Government posts were bought and sold, thus being filled by grossly incompetent administrators. It is certainly the case that, during Habsburg times (the dynasty before the arrival of the Bourbons), the Indies were not colonies in the modern sense. Bolivar, S. 1826. Bolivar makes a sophistic gap that leaves careful readers perplexed. Venezuelans were by no means unanimous in their desire to be independent and consequently a bloody civil war began. Most of the figures of the Spanish Enlightenment became afrancesados, thinkers who believe Spain should embrace French customs. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt6wrcf5. Lynch, J. Bolivars political program, as laid out in the Angostura Address, is straightforward. A big point of contention between Enlightenment thinkers and their Counter-Enlightenment foes, was about universalism. Pablo Morillo and Venezuela, 18151820. The congress of the Republic of Venezuela is installed. Indeed, in the 18th Century, a series of reforms began to be undertaken by the new Spanish ruling dynasty, the Bourbons. The address is presented in Spanish with a short editorial introduction in English. Death and Money in the Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight. 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. Angostura bitters, a flavoring. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. The Enlightenment proclaimed the equality of all human beings, on account that we all share a common nature that makes human rights universal. 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. Bolivar was decidedly on the abolitionist side, and this speaks very well of his moral character. Thus, the Angostura Address is plentiful with passages such as these: Sir! There, he In the Angostura Address, Bolivar, typical in his style, praises North American society over and over again: Our legislators were influenced by the provincials, and were carried away by the dazzling appearance of North Americas happiness, thinking that the blessings she enjoyed were owed exclusively to the form of government, and not to the character of the people (Bolivar 1819). Across his address, Bolvar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226016191.001.0001. 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 stabilityunless 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. El caudillismo en Amrica Latina, ayer y hoy. Congress of Angostura, an 1819-1821 legislative body of Gran Colombia. This is not to say that Bolivars relationship to people of African descent was totally harmonious. Delhi: Penguin Books. 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. Stoan, SK. New York: McMillan. Retreived from: https://rsf.org/en/ranking. 1Despite the prominent hero-worship of Bolivar, there have been scholarly works critical of his deeds. And it is for this very reason that Bolivar believes that federalism works in North America, but it would never work in South America. Former colonial powers may be admired in many regards, but that does not imply that there is exclusively one single path to progress that must be followed by all nations on Earth. Bolivar, S. 1821. However, given that the rest of Venezuela was still controlled by Spanish authorities, only a few provinces could send delegates. As it was the educational custom of his times, Bolivar was deeply embedded in the Classics, emulating the spirited rhetoric of Cicero and other great orators of Greece and Rome. 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. Angostura, 1819" Main Point Summary/Background: Simn Bolvar's "Message to the Congress of Angostura, 1819" is more than the opening speech of a statesman to a constituent assembly; it is a voice that embodied realities of a new revolutionary society in Latin America. Carlos Marx y Simn Bolvar: Apunte sobre el liderazgo autoritario en un movimiento de liberacin nacional. Desarrollo Econmico, 8(30/31): 293311. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. 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). This is an understandable and legitimate point. The Congress ultimately decided not to pursue two of Bolivars most controversial proposals in the Angostura Address: a moral power, and a hereditary senate. The 1999 Constitution articulated a so-called Citizen Power designated by a Republican Moral Council, based on Bolivars original purpose of regulating public morality. As he explains it in the Angostura Address: In absolute governments there are no limits to the authority of public functionaries. hold on the North American continent five. A republican magistrate is an individual set apart from society, charged with checking the impulse of the people toward license and the propensity of judges and administrators toward abuse of the laws. http://www.redalyc.org/pdf/267/26702702.pdf. 2018 Freedom of Speech Index. The first is very wisely constituted. 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. The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. Independence would, nevertheless, prove to be no easy task. Bolivar spoke, expressing his ideas regarding freedom. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X03006849. If the Senate were hereditary rather than elective, it would, in my opinion, be the basis, the tie, the very soul of our republic. 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. Levenes thesis proposes that the Indies were actually kingdoms with the same legal standing as kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula; the implication is that Bolivars struggle for independence was unjustified. How does an aristocratic principle, such as hereditary privilege, motivate sharing the peoples interests, opinions and spirit? The ruling bureaucracy of Oriental despotism: A phenomenon that paralyzed Marx. The Review of Politics, 15(3): 350359. Disqus. Proyecto de Constitucion para la Republica de Bolivia y discurso del Libertador al Congreso Constituyente de Bolivia. Some nostalgic defenders of the Spanish Empire in Latin American countries claim that the Indies were not colonies at all. Yet, at the same time, Bolivar seems to reproduce some old colonialist tropes, according to which Anglo-Saxon peoples are more virtuous. Bolvar personally witnessed the rise of. After he assumed full dictatorial powers in 1828, Bolivar severely limited various basic liberties, appealing to reasons of public morality. The Jamaica Letter is mostly about Bolivars attempt to justify his struggle for American independence. Mexico: The Taming of a Revolution. Reporters Without Borders. 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. 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. How, exactly, does the potential for abuse in a monarchy justify the expansion of executive power in a republic? I do not solicit the establishment of a nobility, for as a celebrated republican has said, that would simultaneously destroy equality and liberty. They also seemed to understand that a moral power could very easily be turned into a censoring body that hastily suppresses individual freedoms. See, for example, Madariaga (1951) and Carrera Damas (2003). If he attempts to infringe upon the law, his own ministers will desert him, thereby isolating him from the Republic, and they will even bring charges against him in the Senate. This thesis was put forth by Argentine historian Ricardo Levene (1951), in an influential treatise, Las Indias no eran colonias. After Spains humiliating defeat in the Seven Years War, Charles III understood the necessity to cleanse the corrupt and inefficient administration of the Spanish Empire. This supreme authority must be perpetual (Bolivar 1819). 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). DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade, G., & Lugo-Ocando, J. Criollos would know be second-class citizens. Again, contemporary anti-colonialists may find much of value in Bolivars words. Orientalism. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, 1. 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). House of Angostura, a Trinidad and Tobago company manufacturing angostura bitters. Carta a Francisco de Paula Santander. Caballero, M. 2006. Did not the Roman Empire conquer the world? 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. They justified themselves by arguing that they were just agents of a greater historical force. 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. Liberty has been its cradle, it has grown up in liberty, and it is maintained by pure liberty. 2019 should definitely be a year of celebration, for the Angostura Address is a landmark political document. . Bolivar's speaking style reflected the values of his epoch. That is the goal of this article. El culto a Bolivar: Esbozo para un estudio de la historia de las ideas en Venezuela. 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. There are some accounts that suggest instead that Bolivar may have been genuinely concerned with perpetual dictators at first (Harwich 2001). 7482. As complement to the strong executive power, in the Angostura Address Bolivar proposed a legislative power divided in two chambers: Representatives and the Senate. Again, Bolivar never answers. Bolivars political philosophy, as laid out in the Angostura Address and other political writings, also took on these authoritarian leanings. Consuls, senate and people all served also as legislators, magistrates and judges. Armed Trading Weaponry on trade ships. 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. 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). from the original Spanish by Francisco Javier Ynes) by Bolvar, Simn, 1783-1830; Ynes, Francisco Javier, 1861-1924; Venezuela . Contemporary anti-colonialists place much emphasis on the acknowledgement of cultural diversity, and Bolivar certainly took it into account when deciding what the best political path for a nation is. Throughout many of his private writings, Bolivar expressed enormous concerns about pardocracia, the takeover by pardos. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2515360. In political storms this body would arrest the thunderbolts of the government and would repel any violent popular reaction. However, later on, in the Constitution that he wrote for Upper Peru (named Bolivia in his honor) in 1826 and that he attempted to impose on Colombia afterwards, he stipulated the figure of President for Life. This time, he wandered throughout the Caribbean. Roberts, P. 2012. During Habsburg times, a great deal of contraband went on, but with the arrival of the Bourbons, economic regulations were severely tightened and enforced. 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). Columbus: Ohio State University Press. In that Constitution, it was made clear that Spain would have equal citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 47(1), pp.7482. The wording is unmistakably reminiscent of Benthams philosophy, and indeed, the English philosopher was a major influence on Bolivars political thinking. Tocqueville, A. These leaders assumed the role of dictators while rhetorically expressing their reluctance to do so. Caracas: Monte Avila Editores. God save Congress! (Bolivar 1819). Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. Charles III introduced a system of comercio libre, free trade, but the name is very deceptive. Leiva, L. 1985. This style seemed to serve a very specific purpose as by 1819, Bolivar was keen to present himself as a humble citizen that, only reluctantly, takes hold of power, not out of personal ambition, but because of some historical metaphysical necessity. 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. The Bourbon reforms sought to change that, and they succeeded in doing so. State Fullerton. Although some historians still debate this (Damas 1983; Draper 1968) it does not seem to be the case. Predictably, many of these celebrations were carried out without sufficiently critical and objective approach towards historical data. 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. Indeed, he was, but even more so from an intellectual point of view. 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