There can be multiple answers to this question: These sources both signify a change in attitude with the people of each nation. No matter what citizen occupies this office, he will be aided by the Constitution, and therein being authorized to do good, he can do no harm, because his ministers will cooperate with him only insofar as he abides by the law. 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. Of course, it would be fallacious to accuse Bolivar of being authoritarian, just because he had authoritarian sympathizers. Introduction to Political Thought. When it came to liberty, Rousseau himself had some qualms about how truly liberal a State should be, to the point that he claimed in an oft-quoted phrase from The Social Contract, that subjects should be forced to be free (Roberts 2012: 117). 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. As with any leader who faces the dichotomy between utopias and realities, Bolivar had some profound ideological transformations throughout his political and military career. In order to achieve this political goal, Bolivar proposes conventional republican institutions: Venezuelas government has always been republican, it is republican, and it should always remain so. 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? You may begin your work. 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. The governments, however, of those nations, were either aristocratic or monarchical (Bolivar 1819). 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. This may not seem groundbreaking today, but in 1819, it was. of History, Cal. Napoleon, whose reign as Emperor was. By 1812, liberals in Spain understood that, if the Empire were to survive, some further reforms were required. Like the North Americans, we have divided national representation into two chambers: that of Representatives and the Senate. All three sources reveal patriotic feelings and attitudes towards their own countries. Yet, in 1999, Venezuelas constituents did uphold Bolivars original proposal, in a new Constitution. Mindlessly appropriating the constitutions of other nations, he argued, would lead to Gran Colombias demise. Bolivar, typical of his rhetorical style, concluded the Angostura Address with these words: Gentlemen! Furthermore, by 1814, Napoleons troops retreated from Spain, and Ferdinand VII returned to power. From there he would go to occupy modern-day Ecuador and unite the current territories of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela into a single political entity; it was known as the Gran Colombia, with Bogota as its capital. However, as we will argue in this paper, it is precisely due to the nationalist distortions that are likely to occur around the nature and context of the Angostura delivery that calls for a more critical reading of the document. 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. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 47, no. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade, Gand J Lugo-Ocando. Bolivar was very eloquent in denouncing the vices of Spanish imperialism in his vociferous anti-colonial stand. The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. Levene, R. 1951. Its culminating piece of legislation was the Venezuelan Constitution of 1819, officially adopted on August 15, but quickly made obsolete by the creation of the Republic of Colombia on December 17, 1819. Washington. The hereditary senate will also serve as a counterweight to both government and people; and as a neutral power it will weaken the mutual attacks of these two eternally rival powers. Bolivar, S. 1826. 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. La Gran Colombia: una ilusin ilustrada. I will add that that people is unique in the history of the human race, and repeat that it is a miracle that a system as weak and complicated as the federal should have existed under so difficult and delicate circumstances as those which have occurred (Bolivar 1819). Under Jose de Galvezs (17201787) recommendation (after an administrative visit to the Indies), posts high in the military and civil hierarchy (including ecclesiastical appointments) ruling American affairs, would no longer be occupied by people born in Spanish America, but rather, by administrators born in Spain, i.e., the peninsulares. Unlike Jose de San Martin (who explicitly desired a Constitutional Monarchy for emerging South American nations), he constantly paid lip service to the toppling of monarchs. 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. 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. Dynamics of Political Transformation, Supplement: Comparative Historical Analysis, Moments and Events of Political Transformation, The Historical and Contemporary Role of Women in Ecuadorian Society, Brazilian Sambas Translation and Dialogue with International Dancesport, Dominican Republic Latin America at the Movies, El Salvador Latin America at the Movies, Chapter 15. These leaders assumed the role of dictators while rhetorically expressing their reluctance to do so. Furthermore, in order to avoid competition with the mother country, the Bourbon reforms prohibited the production of certain goods in the Indies. Silencios y disputas en la historia de Hispanoamerica. Helg, A. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2515360. Discussion Questions; Further Readings; Honduras: A Country and a Coup Although there were many reasons for Bolivars disputes with Francisco de Paula Santander (17921840) and other conspirators in Bogota, it was by far the ambition of becoming President for Life that turned out to be the most crucial amongst his opponents. Caballero, M. 2006. 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. His choice of admiration for an ancient Greek city, reveals his militaristic tendency in the Angostura Address: The Republic of Sparta produced more real effects than Solons ingenious creation, even though it seemed a chimerical invention at first. He appeals to the idea of a modern state of equality by claiming that "slavery is the daughter of darkness: an ignorant people is a blind instrument of its own destruction" (Boli var). Be as it may, however, the Constitution of Bolivia of 1826 proved to be his outdoing. Yet, it is very revealing that, in this and other passages, he has a predilection for Rousseau. In the South American revolutions, there were men of action (Paez, Sucre, etc.) Comercio libre meant that various Spanish ports could trade with the Indies; however, the Indies could not trade with any other country. He was moved towards abolitionism by Haitian President Alexandre Petion, who offered him military support in exchange of the attempt to abolish slavery from liberated territories. 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! Carta de Bolivar al General Juan Jose Flores. Simon Bolivar was one of the liberators in the time of the revolution in the northern part of South America. 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). Admittedly, Bolivar came late to abolitionist ideals. 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. Caracas: Alfa. 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. I do not solicit the establishment of a nobility, for as a celebrated republican has said, that would simultaneously destroy equality and liberty. from the original Spanish by Francisco Javier Ynes) by Bolvar, Simn, 1783-1830; Ynes, Francisco Javier, 1861-1924; Venezuela . The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. Download date: August 25th, 2018. Blanchard, P. 2008. But, this second Venezuelan Republic would also prove to be short-lived. 3(1): 2553. Simon Bolivar and the spectre of pardocracia: Jose Padilla in post-independence Cartagena. Journal of Latin American Studies, 35(3): 447471. There was no exact distribution of power there. 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 . Considerations on France. But, even in the Angostura Address itself, Bolivar seemed to be very enthusiastic about strong governments with little distribution of power, as this passage makes clear: The Roman Constitution brought about the greatest power and fortune that any people on earth have enjoyed. He first settled in Jamaica, and then in Haiti. 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). On February 15, 1819, The Liberator entered the Government Palace of Angostura along with Rafael Urdaneta, Toms Montilla and By this I mean that the result will be the death of the government, whose heirs are anarchy, usurpation, and tyranny . Retrieved from: https://www.ensayistas.org/antologia/XIXA/bolivar/bolivia.htm. Europeans still perceived Spain more as an African country, as in Alexandre Dumas (himself of African descent) apocryphal observation: Africa begins at the Pyrenees (Altaschul 2012: 11), and Enlightened Spaniards tried hard to overcome that. Scanned by J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. He liked to describe himself as the man of difficulties. 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. New York: McMillan. Bolivar was given some military assignments in defending the Venezuelan Republic against loyalists of the Spanish monarchy. 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). In his view, federalism may work in some countries, but not in all. 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. 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. Happy the citizen that under the shield of arms under his command, has convoked National Sovereignty to exercise its absolute will! The Lycurgus legislature produced glory, virtue, morality and therefore national happiness (Bolivar 1819). Mexico: The Taming of a Revolution. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, vol. Carta a Francisco de Paula Santander. 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). However, it would be a mistake to think that it was only after the independence that he became aware of this. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. The ruling bureaucracy of Oriental despotism: A phenomenon that paralyzed Marx. The Review of Politics, 15(3): 350359. 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