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. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, 1. Venezuelans were by no means unanimous in their desire to be independent and consequently a bloody civil war began. After he assumed full dictatorial powers in 1828, Bolivar severely limited various basic liberties, appealing to reasons of public morality. This supreme authority must be perpetual (Bolivar 1819). But, this second Venezuelan Republic would also prove to be short-lived. Bolivar was decidedly on the abolitionist side, and this speaks very well of his moral character. 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. The facts that the year 2019 will mark the 200th anniversary of Bolivars Angostura Address, is perhaps a neat opportunity to correct this and perhaps fill some of the gaps of a story that in the light of the Venezuelas crisis of today has become ever so more relevant in our days. In order to gain Catholic support, he even outlawed the teaching of Benthams philosophy (which he himself had admired for so long), as the English philosophers views were considered too immoral by conservative clergy. 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. By then, Bolivars movement was seen as one that intended to establish a Republic for the white criollos, which explains partly why Boves savagely occupied Valencia and executed so many of the white elite (Stoan 1974). But the key difference is this: the governors of Isfahan are Persians, the viziers of the Great Lord in Turkey are Turks, and the sultans of Tartary are Tartars. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. The British executive power possesses all the authority properly appertaining to a sovereign, but a triple line of dams, barriers, and stockades surrounds him. 1965. ), EZLN Command (1993), Chapter 4. Comercio libre meant that various Spanish ports could trade with the Indies; however, the Indies could not trade with any other country. Again the Angostura Address of 1819 clearly shows a Bolivar who was already very concerned with the chaotic potential of an independent South America. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ncr.2003.0004. Simon Bolvar's 1819 address to the Congress of Angostura took place in Venezuela during the long course of the struggle for independence. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. Simn Bolvar, el culto heroico y la nacin. Hispanic American Historical Review, 107145. 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. "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 . 1, 2018, pp. The Lycurgus legislature produced glory, virtue, morality and therefore national happiness (Bolivar 1819). After some military action in New Grenada (modern-day Colombia), Bolivar returned to Venezuela in 1812 and after a remarkable series of military triumphs he managed to recapture the capital Caracas (Lopez and Lopez 1999). Bushnell, D. 2003. In his view, federalism may work in some countries, but not in all. El culto a Bolivar: Esbozo para un estudio de la historia de las ideas en Venezuela. 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). Yet, astonishingly, Ferdinand abolished the 1812 Constitution, and imposed a new absolutist regime that, once again, contemplated the American territories as colonies. 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. 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. Download date: August 25th, 2018. years prior to the Congress of Angostura. We are not Europeans; we are not Indians; we are but a mixed species of aborigines and Spaniards. But, such celebrations should be devoid of nationalist distortions, and they should be cleansed of the typical hero-worship that has taken place in Latin America for the last 150 years, and has accelerated in Venezuela during the last 20 years. Login has been disabled for this journal while it is transferred to a new platform. Timeline for Mexico: 1519-Present; Mexican Heads of State; Mexican Profiles and Personalities; Moments and Events in Mexico. In political storms this body would arrest the thunderbolts of the government and would repel any violent popular reaction. Las Indias no eran colonias. The Cortes, assembled in Cadiz during Napoleons invasion of Spain, redacted a very liberal Constitution by the standards of the time. (2018). Castro, P. 2007. 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. 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). 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. The Enlightenment did not reach Spain with the same force as it did in France or Great Britain. Predictably, many of these celebrations were carried out without sufficiently critical and objective approach towards historical data. His praise for division of powers was also only half-hearted. They justified themselves by arguing that they were just agents of a greater historical force. There, he In the context of early 19th Century Venezuela, this was a major accomplishment. Death and Money in the Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight. This thesis was put forth by Argentine historian Ricardo Levene (1951), in an influential treatise, Las Indias no eran colonias. Bolivar had much admiration for Montesquieu, but in presenting his proposals for political organization, in the Angostura Address he added a fourth power to the three traditional ones (executive, legislative and judicial); the so-called moral power. The Enlightenment proclaimed the equality of all human beings, on account that we all share a common nature that makes human rights universal. Helg, A. During Habsburg times, a great deal of contraband went on, but with the arrival of the Bourbons, economic regulations were severely tightened and enforced. El proceso ideolgico de la emancipacin en Colombia. The address is presented in Spanish with a short editorial introduction in English. 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. The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. These subordinate officers are entrusted with the civil, military, and political administration, the collection of duties and the protection of religion. Being just 21 years old in 1805 and after losing his wife just years earlier, he went to tour Europe. Introduction to Political Thought. 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. comments powered by He is the head of government, but his ministers and subordinates rely more upon law than upon his authority, as they are personally responsible; and not even decrees of royal authority can exempt them from this responsibility. 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. He makes his first point very quickly in the first sentence, "We are not Europeans.Americans by birth and Europeans by law." The congress of the Republic of Venezuela is installed. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 47 (1): 7482. 1999. The governments, however, of those nations, were either aristocratic or monarchical (Bolivar 1819). Be as it may, however, the Constitution of Bolivia of 1826 proved to be his outdoing. Retrieved from: https://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Carta_de_Bol%C3%ADvar_al_general_Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Flores_(1830). Bolivar was deeply influenced by the Enlightenment thinkers. They also seemed to understand that a moral power could very easily be turned into a censoring body that hastily suppresses individual freedoms. Orientalism. 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! 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. One of the most significant transformations was his approach to the position of a President for Life. 2018. Yet, despite his obvious ambitions, in 1819 Bolivar still wanted to appear as to be reluctant to become a perpetual dictator. Precisely because no form of government is so weak as the democratic, its framework must be firmer, and its institutions must be studied to determine their degree of stability.unless this is done, we will have to reckon with an ungovernable, tumultuous, and anarchic society, not with a social order where happiness, peace, and justice prevail. . Venezuelas First and Second Republic collapsed, in part because they failed to meet the support of pardos and slaves (Blanchard 2008). But, the Bourbons, and especially Charles III, embraced a program of enlightened despotism and absolutism that by 1810, had fully converted the Indies into colonies. Bolivar was certainly the foremost figure that synthetized formal political thought, constitutional doctrine, and revolutionary action. In the South American revolutions, there were men of action (Paez, Sucre, etc.) Across his address, Bolvar 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. On the contrary, aristocracy and monarchy have long established great and powerful empires. Bogota: Random House. Who could resist the admiration and esteem inspired by an intelligent government, which unites at the same moment public and private rights, which forms by general consent the supreme law of individuals? Strategies for Economic Development, Moments and Events in Latin American Economic Development, Document #35: Testimony before Congress on the Goals of NAFTA and Preliminary Evaluation, C. Fred Bergsten (1997), Document #36: NAFTA Equals Death, Say Peasant Farmers, Diego Cevalos (2002), Chapter 13. 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. 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 the midst of the battles for independence, Bolvar summoned a congress in the city of Angostura to reassert New Granadas autonomy and to install a political system that he believed would be capable of sustaining a new republic. Angostura bark, a spice made from the bark of the tree Angostura trifoliata. 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). Scanned by J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. 1 (2018): 7482. 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. La Gran Colombia: una ilusin ilustrada. 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. Bolivar's speaking style reflected the values of his epoch. That Constitution, labeled the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, written under the auspices of Hugo Chavez and the self-proclaimed Bolivarian Revolution, went to great lengths in attempting to imitate Bolivarian thinking in every aspect of political organization. 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. Thus our position is most extraordinary and complicated. Although Bolivar admired British imperialism more for its liberal ethos than for its military might (as opposed to the despotism of Spain), he was still a man of arms, and imbued his political ideas with militarism. On February 15, 1819, The Liberator entered the Government Palace of Angostura along with Rafael Urdaneta, Toms Montilla and 2003. 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. Madrid: Espasa Calpe. 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. Bolvar personally witnessed the rise of. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, vol. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade G, Lugo-Ocando J. As he explains it in the Angostura Address: In absolute governments there are no limits to the authority of public functionaries. During Simon Bolivar's address at the Congress of Angostura, in 1819, he argued for the freedom of the people of Latin America. Government and would repel any violent popular reaction that synthetized formal political thought, doctrine! To understand that a moral power could very easily be turned into a censoring body that suppresses. 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