Carta a Francisco de Paula Santander. Give Venezuela such an executive power in the person of a president chosen by the people or their representatives, and you will have taken a great step toward national happiness. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade, G., & Lugo-Ocando, J. In China they do not send for their mandarins, military, and literati to the country of Genghis Khan, who conquered them, even though the present race of Chinese are direct descendants of the tribes subjugated by the ancestors of the present Tartars. Unlike other far more questionable Venezuelan caudillos of the latter 19th Century (such as Ezequiel Zamora), who freed their slaves only after having been financially compensated, Bolivar genuinely freed his own slaves without any compensation. From: Simn Bolvar, An Address of Bolivar at the Congress of Angostura (February 15, 1819), Reprint Ed., (Washington, D.C.: Press of B. S. Adams, 1919), passim. ), The Works of Joseph de Maistre. 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. Bolivar, S. 1821. State Fullerton. Americans and the French, Bolvar led the. In 2010, in the backdrop of a wave of left-wing, populists and nationalists governments that have been swept into power in what some refer to as the Pink Tide (Chodor 2014), many Latin American countries (most notably Venezuela, Peru and Argentina) held massive celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the beginning of independence from Spain. El culto a Bolivar: Esbozo para un estudio de la historia de las ideas en Venezuela. You may begin your work. Death and Money in the Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight. . The whole purpose of the Angostura Congress was precisely for Bolivar to renounce power as dictator and give it back to the constituency. "An assembly of tried and illustrious men, the Congress of Angostura, responded to the important requirements of the revolution, and when it gave birth to . . 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. 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. 2018;47(1):7482. Unfortunately, again, Bolivars reasoning is very confusing; as every critic of the House of Lords or any other hereditary office reminds us, such an institution is precisely the foundation for a nobility. The executive is commander in chief of the army and navy; he makes peace and declares war; but Parliament annually determines what sums are to be paid to these military forces. Chodor, T. 2014. Bolivars stand on the abolition of monarchy, however, is more problematic. ), but few embodied both military and intellectual talents. 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. 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. God save Congress! (Bolivar 1819). The infamous slogan, se acata pero no se cunple (laws are obeyed, but not enforced), became a common standard of criollo administration. 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. We are controlled by a system which deprives us of the rights to which we are entitled, and leaves us in a sort of permanent infancy with respect to public affairs (Bolivar 1819). 7482. Yet, in 1999, Venezuelas constituents did uphold Bolivars original proposal, in a new Constitution. At least theoretically, this would ensure that criollos would no longer be second class citizens. Caballero, M. 2006. Summary of H.R.541 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): BALE Act of 2023 He also publicly proclaimed the emancipation of slaves in Carupano, in 1816. This emphasis on militarism cohered well with his autocratic inclination. Argentina: Progress, Stalemate, Discord, Understanding Argentinas Dirty War Through Memoir, The Challenge of Burying the Ley de Caducidad in Uruguay, The Spanish-American Republics, Theodore Child (1891), Document #24: What is Peronism? by Juan Domingo Pern (1948) || The Twenty Truths of the Pernist Justicialism, Juan Domingo Pern (1950), Document #25: Statement by the military upon taking power (1976), Document #26: Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Adolfo Prez Esquivel (1980), Document #27: Speech at a Dinner with the Council of Americas in New York, Nstor Kirchner (2006), Chapter 10. Said, E. 2006. Admittedly, Bolivar came late to abolitionist ideals. They went from being controlled by oversea nations to being independent nations. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. 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. On the contrary, aristocracy and monarchy have long established great and powerful empires. What government is more ancient than that of China? One of the most significant transformations was his approach to the position of a President for Life. His success, however, would again be short-lived, as in 1830 Gran Colombia ruptured into its three original constituent countries, and Bolivar would have to march into exile and died on his way in in the city of Santa Marta, before he could make it to Europe. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 47(1), 7482. (2018). 1Despite the prominent hero-worship of Bolivar, there have been scholarly works critical of his deeds. He was proud, and his words show it. However, a very strong point of contention in the Cadiz Cortes, was the demographic balance in the representation of deputies. In the South American revolutions, there were men of action (Paez, Sucre, etc.) Yale University Press. Ciudad Bolvar (Spanish pronunciation: [sjua olia]; Spanish for "Bolivar City"), formerly known as Angostura and St. Thomas de Guyana, is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolvar State.It lies at the spot where the Orinoco River narrows to about 1 mile (1.6 km) in width, is the site of the first bridge across the river, and is a major riverport for the eastern regions of . Carrera Damas, G. 2003. Bolivar spoke, expressing his ideas regarding freedom. Bolivars political program, as laid out in the Angostura Address, is straightforward. 2018 Freedom of Speech Index. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226016191.001.0001. . At the opening session, held at the Orinoco River port of Angostura (today Ciudad Bolvar), on 15 February 1819, Bolvar delivered a major address in which he warned against imitation of Anglo-American institutions and called for a new constitution featuring a hereditary Senate and a "moral power" with special responsibility for education and Timeline for Mexico: 1519-Present; Mexican Heads of State; Mexican Profiles and Personalities; Moments and Events in Mexico. Bolivar, S. 1826. The address is presented in Spanish with a short editorial introduction in English. The opportunity came in 1808 when Napoleon invaded Spain, and the Caracas junta which became the facto government- rejected Spanish authority in Seville in 1810, and reaffirmed its allegiance to Ferdinand VII, who was imprisoned by Napoleon. 1. Unfortunately, the Bolivar-hero cult rampant in Venezuela and Colombia (and to a lesser extent in. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade G, Lugo-Ocando J. Be as it may, however, the Constitution of Bolivia of 1826 proved to be his outdoing. In this regard, Bolivar very much anticipates Tocquevilles analysis in Democracy in America. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press. To a certain extent, this implied moving away from its African roots, and some authors made it explicit that, in order to be more civilized, Spain should be less African (Shubert 1999: 2). Download date: August 25th, 2018. Sparta, of course, is the emblem of militarism in Western imagination. 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. Bolivar was not really greatly concerned with these events in Spain. Again, contemporary anti-colonialists may find much of value in Bolivars words. Nevertheless, his main concern was not so much with absolutism itself, but rather, with the exclusion of criollos in the administration of the Spanish Empire. Bolivar, typical of his rhetorical style, concluded the Angostura Address with these words: Gentlemen! 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. 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). 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. The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. The Viceroyalty of New Granadawhich included present-day Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and parts of Ecuadorachieved independence from the Spanish Empire in a slow and uneven process. Wittfogel, K. 1953. 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. The Angostura Address, by contrast, is far more about Bolivars actual political proposals in thinking about what lies ahead for Spanish America after independence. But, regardless of the effectiveness of this form of government with respect to North America, I must say that it has never for a moment entered my mind to compare the position and character of two states as dissimilar as the English-American and the Spanish-American. In most cases, these celebrations served the political purpose of legitimating the parties in power that organized the festivities and appropriating nationalists sentiments that could help boost popular support. 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. 2018;47(1):74-82. But there is more. All should not be left to chance and the outcome of elections. This logic is very hard to follow. Mexico: The Taming of a Revolution. Bolvar had the objective of emerging a plan of governance as he lays out his understanding of the independence movement and his belief on how the future of Latin American nations should be legally structured. He prepared weeks in advance the speech delivered on February 15th, 2019, to delegates of the Congress. To fully grasp the most brilliant thought of the time, some basic context is required. But, in the Angostura Address, he clearly mistrusts democracy, as it seems to cripple the strength of a nation: But what democratic government was ever able to unite power, prosperity and permanency at the same time? Not surprisingly, this quote (and Rousseaus political philosophy as a whole) has historically risen some eyebrows, as it seems to sympathize with authoritarian regimes, ironically all in the name of liberty itself. Lynch, J. Even Benito Mussolini was an admirer of Bolivar (Caballero 2006: 72). As with any leader who faces the dichotomy between utopias and realities, Bolivar had some profound ideological transformations throughout his political and military career. 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. Thanks to these achievements he would then be invited by the Peruvian authorities to organize the military campaign against the remaining Spanish and loyalist forces in Peru and Upper Peru (modern-day Bolivia), thus completing the final defeat of the Spanish Empire in South America. 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. 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. http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/267/26702702.pdf. 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. Pablo Morillo and Venezuela, 18151820. He first settled in Jamaica, and then in Haiti. Slavery is the daughter of darkness: an ignorant people is a blind instrument of its own destruction. The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. This is an understandable and legitimate point. The wording is unmistakably reminiscent of Benthams philosophy, and indeed, the English philosopher was a major influence on Bolivars political thinking. How is everything conspiring against the executive power in a republic? Edinburgh University Press. 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. 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. Inspired by the revolutions of both the. 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). After he assumed full dictatorial powers in 1828, Bolivar severely limited various basic liberties, appealing to reasons of public morality. 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). Madrid: Planeta. He believes that The most perfect system of government is that which produces the greatest degree of happiness, of social security, and political stability (Bolivar 1819). We all owe it our obedience and loyalty. Bolivar was deeply influenced by the Enlightenment thinkers. In the Angostura Address, Bolivar engages in some confusing argumentation trying to justify the concentration of power in the executive branch of government: In a republic, the executive ought to be the strongest, because everything conspires against it; and on the other hand in a monarchy the legislative ought to be the most powerful, as everything unites in favor of the sovereign (Bolivar 1819). Las Indias no eran colonias. His "Angostura Address of 1819" is much more than just a regular speech that any politician would make throughout the course of their career. Bushnell, D. 2003. While the courts and judges are dependent on the executive power, the laws originate in and are made by Parliament. 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. Levene, R. 1951. 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address at the congress of angostura summary