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. Damas, G. 1983. Cuba: Key Colony, Socialist State, From Haciendas to the Peal of the Antilles, The Island of Cuba, Alexander von Humboldt (1856), Through Afro-America, William Archer (1910), Document #13: Montecristi Manifesto, by Jos Mart and Mximo Gmez (1895), Document #14: My Race, Jose Mart (1893), Document #15: History Will Absolve Me, by Fidel Castro (1953), Document #17: What is Cubas Sin?, Fidel Castro (2003), Document #16: Statement from Mexico City, Juana Castro (1964), Chapter 6. The Congress would lay down the political foundation for the Third Republic. Andrade, G. and Lugo-Ocando, J., 2018. You may begin your work. Mexico: The Taming of a Revolution. As our role has always been strictly passive and political existence nil, we find that our quest for liberty is now even more difficult of accomplishment; for we, having been placed in a state lower than slavery, had been robbed not only of our freedom but also of the right to exercise an active domestic tyranny . The will of the Grand Sultan, the Khan, the Bey, and other despotic sovereigns, is the supreme law, and it is arbitrarily executed by the pashas and inferior governors in Turkey and Persia, where the system of oppression is completely organized, and is submitted to by the people because of the authority from which it emanates. 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. Devoted to the government because of a natural interest in its own preservation, a hereditary senate would always oppose any attempt on the part of the people to infringe upon the jurisdiction and authority of their magistrates . But, it was not a mere cynical ploy to enlarge his armies. 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. If a people, perverted by their training, succeed in achieving their liberty, they will soon lose it, for it would be of no avail to endeavor to explain to them that happiness consists in the practice of virtue; that the rule of law is more powerful than the rule of tyrants, because, as the laws are more inflexible, every one should submit to their beneficent austerity; that proper morals, and not force, are the bases of law; and that to practice justice is to practice liberty. The infamous slogan, se acata pero no se cunple (laws are obeyed, but not enforced), became a common standard of criollo administration. He is directly subject to the legislative body, the senate, and the people: he is the one man who resists the combined pressure of the opinions, interests, and passions of the social state and who, as Carnot states, does little more than struggle constantly with the urge to dominate and the desire to escape domination. Again, contemporary anti-colonialists may find much of value in Bolivars words. Yet, it is very revealing that, in this and other passages, he has a predilection for Rousseau. Levenes thesis is only half true. They also seemed to understand that a moral power could very easily be turned into a censoring body that hastily suppresses individual freedoms. Caracas: Monte Avila Editores. This would become a perennial feature amongst many Latin American caudillos ever since and something that would dominate most of the regions politics and society for the next century (Castro 2007). Latin America in the World Arena, 1990s - Present. Across his address, Bolvar Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 47 (1): 7482. In modern times, he sought the protection of the British empire; in referring to ancient times, he consistently showed admiration for Roman imperialism, and had no words of criticism for it, as once again expressed in the Angostura Address: A monstrous and purely warlike government raised Rome to the highest pitch of virtue and glory, and made the whole world a Roman Empire, showing men just how much can be achieved by political virtue, and how trivial the influence of institutions can be (Bolivar 1819). Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 47(1), 7482. Bolivar makes a sophistic gap that leaves careful readers perplexed. Of course, it would be fallacious to accuse Bolivar of being authoritarian, just because he had authoritarian sympathizers. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. 1974. Reprint ed., Washington, D.C.: Press of B. S. Adams, 1919. El culto a Bolivar: Esbozo para un estudio de la historia de las ideas en Venezuela. Retrieved from: https://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Carta_de_Bol%C3%ADvar_al_general_Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Flores_(1830). New York: Springer. This is not to say that Bolivars relationship to people of African descent was totally harmonious. Retrieved from: http://www.archivodellibertador.gob.ve/escritos/buscador/spip.php?article9987. Bolivar was decidedly on the abolitionist side, and this speaks very well of his moral character. Delhi: Penguin Books. 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. In this regard, despite his flaws, he is to be considered one the great men of South American history. Charles III introduced a system of comercio libre, free trade, but the name is very deceptive. An address of Bolivar at the Congress of Angostura (February 15, 1819) Reprint ordered by the government of the United States of Venezuela, to commemorate the centennial of the opening of the Congress (tr. Bolivar himself made such a proclaim when arguing: Amidst that sea of woes and afflictions, I was nothing more than the miserable sport of the revolutionary hurricane, driven to and fro like the wild bird of the ocean (Bolivar 1819). Yet notwithstanding this deformity, the Roman Republic did not suffer from the disastrous discord which might be expected from a leadership consisting of two individuals, both endowed with a monarchs powers (Bolivar 1819). State Fullerton. Bolivar must have been aware that his liberal and enlightened audience would object to his proposal, inasmuch as it reminded them too much of the old Spanish imperial regime and its inegalitarian institutions. The population in the Americas was far greater than the population in the Iberian Peninsula, yet, only a minority of deputies posts were assigned to representatives of the American territories. However, he implores his audience of 26 representatives to take into account social realities of the former Viceroyalty when writing a new constitution. Please look indulgently on this declaration of my political vision, on my heartfelt desires and my earnest pleas, which I have dared to address to you in the name of the people (Bolivar 1819). Wittfogel, K. 1953. The case could be made, however, that, in the context of revolutionary struggle, perhaps Bolivar was not aspiring to create an old-fashioned nobility, but rather, a neutral organ intermediate between executive and popular instances. Caballero, M. 2006. My sword, and the swords of my illustrious comrades-in-arms, will protect its solemn authority. Venezuelas First and Second Republic collapsed, in part because they failed to meet the support of pardos and slaves (Blanchard 2008). Edinburgh University Press. It is no speculation to argue that he was legitimately worried by the prospect that the emerging nations would not have a sufficiently defined national identity for viable political institutions. Even Benito Mussolini was an admirer of Bolivar (Caballero 2006: 72). He begins the address by presenting the concept that "We are not Europeans; we are not Indians; we are but a mixed species of aborigines and Spaniards" (Boli var). 7482. They went from being controlled by oversea nations to being independent nations. They justified themselves by arguing that they were just agents of a greater historical force. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. These leaders assumed the role of dictators while rhetorically expressing their reluctance to do so. Lpez, J and Lopez, J. Slavery is the daughter of darkness: an ignorant people is a blind instrument of its own destruction. Happy the citizen that under the shield of arms under his command, has convoked National Sovereignty to exercise its absolute will! Madrid: Planeta. Despite the confusing nature of some of these arguments, we must not lose sight of the fact that Bolivar was, above all, a man of revolutionary action, and he responded to particular historical circumstances that may have required some necessary measure in the mist of the chaos originated in the civil war that had been going on for almost ten years. Scanned by J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. He thus anticipated these objections, by trying to assure the audience that a hereditary Senate would not be aristocratic: In no manner whatever would the creation of a hereditary senate be a violation of political equality; it is not a nobility I wish to establish, because that, as has been said by a celebrated republican, would be to destroy at once equality and liberty. One of the main thesis of that classic work of political philosophy, is that American democracy is not only built on a particular form of government and its institutions, but also on the cultural foundations of Americans (Tocqueville 2004). It should be strongly proportioned to meet the resistance, which the executive must expect from the legislature, from the judiciary, and from the people of a republic. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, 1. Carrera Damas, G. 2003. In 1817, Bolivar captured the city of Angostura (now Ciudad Bolivar) and the whole of Guayana, and established it as his center of military operations. In Simon Bolivar's Message to the Congress of Angostura, he states that Latin American people deserve their independence. It must be based on the sovereignty of the people, the division of powers, civil liberty, the prohibition of slavery and the abolition of monarchy and privileges (Bolivar 1819). Unfortunately, the Bolivar-hero cult rampant in Venezuela and Colombia (and to a lesser extent in. However, this juncture would be rapidly embraced by radicals as an opportunity to proclaim independence from Spain in 1811 under the argument that they would not bow to an illegitimate French King. El caudillismo en Amrica Latina, ayer y hoy. Prof. Arkenberg has modernized the text. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, vol. It is unlikely that any liberal concessions from Spain would have changed his mind, but the fact that these concessions were very incomplete, and that they were ultimately abolished by Ferdinand VII, sealed in his mind the question regarding the break with Spain. The Bourbons had a clear mercantilist economic program: the Indies were to be ruled only for the benefit of the mother country, Spain (Annino 2015). Would it not be most difficult to apply to Spain the English system of political, civil, and religious liberty: Hence, it would be even more difficult to adapt to Venezuela the laws of North America. Bolivar was fully aware that whoever takes on the responsibility of demolishing an ancient order, must also immediately come up with ideas for a new one. Proyecto de Constitucion para la Republica de Bolivia y discurso del Libertador al Congreso Constituyente de Bolivia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ncr.2003.0004. He was proud, and his words show it. Castro, P. 2007. 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