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. This logic is very hard to follow. Repeated elections are essential in popular systems, for nothing is so dangerous as to allow power to remain a long time vested in one citizen; the people become accustomed to obey, and he to command, and this gives rise to usurpation and tyranny (Bolivar 1819). Leiva, L. 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. This argument is hard to follow. Lpez, J and Lopez, J. Throughout his lifetime, Bolivar was concerned with public morality, and perhaps his most quoted words by Colombian and Venezuelan schoolchildren, come from the Angostura Address: Morals and knowledge are what we most need now (Bolivar 1819). 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. Discussion Questions; Further Readings; Honduras: A Country and a Coup Mindlessly appropriating the constitutions of other nations, he argued, would lead to Gran Colombias demise. A strongly rooted force can only correct this weakness. See, for example, Madariaga (1951) and Carrera Damas (2003). Bolivar insists that, in monarchies, the executive power becomes too powerful, as it enjoys too many advantages. 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. He ardently defended freedoms, yet he believed that South American nations were not fully prepared for liberal systems. 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). Bolivar, S. 1821. The Congress ultimately decided not to pursue two of Bolivars most controversial proposals in the Angostura Address: a moral power, and a hereditary senate. This is an understandable and legitimate point. The Spanish Crown would no longer trust local administrators. 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). Download date: August 25th, 2018. He liked to describe himself as the man of difficulties. He was a high-spirited revolutionary, but he understood the dangers of uncontrolled rage and racial vengeance. Indeed, Bolivars stance on the moral power coheres well with his authoritarian leanings. . Yet, in 1999, Venezuelas constituents did uphold Bolivars original proposal, in a new Constitution. Did not the Roman Empire conquer the world? 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). This emphasis on militarism cohered well with his autocratic inclination. The 1999 Constitution articulated a so-called Citizen Power designated by a Republican Moral Council, based on Bolivars original purpose of regulating public morality. 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. A big point of contention between Enlightenment thinkers and their Counter-Enlightenment foes, was about universalism. 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. Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt6wrcf5. The Jamaica Letter is mostly about Bolivars attempt to justify his struggle for American independence. 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 by Bolvar, Simn, 1783-1830 Needless to say, Bolivar hoped to become precisely a perpetual figurehead in the politics of the region and went to describe the role as follows: The President of the Republic comes to be in our Constitution, as the Sun that, firm in the center, gives life to the Universe. 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. 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. How, exactly, does the potential for abuse in a monarchy justify the expansion of executive power in a republic? For, of all Enlightenment thinkers, Rousseau is typically considered to be somewhat of an outsider, even a pioneer of the Counter-Enlightenment. Under the flags of freedom: slave soldiers and the wars of independence in Spanish South America. Yet, despite his obvious ambitions, in 1819 Bolivar still wanted to appear as to be reluctant to become a perpetual dictator. The Angostura Address: Cultural identity, ethnic relations Although never formally educated in universities, Bolivar was a self-taught man and had at least two illustrious tutors who were the arguably the leading intellectuals of the region at the time; Simon Rodriguez and Andres Bello. As with any leader who faces the dichotomy between utopias and realities, Bolivar had some profound ideological transformations throughout his political and military career. How does an aristocratic principle, such as hereditary privilege, motivate sharing the peoples interests, opinions and spirit? 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 . The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. They went from being controlled by oversea nations to being independent nations. He had some clear political motivations in doing this, (i.e., as an argument to reject federalism and favor stronger governments leaning towards authoritarianism). Despite this, it was still an important event as Bolivar would communicate the basis of his political doctrine. Bolivars authoritarian turn came later in his political career, well after independence was sealed. Despite not controlling Venezuela, Bolivar called for a Second Congress of Venezuela (the first one had been called in 1811 in Caracas, to declare independence), to assemble in Angostura. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, 1. Simon Bolivar and the spectre of pardocracia: Jose Padilla in post-independence Cartagena. Journal of Latin American Studies, 35(3): 447471. After he assumed full dictatorial powers in 1828, Bolivar severely limited various basic liberties, appealing to reasons of public morality. One of the most significant transformations was his approach to the position of a President for Life. years prior to the Congress of Angostura. 2018 Freedom of Speech Index. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 47 (1): 7482. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade, G., & Lugo-Ocando, J. 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. Reprint ed., Washington, D.C.: Press of B. S. Adams, 1919. Caracas: Alfa. 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 . Despite their genuine admiration for Bolivar, constituents understood that Bolivars argumentation in favor of hereditary principles of political power was very weak (not to say confusing), and that an institution imitating the British House of Lords would be nothing but a setback to old aristocratic times. Napoleon, whose reign as Emperor was. 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. 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). Again the Angostura Address of 1819 clearly shows a Bolivar who was already very concerned with the chaotic potential of an independent South America. You may begin your work. Some nostalgic defenders of the Spanish Empire in Latin American countries claim that the Indies were not colonies at all. 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). 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? . 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). . His praise for division of powers was also only half-hearted. Caracas: Monte Avila Editores. Bolivar was decidedly on the abolitionist side, and this speaks very well of his moral character. Although those people [North Americans], so lacking in many respects, are unique in the history of mankind, it is a marvel, I repeat, that so weak and complicated a government as the federal system has managed to govern them in the difficult and trying circumstances of their past. Bushnell, D. 2003. Maistre, J. In the South American revolutions, there were men of action (Paez, Sucre, etc.) The Cortes, assembled in Cadiz during Napoleons invasion of Spain, redacted a very liberal Constitution by the standards of the time. 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. His "Angostura Address of 1819" is much more than just a regular speech that any politician would make throughout the course of their career. That is the goal of this article. He makes his first point very quickly in the first sentence, "We are not Europeans.Americans by birth and Europeans by law." Liberty has been its cradle, it has grown up in liberty, and it is maintained by pure liberty. However, it would be a mistake to think that it was only after the independence that he became aware of this. Caracas: Alfa. Washington. 1974. It would be even more difficult for the laws of North America to be adopted in Venezuela. () Legislators! Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. This may not seem groundbreaking today, but in 1819, it was. In imitation of the British House of Lords, Bolivar proposed a hereditary Senate. Angostura bitters, a flavoring. 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. Yet, it is very revealing that, in this and other passages, he has a predilection for Rousseau. Caballero, M. 2006. 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. Las Indias no eran colonias. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. 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). Sparta, of course, is the emblem of militarism in Western imagination. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. It enjoys all its proper functions, and it requires no essential revision, because the Constitution, in creating it, gave it the form and powers which the people deemed necessary in order that they might be legally and properly represented. The creation of a hereditary senate would in no way be a violation of political equality. 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. 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. Furthermore, by 1814, Napoleons troops retreated from Spain, and Ferdinand VII returned to power. The authors have no competing interests to declare. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X03006849. The Enlightenment proclaimed the equality of all human beings, on account that we all share a common nature that makes human rights universal. 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. 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. The first is very wisely constituted. 2004. 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. Retrieved from: http://www.archivodellibertador.gob.ve/escritos/buscador/spip.php?article9987. However, given that the rest of Venezuela was still controlled by Spanish authorities, only a few provinces could send delegates. Yet, Bolivar (very much as Unamuno would do almost a century later), embraced Spains African identity. Bolivar makes a sophistic gap that leaves careful readers perplexed. Introduction to Political Thought. from the original Spanish by Francisco Javier Ynes) by Bolvar, Simn, 1783-1830; Ynes, Francisco Javier, 1861-1924; Venezuela . 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. Again, Bolivar never answers. 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. 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