una ilusin ilustrada. Bushnell, D. 2003. The Congress of Angostura A Great Address and Campaigning in the Plains (1819) Congress did not meet until February 15, 1819, on account of the late arrival of some representatives. The Bourbon reforms sought to change that, and they succeeded in doing so. He genuinely emancipated slaves, yet was extremely afraid of a takeover by pardos and all the savage hordes from Africa and America who roam like wild deer in the wilderness of Colombia (Bolivar 1821). Retrieved from: http://www.archivodellibertador.gob.ve/escritos/buscador/spip.php?article10971. 2015. Blanchard, P. 2008. In the Angostura Address, Bolivar, typical in his style, praises North American society over and over again: Our legislators were influenced by the provincials, and were carried away by the dazzling appearance of North Americas happiness, thinking that the blessings she enjoyed were owed exclusively to the form of government, and not to the character of the people (Bolivar 1819). 1. The Cortes, assembled in Cadiz during Napoleons invasion of Spain, redacted a very liberal Constitution by the standards of the time. Despite Bolivars gratitude for Petions support, Bolivar was extremely concerned by the way the Haitian revolutionaries exterminated whites. Andrade, G. and Lugo-Ocando, J., 2018. Pablo Morillo and Venezuela, 18151820. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade G, Lugo-Ocando J. And, at times, he seems to believe that, the new nations are not sufficiently mature to be wholly free: Liberty, says Rousseau, is a succulent food, but difficult to digest. Simn Bolvar, el culto heroico y la nacin. Hispanic American Historical Review, 107145. Indeed, Bolivars stance on the moral power coheres well with his authoritarian leanings. And it is for this very reason that Bolivar believes that federalism works in North America, but it would never work in South America. Prof. Arkenberg has modernized the text. Armed Trading Weaponry on trade ships. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. To fully grasp the most brilliant thought of the time, some basic context is required. He attempts to excuse himself thus: Only an imperative necessity, united to a strongly expressed desire on the part of the people, could have induced me to assume the dreadful and dangerous office of dictator, supreme chief of the republic (Bolivar 1819). From there, with the auspices of President Alexandre Petion (17701818) that included 6.000 soldiers, money and even a print- (Helg 2003), Bolivar returned to Venezuela with a military expedition. Carta de Bolivar al General Juan Jose Flores. Did not the Roman Empire conquer the world? Again, Bolivar never answers. Venezuelas First and Second Republic collapsed, in part because they failed to meet the support of pardos and slaves (Blanchard 2008). Unless the executive has easy access to all the administrative resources, fixed by a just distribution of powers, he inevitably becomes a nonentity or abuses his authority. By then, Bolivars movement was seen as one that intended to establish a Republic for the white criollos, which explains partly why Boves savagely occupied Valencia and executed so many of the white elite (Stoan 1974). After all, despite his authoritarian inclinations, Bolivar was a man of the Enlightenment, and it is safe to say that he would have been happy with open, frank and critical discussion of ideas, not mindless nationalistic worship. The first is very wisely constituted. The Andes: Soldiers, Oligarchs, and Indians, Memories of Violence, Peace, and Justice in Peru, Across Patagonia, Lady Florence Dixie (1881), Document #18: Pulacyo Theses, The Union Federation of Bolivian Mineworkers (1946), Document #19: Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia (2010), Chapter 7. This time he understood that he could not make a frontal assault on Caracas, so he decided to begin a campaign of guerrilla warfare in the Eastern and Southern region of Guayana, in Venezuela, via the Orinoco River. I do not solicit the establishment of a nobility, for as a celebrated republican has said, that would simultaneously destroy equality and liberty. If the Senate were hereditary rather than elective, it would, in my opinion, be the basis, the tie, the very soul of our republic. These leaders assumed the role of dictators while rhetorically expressing their reluctance to do so. But, as for Man, I declare that I have never met him in my life. But, his concern was, if not legitimate, then at least understandable. Colombia: Civility and Violence, Document #20: Press Release from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Secretariat of the Central General Command of the FARC-EP (2002), Document #21: Statement by Humberto de la Calle, Head of the Government Delegation to the Conversations Table, Humberto de la Calle (2013), Chapter 8. Delhi: Penguin Books. Download date: August 25th, 2018. In the Angostura Address, he returns to this theme: The more I admire the excellency of the Federal Constitution of Venezuela, the more am I convinced of the impossibility of applying it to our situation (Bolivar 1819). By 1819, Bolivar fully understood that he would not succeed without their support. New York: Springer. Latin America in the World Arena, 1990s Present, Moments and Events in Contemporary US-Latin American Relations, Document #43: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) statement on Honduras, Document #42 President Obamas speech at the 2009 Summit of the Americas, Document #44: The Path Forward for Honduras, Document #45 Honduras: The Obama Administrations First Latin American Waterloo (2009), Document #47 Hillary Clintons speech on Opportunity in the Americas (2010), Modern Latin America, 8th Edition Companion Website, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. By the end of his life, Bolivar was a deeply disappointed and bitter man who wrote to a friend: All who served the Revolution have plowed the sea (Bolivar 1830). Former colonial powers may be admired in many regards, but that does not imply that there is exclusively one single path to progress that must be followed by all nations on Earth. Orientalism. Ambition and intrigue abuses the credulity and experience of men lacking all political, economic, and civic knowledge; they adopt pure illusion as reality; they take license for liberty, treachery for patriotism, and vengeance for justice. A big point of contention between Enlightenment thinkers and their Counter-Enlightenment foes, was about universalism. from the original Spanish by Francisco Javier Ynes) by Bolvar, Simn, 1783-1830; Ynes, Francisco Javier, 1861-1924; Venezuela . 7482. Reprint ed., Washington, D.C.: Press of B. S. Adams, 1919. Starting in 1999, Bolivars image was politically used by Hugo Chavezs leftist revolution, and ever since, leftist governments and guerrillas (especially FARC in Colombia) throughout the region have claimed to be followers of Bolivarian thinking. He also publicly proclaimed the emancipation of slaves in Carupano, in 1816. What I propose is an office for which the candidates must prepare themselves, an office that demands great knowledge and the ability to acquire such knowledge. Retrieved from: https://www.ensayistas.org/antologia/XIXA/bolivar/bolivia.htm. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. This style seemed to serve a very specific purpose as by 1819, Bolivar was keen to present himself as a humble citizen that, only reluctantly, takes hold of power, not out of personal ambition, but because of some historical metaphysical necessity. In the context of early 19th Century Venezuela, this was a major accomplishment. Draper, H. 1968. Under the leadership of the Libertador Simn Bolvar, revolutionary forces repeatedly fought off Spanish attempts to regain control of the region until Bolvar decisively expelled Spanish forces at the battle of Ayacucho in 1824. How does an aristocratic principle, such as hereditary privilege, motivate sharing the peoples interests, opinions and spirit? Bolivar was deeply influenced by the Enlightenment thinkers. Levenes thesis proposes that the Indies were actually kingdoms with the same legal standing as kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula; the implication is that Bolivars struggle for independence was unjustified. He is the head of government, but his ministers and subordinates rely more upon law than upon his authority, as they are personally responsible; and not even decrees of royal authority can exempt them from this responsibility. In his view, federalism may work in some countries, but not in all. He was a spirited combatant of monarchies, yet he insisted on being president for life (i.e., a king without a crown). Lynch, J. They justified themselves by arguing that they were just agents of a greater historical force. This was by far the most important motive in the struggle for independence amongst the criollo elite, and throughout his writings, Bolivar makes very clear how important this issue is for him. In order to gain Catholic support, he even outlawed the teaching of Benthams philosophy (which he himself had admired for so long), as the English philosophers views were considered too immoral by conservative clergy. The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. To get his point across, Bolivar returns to the question of cultural identity in the Angostura Address, but adds an interesting remark about Spain: Let us bear in mind that our population is neither European nor North American, but are closer to a blend of Africa and America than they are to Europe, for even Spain herself is not strictly European due to its African blood, institutions and character (Bolivar 1819). This address is for the Congress of Angostura in which the first issue he places on the table is that the mestizos are not European, nor Indians, but a mixture of both Spaniard and native blood. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427. Central America: Within the U.S. Orbit, Timeline for Central America, 1502-Present, Central American Profiles and Personalities, Forced Disappearance and Impunity in El Jute, Guatemala, Document #9: Introduction to the Shark and the Sardines, Juan Jos Arvalo (1956), Document #10: Acceptance and Nobel Lecture, Rigoberta Mench (1992), Document #11: Special Report No. 2003. . Throughout many of his private writings, Bolivar expressed enormous concerns about pardocracia, the takeover by pardos. In the midst of the battles for independence, Bolvar summoned a congress in the city of Angostura to reassert New Granadas autonomy and to install a political system that he believed would be capable of sustaining a new republic. of History, Cal. Retreived from: https://rsf.org/en/ranking. Bolivars choice of despotic governments, once again, reveals that he was a man of his time. Yet, as previously mentioned, his 1826 Bolivian Constitution stipulated a ruler who was basically a king without a crown. Mindlessly appropriating the constitutions of other nations, he argued, would lead to Gran Colombias demise. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2515360. Did not monarchy exist in France for fourteen centuries? 2004. What government is more ancient than that of China? After some military action in New Grenada (modern-day Colombia), Bolivar returned to Venezuela in 1812 and after a remarkable series of military triumphs he managed to recapture the capital Caracas (Lopez and Lopez 1999). Considerations on France. Throughout his post-colonial critique of Orientalists, Edward Said (2006) has documented how 19th Century Western scholars portrayed the East as some sort of mysterious place ruled by despots, mainly as a way to contrast the virtues of Western Enlightenment. http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226016191.001.0001, http://www.archivodellibertador.gob.ve/escritos/buscador/spip.php?article9987, http://www.archivodellibertador.gob.ve/escritos/buscador/spip.php?article10971, https://www.ensayistas.org/antologia/XIXA/bolivar/bolivia.htm, https://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Carta_de_Bol%C3%ADvar_al_general_Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Flores_(1830), http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/267/26702702.pdf, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X03006849, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034670500001534. In an oft-quoted passage of the Angostura Address, he argues: The continuation of authority in the same individual has frequently proved the ruin of democratic governments. 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