Simn Bolvar, "An Address of Bolvar at the Congress of Angostura (February 15, 1819)" Background As a young man, Simn Bolvar (1783-1830), who would become known as "El Libertador" ("The Liberator") in Latin America, spent a few years in Europe. Download date: August 25th, 2018. of History, Cal. Who can resist the lure of a beneficent government which employs an able, active and powerful hand to direct all its efforts at all times towards social perfection, which ought to be the end of all human institutions? (Bolivar 1819). This question becomes even more important as it was central to the separatist movement against the Great Colombia that finally overthrew him and led to his exile and ultimate death in solitude. 3(1): 2553. One common colonialist trope in the 19th Century was the concept of Oriental despotism (Wittfogel, 1953), popularized by Hegel and Hegelians especially Karl Marx himself. Framing Pan-Americanism: Simn Bolvars Findings. CR: The New Centennial Review. The first is very wisely constituted. The first time he mentions freedom he says, "Americans by birth and Europeans by law, we find ourselves engaged in a dual conflict: we are disputing with the natives for titles of ownership, and at the same time we are struggling to maintain ourselves in the country that . This bring us to one of our key questions: Had Bolivar already planned to be a perpetual dictator by 1819 and was the Angostura Address paying mere lip service to the principle of alterability in power? Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. Again, contemporary anti-colonialists may find much of value in Bolivars words. 80: Communist Interference in El Salvador, and Response to Stories Published in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, U.S. Department of State and Alexander Haig (1981), Document #12: Testimonies of Guatemalan Women, Luz Alicia Herrera (1980), Chapter 5. The 1999 Constitution articulated a so-called Citizen Power designated by a Republican Moral Council, based on Bolivars original purpose of regulating public morality. Las Indias no eran colonias. Reprint ed., Washington, D.C.: Press of B. S. Adams, 1919. Under the flags of freedom: slave soldiers and the wars of independence in Spanish South America. My sword, and the swords of my illustrious comrades-in-arms, will protect its solemn authority. There was no exact distribution of power there. Poltica y cultura, 27: 929. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 47(1), pp.7482. . Bolivar, a man of the Enlightenment himself, continued this trope, by presenting the Turks, Persians and Chinese, as despotic peoples. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. Angostura bark, a spice made from the bark of the tree Angostura trifoliata. 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). New York: McMillan. The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. Yet, astonishingly, Ferdinand abolished the 1812 Constitution, and imposed a new absolutist regime that, once again, contemplated the American territories as colonies. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, vol. Predictably, very much as Bolivar did in 1828, watching over public morality in the Bolivarian Revolution became despotic in itself, and many of Venezuelas basic freedoms (but most especially freedom of speech; Venezuela currently occupies number 143, as indexed by Reporters Without Borders (2018)) have deteriorated over the last 18 years. However, it would be a mistake to think that it was only after the independence that he became aware of this. Bolivar makes a sophistic gap that leaves careful readers perplexed. Bolivar did not elaborate much on what this moral power would do exactly, but he seemed to have in mind a governing body akin to Roman censors, whose basic function was to regulate public morality (Leiva 1985). Simon Bolivar's message to the Congress of Agostura is explaining that the people of Venezuela should be free and not be ruled over by someon thousands of miles of way. 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. Indeed, despite his strong criticisms of Spanish imperialism he seemed to acknowledge that Spanish rule offered an important degree of stability and unity while independence could bring instead disunity and possible chaos amongst the emerging nations: The separation of America from the Spanish Monarchy resembles the state of the Roman Empire, when that enormous structure fell to pieces in the midst of the ancient world (Bolivar 1819). Almost immediately, Bolivar had to confront a revolt lead by Juan Domingo de Monteverde y Rivas (17731832) and Jos Toms Boves (17821814), who lured black slaves, mulatos and indigenous people to swore allegiance to the legitimate Spanish King who by then had been re-stated to the Crown. comments powered by The ruling bureaucracy of Oriental despotism: A phenomenon that paralyzed Marx. The Review of Politics, 15(3): 350359. Again, Bolivar was certainly a big critic of Spanish imperialism, but he did not seem to mind other empires. . Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Our weak and feeble fellow citizens will have to increase in strength of mind in a very great degree, before they can be permitted to digest freedoms wholesome food (Bolivar 1819). Carlos Marx y Simn Bolvar: Apunte sobre el liderazgo autoritario en un movimiento de liberacin nacional. Desarrollo Econmico, 8(30/31): 293311. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade G and Lugo-Ocando J, The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading (2018) 47 Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 74 DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade, Gabriel, and Jairo Lugo-Ocando. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. Bolivar was very eloquent in denouncing the vices of Spanish imperialism in his vociferous anti-colonial stand. Mexico: The Taming of a Revolution, Travels and Adventures, William Carpenter (1851), A Mexican Journey, E.H. Blichfeldt (1912), Document #3: President Diaz: Hero of the Americas, James Creelman (1908), Document #4: Plan de San Luis de Potos, Francisco Madero (1910), Document #5: Program of the Liberal Party, Ricardo Flores Magn (1911), Document #6: Plan de Ayala, Emiliano Zapata (1911), Document #7: Speech to the Nation, Lzaro Crdenas (1938), Document #8: First Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle, Today We Say Enough is Enough! (Ya Basta! But then, mysteriously, Bolivar argues that those very advantages are a good reason why a republican president should be endowed with greater power than a constitutional prince (Bolivar 1819). A political upheaval that took place between 1765 ad 1783 during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy, overthrew the authority of Great Britain, and founded the United States of America. Therefore, let the entire system of government be strengthened, and let the balance of power be drawn up in such a manner that it will be permanent and incapable of decay because of its own tenuity. 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. Caracas: Alfa. Similar attempts to debunk myth from reality have not been able to play out in the ways that these efforts were originally intended such as the 2015s 200-year commemoration of Bolivars Jamaica Letter. In this regard, despite his flaws, he is to be considered one the great men of South American history. ), The Works of Joseph de Maistre. 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. Nothing in our fundamental laws would have to be altered were we to adopt a legislative power similar to that held by the British Parliament. Americans by birth and Europeans by law, we find ourselves engaged in a dual conflict: we are disputing with the natives for titles of ownership, and at the same time we are struggling to maintain ourselves in the country that gave us birth against the opposition of the invaders. Download date: August 25th, 2018. In the Angostura Address, Bolivar tries to define Venezuelan national identity, more negatively than positively as he seemed clearer about what Venezuelans were not than what Venezuelans were: We are not Europeans, we are not Indians, but a middle race between the indigenous peoples and the Spaniards (Bolivar 1819). The creation of a hereditary senate would in no way be a violation of political equality. Do we not read in Montesquieus Spirit of the Laws that laws should be suited to the people making them, and that it is extremely unlikely that the laws of our nation will suit another? (Bolivar 1819). Indeed, Bolivars stance on the moral power coheres well with his authoritarian leanings. 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). 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. As early as 1805 (when he made his famous oath of American independence in Romes Monte Sacro), he was already determined to fight for American independence. 1999. 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). 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