El Libertador:

Writings of Simn

Bolvar

DAVID BUSHNELL,
Editor

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

E L L I B E R TA D O R
Writings of Simn Bolvar

library of latin america

General Editor
Jean Franco
Series Editor for Brazil
Richard Graham, with the assistance of Alfredo Bosi
Editorial Board
Tulio Halpern Donghi
Ivn Jaksic
Naomi Lindstrom
Eduardo Lozano
Francine Masiello

L O
L A
OXFORD

E L L I B E RTA D O R

Writings of Simn Bolvar

Translated from the Spanish by

Frederick H. Fornoff
Edited With an Introduction and Notes
by David Bushnell

Oxford New York

Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai
Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi
So Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto

Copyright 2003 by Oxford University Press, Inc.

Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.

198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016

http://www.oup.com

Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bolvar, Simn, 17831830.

[Selections. English]

El Libertador : writings of Simn Bolvar/

translated from the Spanish by Frederick H. Fornoff ;

edited with an introduction and notes by David Bushnell.

p. cm. (Library of Latin America)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-19-514481-3 (pbk.) ISBN 0-19-514480-5 (cloth)

1. South AmericaHistoryWars of Independence, 18061830Sources.

2. Latin AmericaHistoryWars of Independence, 18061830Sources.

I. Fornoff, Frederick H. II. Bushnell, David, 1923 III. Title. IV. Series.

F2235.3 .A5 2003

980'.02'092dc21

2002011540

135798642

Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper

Contents

Series Editors General Introduction ix

Chronology of Simn Bolvar xiii

An Overview of the Bolivarian Sources xviii

Translators Note xxiii

Introduction xxvii

I The Major Political Statements

The Cartagena Manifesto: Memorial Addressed to the
Citizens of New Granada by a Citizen from Caracas
( December ) 3
The Jamaica Letter: Response from a South American to a
Gentleman from This Island ( September ) 12
The Angostura Address ( February ) 31
The Bolivian Constitution () 54
i. Address to the Constituent Congress ( May ) 54
ii. Draft of a Constitution for Bolivia 64

Message to the Convention of Ocaa

( February ) 86

vi | Contents

A Glance at Spanish America () 95

Address to the Congreso Admirable: Message to the

Constituent Congress of the Republic of Colombia

( January ) 103

II Lesser Bolivarian Texts

1. Political and Military
Oath Taken in Rome ( August ) 113
Decree of War to the Death ( June ) 115
Manifesto to the Nations of the World
( September ) 117
Manifesto of Carpano ( September ) 126
Manifesto on the Execution of General Manuel Piar
( October ) 130
Declaration of Angostura ( November ) 132
My Delirium on Chimborazo () 135
Letter to Jos Antonio Pez: Nor Am I Napoleon
( March ) 137
A Soldiers Death Penalty Commuted ( January ) 139
Manifesto Justifying the Dictatorship ( August ) 141
Manifesto Concerning the Installation of the Constituent
Congress, the End of the Dictatorship, and Announcing
the End of His Political Career ( January ) 143
Letter to General Juan Jos Flores: Ploughing the Sea
( November ) 145
Final Proclamation of the Liberator
( December ) 150
. International Aairs
Letter to Sir Richard Wellesley: An Appeal for Support
( May ) 153
Letter to Baptis Irvine, Agent of the United States of
America to Venezuela: Debating Neutral Rights
( August ) 156

Contents | vii

Invitation to the Governments of Colombia, Mexico, Ro

de la Plata, Chile, and Guatemala to Hold a Congress in
Panama ( December ) 159
Letter to General Francisco de Paula Santander: The
Brazilian Empire, Upper Peru, North Americans, and
Other Problems ( May ) 162
Thoughts on the Congress to Be Held in Panama () 169
Letter to General Lafayette: On George Washington
( March ) 171
Letter to Colonel Patrick Campbell, British Charg
dAffaires: Plague America with Miseries
( August ) 172
. Social and Economic Aairs
Decree for the Emancipation of the Slaves ( June ) 177
Redistribution of Properties as Compensation for Ocers
and Soldiers ( October ) 179
Letter to General Francisco de Paula Santander: On Slave
Recruitment ( April ) 182
Decrees on Indian Rights, Lands, and Tribute
i. Decree Abolishing Personal Service Imposed on the
Native Peoples: New Statute Governing Their Work
( May ) 184
ii. Proclamation of the Civil Rights of Indians and
Prohibition of Their Exploitation by Officials, Priests,
Local Authorities, and Landowners ( July ) 187
iii. Resolution on the Redistribution of Communal

Lands ( July ) 189

iv. Resolution That Colombian Indians Pay a Tax

Called a Personal Tribute from Indigenous Peoples
( October ) 191
Application of Capital Punishment to Ocials Who Have
Taken Money from Public Funds ( January ) 197
Measures for the Protection and Wise Use of the
Nations Forest Resources: Bolvar As Ecologist
( July ) 199

viii | Contents

. Education and Culture

Method to Be Employed in the Education of My Nephew
Fernando Bolvar (?) 205
Decree on the Installation of Several Normal Schools Based
on the Lancasterian System ( January ) 207
Letters to Jos Joaqun de Olmedo: Critique of the
Victoria de Junn
i. June 209
ii. July 211
Circular on Educational Reform: Bentham Treatises
Banned from All Colombian Universities
( March ) 214
Prohibition of Secret Societies ( November ) 216
Notes 219
Select Bibliography

233

Series Editors

General Introduction

he Library of Latin America series makes available in translation

major nineteenth-century authors whose work has been neglected
in the English-speaking world. The titles for the translations from the
Spanish and Portuguese were suggested by an editorial committee that
included Jean Franco (general editor responsible for works in Spanish),
Richard Graham (series editor responsible for works in Portuguese), Tulio
Halpern Donghi (at the University of California, Berkeley), Ivn Jaksic
(at the University of Notre Dame), Naomi Lindstrom (at the University
of Texas at Austin), Eduardo Lozano of the Library at the University of
Pittsburgh, and Francine Masiello (at the University of California,
Berkeley). The late Antonio Cornejo Polar of the University of California, Berkeley, was also one of the founding members of the committee.
The translations have been funded thanks to the generosity of the Lampadia Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
During the period of national formation between and into the
early years of the twentieth century, the new nations of Latin America
fashioned their identities, drew up constitutions, engaged in bitter struggles over territory, and debated questions of education, government, ethnicity, and culture. This was a unique period unlike the process of nation
formation in Europe and one that should be more familiar than it is to
students of comparative politics, history, and literature.
The image of the nation was envisioned by the lettered classesa

x | Series Editors General Introduction

minority in countries in which indigenous, mestizo, black, or mulatto
peasants and slaves predominatedalthough there were also alternative
nationalisms at the grassroots level. The cultural elite were well educated in European thought and letters, but as statesmen, journalists, poets,
and academics, they confronted the problem of the racial and linguistic
heterogeneity of the continent and the diculties of integrating the
population into a modern nation-state. Some of the writers whose works
will be translated in the Library of Latin America series played leading
roles in politics. Fray Servando Teresa de Mier, a friar who translated
Rousseaus The Social Contract and was one of the most colorful characters of the independence period, was faced with imprisonment and
expulsion from Mexico for his heterodox beliefs; on his return, after
independence, he was elected to the congress. Domingo Faustino
Sarmiento, exiled from his native Argentina under the dictatorship of
Rosas, wrote Facundo: Civilizacin y barbarie, a stinging denunciation of
that government. He returned after Rosas overthrow and was elected
president in . Andrs Bello was born in Venezuela, lived in London,
where he published poetry during the independence period, settled in
Chile, where he founded the University, wrote his grammar of the Spanish language, and drew up the countrys legal code.
These post-independence intelligentsia were not simply dreaming castles in the air, but vitally contributed to the founding of nations and the
shaping of culture. The advantage of hindsight may make us aware of
problems they themselves did not foresee, but this should not aect our
assessment of their truly astonishing energies and achievements. It is still
surprising that the writing of Andrs Bello, who contributed fundamental works to so many dierent elds, has never been translated into English. Although there is a recent translation of Sarmientos celebrated
Facundo, there is no translation of his memoirs, Recuerdos de provincia
(Provincial Recollections). The predominance of memoirs in the Library
of Latin America series is no accidentmany of these oer entertaining
insights into a vast and complex continent.
Nor have we neglected the novel. The series includes new translations
of the outstanding Brazilian writer Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
work, including Dom Casmurro and The Posthumous Memoirs of Brs
Cubas. There is no reason why other novels and writers who are not so
well known outside Latin Americathe Peruvian novelist Clorinda
Matto de Turners Aves sin nido, Nataniel Aguirres Juan de la Rosa, Jos de
Alencars Iracema, Juana Manuela Gorritis short storiesshould not be
read with as much interest as the political novels of Anthony Trollope.

Series Editors General Introduction | xi

A series on nineteenth-century Latin America cannot, however, be

limited to literary genres such as the novel, the poem, and the short
story. The literature of independent Latin America was eclectic and
strongly inuenced by the periodical press newly liberated from scrutiny
by colonial authorities and the Inquisition. Newspapers were miscellanies of ction, essays, poems, and translations from all manner of European writing. The novels written on the eve of Mexican Independence
by Jos Joaqun Fernndez de Lizardi included disquisitions on secular
education and law, and denunciations of the evils of gaming and idleness. Other works, such as a well-known poem by Andrs Bello, Ode
to Tropical Agriculture, and novels such as Amalia by Jos Mrmol and
the Bolivian Nataniel Aguirres Juan de la Rosa, were openly partisan. By
the end of the century, sophisticated scholars were beginning to address
the history of their countries, as did Joo Capistrano de Abreu in his
Captulos de histria colonial.
It is often in memoirs such as those by Fray Servando Teresa de Mier
or Sarmiento that we nd the descriptions of everyday life that in Europe
were incorporated into the realist novel. Latin American literature at this
time was seen largely as a pedagogical tool, a light alternative to speeches, sermons, and philosophical tractsthough, in fact, especially in the
early part of the century, even the readership for novels was quite small
because of the high rate of illiteracy. Nevertheless, the vigorous orally
transmitted culture of the gaucho and the urban underclasses became the
linguistic repertoire of some of the most interesting nineteenth-century
writersmost notably Jos Hernndez, author of the gauchesque poem
Martn Fierro, which enjoyed an unparalleled popularity. But for many
writers the task was not to appropriate popular language but to civilize,
and their literary works were strongly inuenced by the high style of political oratory.
The editorial committee has not attempted to limit its selection to the
better-known writers such as Machado de Assis; it has also selected many
works that have never appeared in translation or writers whose work has
not been translated recently. The series now makes these works available
to the English-speaking public.
Because of the preferences of funding organizations, the series initially focuses on writing from Brazil, the Southern Cone, the Andean region,
and Mexico. Each of our editions will have an introduction that places
the work in its appropriate context and includes explanatory notes.
We owe special thanks to the late Robert Glynn of the Lampadia
Foundation, whose initiative gave the project a jump start, and to Richard

xii | Series Editors General Introduction

Ekman of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which also generously
supported the project. We also thank the Rockefeller Foundation for
funding the 1996 symposium Culture and Nation in Iberoamerica, organized by the editorial board of the Library of Latin America. We received substantial institutional support and personal encouragement
from the Institute of Latin American Studies of the University of Texas
at Austin. The support of Edward Barry of Oxford University Press has
been crucial, as has the advice and help of Ellen Chodosh of Oxford University Press. The first volumes of the series were published after the untimely death, on July 3, 1997, of Maria C. Bulle, who, as an associate of the
Lampadia Foundation, supported the idea from its beginning.
Jean Franco
Richard Graham

Chronology of Simn Bolvar

July. Simn Bolvar is born at Caracas, the youngest of

two brothers and two sisters.
Death of his father, Juan Vicente Bolvar y Ponte, wealthy
creole planter and militia colonel and heir to the title of
marquis of San Luis, although he never used it.
Death of his mother, Mara de la Concepcin Palacios y
Blanco, whose family also formed part of the colonial
aristocracy. Primary responsibility for Simns upbringing
passes to a maternal uncle, Esteban Palacios, but as he is
living in Spain, it is exercised in practice by another
uncle, Carlos Palacios.
Bolvar goes to live in the house of Simn Rodrguez, the
most inuential of his teachers.
Bolvar is commissioned subteniente in the colonial
militia.
Bolvars rst visit to Europe. He stays principally in
Spain but makes an excursion to France early in .

xiv | Chronology of Simn Bolvar

May. In Madrid, Bolvar marries Mara Teresa

Rodrguez del Toro, daughter of a noble family of Caracas. Shortly afterward, the couple returns to Venezuela.
January. Death of Bolvars wife.
Bolvars second stay in Europe. He travels more widely
but spends most of his time in Paris, where he meets
Alexander von Humboldt and other notables and renews
his acquaintance with Simn Rodrguez.
August. Accompanied by Rodrguez, Bolvar makes a

vow at Rome to liberate Spanish America.

January (apparently). Bolvar lands in Charleston, South

Carolina, on his return from Europe. He visits other

major cities before nally sailing from Philadelphia back
to Venezuela.
Living in Venezuela and occupied with agricultural and
commercial activities, Bolvar takes part, as still a relatively minor gure, in the revolutionary ferment that arose
in Spanish America following the Napoleonic invasion
of Spain and the overthrow of the legitimate monarch,
Fernando VII.
On April Caracas revolutionists depose the Spanish
captain-general and establish a junta to govern ostensibly
in the name of Fernando VII, but in practice autonomous.
The junta names Bolvar commissioner to London to
seek the sympathy and support of Great Britain for the
new regime.
On July an elected Venezuelan congress formally declares independence. Shortly afterward, Bolvar receives
his baptism of re in the campaign to suppress a counterrevolutionary outbreak at Valencia.
Bolvar helps to rally a demoralized populace after the
disastrous Holy Thursday earthquake in Caracas, but on
July he is forced to evacuate the strategic position of
Puerto Cabello, which had been entrusted to his command. On July, embittered at the surrender agreed to
by Francisco de Miranda as dictator of Venezuelas First
Republic, Bolvar is one of the leaders who arrest him
and thereby prevent his escape from Venezuela. Bolvar

Chronology of Simn Bolvar | xv

subsequently goes to Cartagena in New Granada to resume the struggle and on December issues the Cartagena Manifesto, his rst major political text.
With backing from the revolutionary government of
New Granada, Bolvar conducts the Admirable Campaign, which again delivers most of Venezuela into
patriot hands.
The Second Republic, in which Bolvar held supreme
civil and military power, proves unable to gain wide popular backing and is defeated, in large part by the action of
royalist irregulars.
Again a fugitive in New Granada, Bolvar helps the federal authorities subdue the recalcitrant state of Cundinamarca (Bogot), but in the face of continuing internal
dissensions he withdraws to the West Indies, where on
September he publishes the Jamaica Letter.
With help from Haiti, Bolvar in the second of two
attempts reestablishes a foothold in Venezuela. At Carpano on June he issues his rst decree against slavery.
Bolvar establishes a provisional government at Angostura on the lower Orinoco River.
Bolvar joins forces with the chief of Venezuelas llaneros
(plainsmen), Jos Antonio Pez, and with him consolidates control over much of the interior Orinoco Basin.
On February at Angostura, Bolvar inaugurates a new
Venezuelan congress and delivers another of his key
political statements, the Angostura Address. Later in the
year he launches a campaign for the liberation of New
Granada, crowned with success at the Battle of Boyac (
August). On December the Congress of Angostura
votes to establish the Republic of Colombia, comprising
both Venezuela and New Granada as well as Quito
(modern Ecuador).
June. Bolvar defeats royalist forces in the Battle of
Carabobo, the last major engagement of the war in
Venezuela. The Colombian constituent congress, meeting at Ccuta, adopts a formal constitution and elects
Bolvar rst president to serve under it, with Francisco de

xvi | Chronology of Simn Bolvar

Paula Santander as vice president. Santander is left as acting chief executive in Bogot, the national capital, when
Bolvar leaves to continue directing the military struggle
against Spain.
The Battle of Pichincha on May, won by Bolvars
lieutenant, Antonio Jos de Sucre, seals the liberation of
Ecuador and paves the way for Bolvars entry to Quito
three weeks later. On July, at Guayaquil, Bolvar
meets the Argentine Liberator, Jos de San Martn, and
fails to reach agreement on plans for completing the liberation of Peru or on the future political order of Spanish
America.
September. At the invitation of Peruvian authorities,
Bolvar lands in Callao to assume leadership of the independence struggle in Peru.
On August, at the Battle of Junn, Bolvar scores a
major victory in the Peruvian highlands. On December,
from Lima, Bolvar invites other Spanish American
nations to a conference at Panama City for the purpose of
creating a permanent alliance. Two days later, in the Battle of Ayacucho, Sucre defeats the Peruvian viceroy and
for all practical purposes completes the war of independence in Spanish South America.
The former territory of Upper Peru, where royalist resistance crumbled before the advance of Sucre following the
Battle of Ayacucho, takes the name of Bolivia and invites
Bolvar, who proceeded there from Lima, to write its rst
constitution.
On May Bolvar submits his draft constitution for
Bolivia. Its central feature is a president serving for life. In
JuneJuly the Congress of Panama meets but fails to produce lasting results. On September Bolvar nally leaves
Peru to return to Colombia.
Bolvar makes a peaceful arrangement with Pez to end
the revolt that he had begun in Venezuela the year before.
However, he is increasingly estranged from Vice President Santander and the liberals of New Granada, who object both to his leniency toward Pez and to the seeming

Chronology of Simn Bolvar | xvii

betrayal of republican principles in his constitution for

Bolivia.
Failure of the Convention of Ocaa, called to reform the
Colombian constitution, leads Bolvar to establish a conservative military dictatorship in a desperate attempt to
maintain internal stability and, if possible, the unity of
Colombia. On September he survives an assassination
attempt in Bogot; believing Santander responsible, even
in the absence of clear-cut proof, he sends the former vice
president into exile.
While Bolvar is in Ecuador, primarily to deal with
a conict between Colombia and Peru, a monarchist
scheme oated by his supporters in Bogot arouses widespread hostility, especially in Venezuela.
Faced with the secession of Venezuela from the Colombian union and the unrelenting opposition of New
Granadan liberals, Bolvar resigns the presidency and
on May leaves Bogot, intending to go into foreign
exile. However, he dies on December at Santa Marta
on the coast.

An Overview of

the Bolivarian Sources

he extant private and ocial writings of Simn Bolvar are voluminous, and virtually all have found their way into print, but new items
of generally minor signicance still turn up from time to time.1 Bolvar
conscientiously accumulated an archive that eventually lled ten trunks;
it included messages received, copybooks of outgoing orders and messages, and other items as well. In his will, he gave instructions that this
archive be burned, but at the time of his death it was already on its way
to Jamaica in the care of a trusted friend, the Frenchman Jean Pavageau.
There the documents were ultimately divided into three sections. Most
of the papers relating to the years were sent to Pedro Briceo
Mndez, a close military collaborator of Bolvar who proposed to write a
history of the period in question; those from to were mainly
consigned to Bolvars former aide, Daniel F. OLeary, who intended to
write the history of the later period; and the remainder stayed with Juan
de Francisco Martn, a New Granadan who had been a fervent civilian
supporter of Bolvar and was one of his executors.2
The portions of Bolvars archive consigned to Briceo Mndez and
OLeary would become the nuclei of two major printed compilations
that appeared in Venezuela in the second half of the nineteenth century,
in combination with other documents collected by the two original cus-

An Overview of the Bolivarian Sources | xix

todians and others who collaborated in or continued their work. The

papers kept by Juan de Francisco Martn ended up in Paris, where he
lived for many years, part of the time in diplomatic service. They
returned to Venezuela in the early twentieth century and along with the
other two sections of Bolvars archive and much else of related signicance became part of the present Archivo del Libertador, located in the
Casa Natal in Caracas. This repository, whose principal creator was the
indefatigable Bolivarianist Vicente Lecuna, contains the most important
collection anywhere in the world of documents generated by or concerned in some way with Simn Bolvar. It was directed by Lecuna himself until his death in and over the years has been steadily enriched
through further acquisitions. But it is not, of course, the only archive
holding Bolivarian materials, whether in Venezuela or in other countries.
No doubt the most important of the other repositories is Colombias
Archivo Histrico Nacional in Bogot, although the Fundacin John
Boulton in Caracas microlmed most of its documents of Bolivarian
interest, which can thus be consultedin that format the oce of the
Fundacin in the Venezuelan capital. 3
Even though there is still much material relating to Bolvar and his
associates that has not been published, there can be little surviving documentation signed or dictated by Bolvar himself that has not appeared
in print. Indeed, most of his major texts and many lesser ones were
quickly circulated in printed form in the press of the period or in pamphlet form. Not only that, but in his own lifetime a rst multivolume
compilation of Bolivarian materials had already been published by the
Venezuelan patriots Francisco Javier Yanes and Cristbal Mendoza,
under the title Coleccin de documentos relativos a la vida pblica del Libertador de Colombia y del Per, Simn Bolvar para servir a la historia de la
Independencia de Sur Amrica. It comprised twenty-two small volumes,
printed in Caracas from to , with an appendix volume appearing in . This was, in the words of Manuel Prez Vila, the point of
departure for all subsequent collections of documents concerning independence of the Bolivarian nations.4 In the second half of the century,
two more major compilations were added. The rst of these, compiled by
the patriot warrior-priest Jos Flix Blanco and Ramn Azpura, was
published in Caracas in as Documentos para la historia de la vida
pblica del Libertador de Colombia, Per y Bolivia, in fourteen large volumes of double-column format. Its nucleus was the part of Bolvars
original archive that had been given to Briceo Mndez, but it incorporated other documents already included in the Yanes-Mendoza series,

xx | An Overview of the Bolivarian Sources

and still others gathered by the two compilers (of whom Blanco had died
before the collection appeared).5 The other was the misleadingly titled
but even more important Memorias del General OLeary, published from
to . In this case, of course, the nucleus of the collection was the
part of the Liberators own archive entrusted to Daniel F. OLeary. He
had died in , but his son Simn Bolvar OLeary took responsibility
for the publication. Two of the volumes contained the actual memoirs
(Narracin) of Bolvars Irish-born aide and condant; the rest were
lled with the supporting documents, naturally including many that had
been added to what OLeary initially received.6 There are some errors
and omissions in the Blanco and Azpura compilation and that of
OLeary, but they remain essential resources for all scholars studying the
independence period and have both been reprinted in recent years.7
Although the work of those nineteenth-century compilers was certainly admirable, the most eminent of all collectors and publishers of
Bolivarian materials was without question Vicente Lecuna, who worked
mainly in the rst half of the twentieth century. Lecuna produced a
steady stream of compilations of Bolvars own writings and related documents as well as original research and syntheses on all aspects of the
Liberators career. He was at the same time the most learned and most
active guardian of Venezuelas Bolvar cult, as can be seen from the title
itself of just one of his many works: Catlogo de errores y calumnias en la
historia de Bolvar ( vols., New York, ). In , Lecuna
brought forth a denitive collection of Bolvars letters, the ten-volume
series Cartas del Libertador, which included (and when necessary corrected) all those previously published and added some more, along with an
analytical index. In he produced an eleventh volume, published in
New York, as addendum to the series, and a twelfth was added in by
the Fundacin John Boulton. Lecuna also published, among much else,
a two-volume Documentos referentes a la creacin de Bolivia () that
includes Bolvars draft of a constitution for Bolivia as well as other materials related to the beginnings of the country that bore his name.8
Not least, we have Lecuna to thank for the Obras completas of Bolvar
published initially in in two volumes, by Editorial Lex of Havana,
Cuba, though by order of the Venezuelan government. A three-volume
set of the same was also published in Havana in and later reprinted
in Caracas, in an undated edition but about .9 It was reprinted one
more time in , in six volumes and in Spain, but still conserving Lecunas original text.10 The two three-volume editionsHavana and
Caracas (?)are the most widely available. Fortunately, they have

An Overview of the Bolivarian Sources | xxi

identical pagination and will be the version cited in the present work.
The Obras completas were not, of course, truly completas. Quite apart from
the failure to include items that came to light after the initial publication,
they do not include, for example, something as essential for the study
of Bolvars career as his Bolivian constitution or all the decrees that he
issued over the years. Fortunately, however, there is no lack of other
places to nd the text of the constitution,11 and the Decretos del Libertador, , were published in by the Sociedad Bolivariana de
Venezuela.
The Obras completas continue to be the single most convenient and
accessible compilation, but for purposes of academic research it is being
superseded by the Escritos del Libertador, launched in by the
Sociedad Bolivariana de Venezuela. The latter series not only includes
items newly come to light but gives more detailed information on provenance, prior publication, and diering versions of the documents, along
with introductory essays and research aids prepared by such qualied
specialists as Prez Vila, whose general survey of the source materials
appears at the front of the rst volume. Prez Vila was the driving force
behind the publication project until the time of his death in . Unfortunately, by centurys end the series still had not been completed.12
Needless to say, there are also many compilations of Bolvars writings
that do not even pretend to be complete but present instead a selection
either of those concerning a particular topic or of whatever the compilers considered most important. Two that deserve mention here are Doctrina del Libertador, published in Venezuela in under the editorship
of Prez Vila, which is notable for the quantity and quality of its explanatory notes,13 and the two-volume Bolvar documental compiled by the
Venezuelan historian Germn Carrera Damas.14 Nor is there a lack of
English-language compilations and anthologies. Of these much the
most complete, in two volumes, is Simn Bolvar, Selected Writings, compiled by Vicente Lecuna, and edited by Harold A. Bierck Jr. The set was
published by the Banco de Venezuela (of which Lecuna was a director)
in New York in and widely distributed to U.S. libraries and Latin
American specialists.15 An example of the various shorter and more specialized compilations available is Gerald E. Fitzgerald, The Political
Thought of Bolvar: Selected Writings.16 The present volume will, of
course, include numerous items that have already appeared more than
once in the English language, but it also contains some that have never
before been translated, and the intent is to oer all the documents in a
version that is contemporary and accurate.

xxii | An Overview of the Bolivarian Sources

Notes
. By far the most authoritative survey of the sources for the study of Bolvar
is that by Manuel Prez Vila, Contribucin a la bibliografa de los escritos del
Libertador, manuscritos y ediciones, published in Sociedad Bolivariana de
Venezuela, Escritos del Libertador, vol. I, Introduccin general (Caracas, ),
. Except where otherwise specied, this note is based directly on that
survey.
. Prez Vila, Contribucin, , .

. Ibid., , .

. Ibid., .

. Ibid., .

. Ibid., .

. The Blanco and Azpura compilation was reprinted by the Comit Ejecu
tivo del Bicentenario de Simn Bolvar, Caracas, in vols., . The Memorias del General OLeary were republished by the Ministerio de la Defensa in
vols. in , the last two volumes containing the index to the entire collection;
unfortunately, this edition was not widely distributed.
. Prez Vila, Contribucin, , .

. Ibid., .

. Madrid: Maveco de Ediciones, .

. For example, in vol. of El pensamiento constitucional hispanoamericano has-

ta (Caracas, ; Biblioteca de la Academia Nacional de la Historia, ),

.
. By the series had reached vol. , with documents of January
February .
. Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho, .
. Caracas: Monte Avila, .
. The translation is by Lewis Bertrand; publisher was the Colonial Press.
. The Hague: M. Nijho, .

Translators Note

n translating these political addresses, letters, manifestos, and decrees, I

had two goals. First, I sought to reproduce the sense of Simn Bolvars
writings as accurately as possible. In this endeavor I must acknowledge the
assistance of David Bushnell, editor of this volume, who selected the texts
and coached me through numerous ne points of SpanishAmerican
administrative and constitutional terminology. He also made available
his earlier translation of extensive portions of Bolvars draft of the constitution for Bolivia. For some of the pieces I was also able to consult the earlier translation by Lewis Bertrand in the two-volume Selected Writings of
Bolvar (New York: Colonial Press, ), compiled by Vicente Lecuna and
edited by Harold A. Bierck Jr. Bertrands translation is quite accurate, if
somewhat dated in tone.
My second task was to try to convey the stylistic spectrum of Bolvars
writing, which ranges from genteel prodding in letters to close friends
and colleagues, erce clarity in the political texts and manifestos, to lyric
eusiveness in a piece such as his delirium on Chimborazo. In his letter
to J. J. Olmedo, we sense his gratication at being the protagonist of an
epic poem and his concern to reassure Olmedo of their friendship, even
as he gently damns the poem with faint praise.

xxiv | Translators Note

Given who he was and what he was working so hard to accomplish, it
is inevitable that in all of these texts Bolvars awareness of his own persona as a maker of history is always front and center. He is not so much
egotistical as he is dedicated to his vision for America and aware of his
own importance to that vision. By following Bolivars writing from the
turn of the century until his death in , we can follow the shifts in his
enthusiasm for his American project. What a dierence in tone from
Oath Taken in Rome ():
This nation [the nation of Romulus and Numa] has examples for
everything, except for the cause of humanity: corrupt Messalinas,
gutless Agrippas, great historians, distinguished naturalists, heroic
warriors, rapacious consuls, unrestrained sybarites, golden virtues,
and foul crimes; but for the emancipation of the spirit, the elimination of cares, the exaltation of man, and the nal perfectibility of
reason, little or nothing. The civilization blowing in from the East
has shown all its faces here, all its parts; but the resolution of the
great problem of man set free seems to have been something
inconceivable, a mystery that would only be made clear in the New
World.
I swear before you; I swear by the God of my fathers; I swear on
their graves; I swear by my Country, that I will not rest body or
soul until I have broken the chains binding us to the will of Spanish might!
to the near tragic resignation he voices in his last letter, addressed to
General J. J. Flores (November , ):
Nations are like children, who soon throw away what they have
wept to attain. Neither you nor I nor anyone else knows the will of
the people. . . . Use the past to predict the future. You know that I
have ruled for twenty years and derived from these only a few sure
conclusions: () America is ungovernable for us; () Those who
serve revolution plough the sea; () The only thing one can do in
America is emigrate; () This country will fall inevitably into the
hands of the unrestrained multitudes, and then into the hands of
tyrants so insignicant they will be almost imperceptible, of all
colors and races; () Once weve been eaten alive by every crime
and extinguished by ferocity, the Europeans wont even bother to
conquer us; () If it were possible for any part of the world to revert
to primitive chaos, it would be America in her last hour.

Translators Note | xxv

The dispirited tone of this last letter serves as coda to the tragedy of the
man known as the Liberator, and reects a gradual shift of mood that is
perhaps inevitable in a man who identied his persona with a continent
full of people whose will he could not decipher.

This page intentionally left blank

Introduction

ith the possible exception of Fidel Castro, Simn Bolvar is by far

the most widely known of Latin American historical gures. Books
and articles written about him in his native region are very numerous, and
works both translated and original abound in English and other major
languages. Bolvar enjoys a degree of name recognition around the world
even among people who have read none of the works concerning him or
anything else that deals expressly with Latin America. Yet much of what
people know or think they know about Bolvar is supercial or even erroneous. As Venezuelan historian Germn Carrera Damas shrewdly observed, the sheer accumulation of writings on Bolvars life has served as
much to obscure as to clarify his historical signicance.1
Part of the problem in understanding Bolvar is the sheer breadth of his
thought and action. He was one of the few leaders of Latin American independence who remained fully engaged in the struggle from beginning
to end, or more precisely from immediate antecedents to early aftermath.
But he was more than just a soldier and founder of new nations, or Liberator to use his preferred title. He was a thinker who probed the meaning of what he was doing in historical perspective and in a wide
international context. He analyzed past and present conditions of his part
of the world and speculated, sometimes with uncanny prescience, con-

xxviii | Introduction
cerning its future. He drafted constitutions, orders, and decrees that he
hoped would make that future more bearable. Amid all this, Bolvar found
time to oer his ideas on questions of literary usage and educational
method and a great deal more. Fortunately, his voluminous writings have
been preserved, and the vigor of his prose stylealmost always lucid even
when presenting questionable theses, often trenchant or ironic, but never
dullmust be included among his claims to fame.

From Caracas to Santa Marta

Bolvar may or may not have been sent to earth by Divine Providence, as
his nineteenth-century biographer Felipe Larrazbal insisted,2 but it is
still fair to say that both the geographic locale and the social circumstances of his birth were propitious for his later emergence as the preeminent leader of Latin American independence. His life began in the year
at Caracas, in Venezuela, which would be the rst Spanish colony to
gain de facto autonomy () and also rst to declare outright independence from the mother country (). Both distinctions were due in
part to the geographic accident of being situated at the northeast extremity of Spanish South America. Of all the principal Spanish colonies,
Venezuela was closest to Europe, and Caracas in particular, situated a
mere days journey from the Caribbean coast, was normally the rst
Spanish colonial capital to receive news from the other side of the
Atlantic. Thus in Venezuelans had early notice of the fact that most
of Spain had fallen under the control of Napoleon and his allies and that
a new Spanish resistance government, the Council of Regency, had
emergedrequiring Spanish Americans to decide either to recognize its
authority or to strike out on their own, as Venezuela now did. But it was
also the Spanish colony closest to the still-loyal West Indian territories
of Cuba and Puerto Rico, so its edgling revolutionary government was
the one most directly exposed to counterrevolutionary attack and least
able to maintain the ction of an autonomous status short of actual separation from Spain.
Venezuelas economic role also prepared it to become a key player in
the independence movement. It was an agroexporting region, with
extensive slave-worked landholdings that made it, after Cuba, the most
successful of Spains plantation colonies. By far the principal commodity
was cacao, grown in valleys and slopes of the Andean coastal range and
in the narrow strip between that range and the Caribbean. On the eve of
independence, cacao represented almost half the colonys exports, even

Introduction | xxix
though its relative importance was tending to decline, resulting from
competition on the world market of cheaper cacao from Guayaquil and
the rise within Venezuela itself of indigo and coee cultivation. It is
impossible, for lack of adequate statistical data, to calculate exactly what
proportion of Venezuelas Gross Colonial Product was contributed by
the external sector of the economy, but it was substantially greater than
in neighboring New Granada (or present-day Colombia), which had
percent more inhabitants yet traded less. Hence Spanish imperial trade
policy, whose theoretical objective was to prohibit all interchange
between Spanish colonial and non-Spanish ports, had considerable relevance for Venezuelaand it was a distinct inconvenience.
The level of commercial activity (both legal and in the form of contraband) was naturally facilitated by Venezuelas relative ease of access to
the outside world. These same factors together facilitated the movement
of persons, whether on private or ocial business or engaging in early
forms of tourism, and likewise favored the penetration of new ideas, fads,
and fashions from abroad. Until Venezuela did not even have a
printing press, but Spanish and to a lesser extent other foreign publications were available to those who wanted them, and they brought among
other things the latest news of world events. To be sure, the reception
accorded to such outside stimuli was uneven. As most people were illiterate, they were not stimulated at all by the printed wordat least not
directly. And such major events as the Anglo-American, French, and
Haitian Revolutions evoked widely diering reactions. Liberty in moderation, as appeared to be practiced in the United States, was widely
viewed as a good thing, but the violence and active anticlericalism of the
French Revolution were a dierent matter; and while some Venezuelans
saw the eradication of white domination and human slavery in Haiti as
an example worth following in their country, for that very same reason
the Haitian Revolution evoked a diametrically opposite reaction among
most Venezuelan whites, slaveowners or not.
Although Bolvar belonged to the creole landowning elite and owned
slaves, one cannot take for granted that he shared the fear of a Haitianstyle slave uprising that consumed other members of his class nor that he
showed the same repugnance at the social and economic advancement
achieved by select members of the free colored population. We have no
record of his early thinking on such matters, and his later views, at least,
were signicantly more enlightened than those of a majority of his social
peers. Moreover, his practice as a teenager of wandering o through the
streets of Caracas, mingling freely with his social inferiorsmuch to the

xxx | Introduction
displeasure of his older sister Mara Antoniasuggests the possible early
appearance of the ease in relationships with all sorts and conditions of
people that he would display in later life and that would, among other
things, make him a commander genuinely popular with his ragtag
armies. Bolvars superior social position did, of course, in itself foster a
degree of self-condence and relieve him of the need to be always on
guard to protect his status. In any case, through the circle of extended
family and personal acquaintances, that position gave him exposure to
whatever trends and ideas were currently making the rounds at the upper
level of colonial society. And it naturally guaranteed him some formal
education, even if while growing up in Caracas he was not a particularly
dedicated student. His favorite tutor, Simn Rodrguez, was a man of
unconventional behavior and a devotee of Rousseau, whose inuence
probably lay more in the encouragement of an open and inquiring mind
than in any concrete notions he may have implanted.
The social environment in which Bolvar grew up was ultimately the
result of his familys economic role, as leading landowners and agroexporters, and at certain intervalsmainly briefof his adult life he would
devote himself personally to his business interests. Initially, there were
others who took care of those interests for him, but it was still the Bolvar family fortune that made possible the period of living and traveling
in Europe. Actually, there were two such periods, the rst spent principally in Spain and the second in France, separated by an abortive return
to Venezuela that was cut short by the death of the wife he had just married in Madrid. It was while residing in Europe that Bolvar developed
the voracious appetite for reading that led him to take along cases of
books even on military campaigns. As he wrote later, his tastes were
broad, including Locke, Condillac, Buon, DAlembert, Helvtius,
Montesquieu, Mably, Filangieri, Lalande, Rousseau, Voltaire, Rollin,
Berthot, and all the classics of antiquity, whether philosophers, historians, orators, or poets, and all the modern classics of Spain, France, Italy,
and a great many of the English.3 The list was not exhaustive, and it is
probable that Bolvar read the English authors and the ancients mainly
in French translation, that being the one foreign language of which he
had full mastery. We do not necessarily know just what works he read by
a given author, or whether he read them from rst page to last, but more
than one acquaintance noted his fondness for Voltaire, and his interest
in, say, ancient history is well attested by the historical examples cited in
his political addresses. At the very least, Bolvars fondness for good read-

Introduction | xxxi
ing endowed him with a breadth of intellectual culture matched by few
if any of his fellow liberators.
While in Europe Bolvar also met some famous authors, among them
Alexander von Humboldt, and he renewed his relationship with Simn
Rodrguez, now an expatriate since eeing Caracas under suspicion of
subversive activity. During a sidetrip to Italy, accompanied by Rodrguez,
he made his celebrated vow of on one of the hills of Rome to liberate Spanish America. Much less is known about Bolvars subsequent
visit to the United States, which occupied the rst part of ; he could
only have been an interested observer of the newly independent English
America, yet there is even some doubt as to his precise itinerary. He was
then back in Venezuela before the Napoleonic invasion of Spain and
forced abdication of the Spanish royal family triggered the general imperial crisis whose outcome in Spanish America was the war for independence. Bolvar was a minor actor in developments leading up to the creation in of a self-governing junta in Caracas, but he served the junta
as head of a diplomatic mission to London and eventually took part in
the military struggle in Venezuela itselfsuering one of the most
embarrassing setbacks of his career when he lost the strategic fortress of
Puerto Cabello to a counterrevolutionary uprising.
Only after the collapse of Venezuelas First Republic did Bolvar nally assume supreme command. He had initially taken refuge in Cartagena, where he produced the rst of the documents included in this volume: the so-called Cartagena Manifesto, which was both his explanation
of the defeat of the Venezuelan patriots and a call for joint action
between New Granada and Venezuela to regain Caracas. And regain it
he did. As head of the Second Republic, with dictatorial powers, Bolvar
was less concerned with building institutions and formulating political
doctrine than with military defense against the royalist counteroensive
that was not long in coming. Particularly troublesome was the degree of
support obtained by bands of royalist irregulars among the free pardos
(of part African descent) and mestizos who formed a majority of the
population of Venezuela and clearly did not yet feel a sense of solidarity
with the upper-class creoles who thus far led the republican cause. Bolvar was one of the men who would take that lesson to heart, but before
he could do anything about it he had to seek refuge once more in New
Granada andwhen the New Granadan patriots internal dissensions
doomed their republic, tooin the British colony of Jamaica and the
independent black republic of Haiti.

xxxii | Introduction

Bolvars West Indian interlude of - was critically important

both for his use of the enforced leisure time to organize and communicate his thinking about the independence struggle and the future of
Spanish Americaabove all, in his Jamaica Letterand for his marshaling of defeated and dispirited South American patriots for an ultimately successful eort, with Haitian help, to regain a foothold in
Venezuela. And it was then that Bolvar rened what might be called a
form of military populism. On returning to Venezuela he took pains to
recognize and promote soldiers of pardo or other lower-class origin,
although he did not hesitate to execute the brilliant pardo ocer Manuel
Piar, whom he believed guilty of conspiring to exploit racial tensions in
a challenge to Bolvars own leadership. Of particular importance was
Bolvars achievement in gaining the condence and support of Jos
Antonio Pez, a man of little or no formal education but the quintessential caudillo of the Orinoco plains who brought with him his ercely loyal following of mounted lancers. Then, too, while the mere fact that
Bolvar had returned to Venezuela with the aid of Haiti and now incorporated abolition of slavery among his revolutionary objectives alarmed
many of his own class, it further contributed to giving the independence
movement a more popular aura. For the military in particular, there was
a pledge of bonuses for everyone engaged in the ghting and, of rather
more symbolic than practical importance, a decree granting in principle
the right to vote to all common soldiers even if they did not meet the
standard social and economic conditions for voting.4
Once Bolvar in close collaboration with Pez had established republican control over the greatest part of the Orinoco Basin, he made one
more of his major political statements, to the Congress of Angostura,
which he inaugurated in February . In the address he repeated his
plea for the eradication of slavery and insisted again on the need to justly reward the veterans of independence. On the other hand, the constitutional prescriptions that he presented before the deputies tended more
toward aristocracy than democracy, although an aristocracy that would
include patriot heroes of modest social origin alongside others of his own
class, suggesting that he still did not consider the population at large to
be ready for self-government. But national independence from Spain
was a dierent matter, so that shortly afterward Bolvar embarked on the
rst of a series of military campaigns that would eectively end Spanish
rule in South America. His initial objective was Santaf, soon to be
renamed Bogot, which he entered three days after decisively defeating
the royalists in the Battle of Boyac ( August ). This victory deliv-

Introduction | xxxiii
ered to the republicans not only the former viceregal capital but the
greatest part of Andean New Granada. Not quite two years later, in the
Battle of Carabobo ( June ), Bolvar broke the back of royalist
resistance in Venezuela and was able to return in triumph to Caracas, his
hometown. In the following year, the presidency of Quito or modern
Ecuador was liberated by forces under the command of Bolvars favorite
lieutenant, Antonio Jos de Sucre, but Bolvars own advance through
southern New Granada, culminating in the pyrrhic victory of Bombon,
had increased the pressure on Quitos royalist defenders. In , Bolvar
nally accepted an invitation from Peru to complete the unnished independence struggle there. Having achieved a major victory at Junn
in the Peruvian highlands in August , he left Sucre to deliver the
coup de grace in the Battle of Ayacucho ( December ). Bolvar also
let Sucre do the mopping up of royalist resistance in Upper Peru, to
which he made his own way in mid- and received not just all the
usual honors but the less usual one of having the new nation assume the
name of Bolivia.
This unbroken series of successes was made possible in the last analysis by the gross disproportion in area, population, and resources between
Spain and its American colonies. Demoralization and disarray in the
enemy camp, stemming in part from the bitter rivalry between Spanish
liberals and absolutists, was an important contributing factor. Even so, it
was Bolvar who in the end mobilized the republicans assets for victory,
with his political sagacity quite as much as with the military skill in
which he was largely self-taught (but obviously a good learner). Above
all, perhaps, he never lost sight of the need for military and political unity among the Spanish Americans themselves. In his original theater of
operations, northern South America, this meant indiscriminately combining and using forces from both Venezuela and New Granada, and the
process of unication between those two ex-colonies reached a seemingly inevitable conclusion after the Battle of Boyac, when Bolvar induced
the Congress of Angostura to proclaim the creation of the Republic of
Colombia, which included both ex-colonies (and is generally known as
Gran Colombia to distinguish it from the smaller Colombia of today).
The measure that established Colombia further incorporated the presidency of Quito or modern Ecuador, even though none of it had yet been
freed from Spain. But when Bolvar arrived on the scene, as both conquering general and rst constitutional president of Colombia, he made
sure that the decision was properly implemented. In the one province of
Guayaquil, many of whose people were tempted either to become an

xxxiv | Introduction
autonomous city-state or to join Peru, Bolvars followers applied the
needed pressure to head o either alternative. In this way, Bolvar
thwarted the aim of the Argentine Liberator, Jos de San Martn, lately
serving as Protector of Peru, to make Guayaquil Peruvian. By the time
San Martn reached Guayaquil to meet with Bolvar in July , that
issue was in eect decided. Instead, the two leaders appear to have discussed only the state of the war in Peru and plans for the future of Spanish America, and though both were strong proponents of close alliance
among all the newly independent nations, there was no meeting of
minds on much else.
When Bolvar himself moved on to Peru, after San Martn resigned
his position as Protector and departed for self-imposed exile, he inherited the remains of San Martns Argentine-Chilean force, which he
molded together with native Peruvian units and his own Colombians for
the nal campaign against the royalists. And as the military struggle
drew to a close, he turned his attention not only to organizing republican
institutions in Peru, where the Congress had named him Dictator, but
also to larger projects of Spanish American unity. One of these was his
proposal for the Congress of Panama, intended to be a gathering of former Spanish colonies for the purpose of adopting agreements of permanent cooperation and alliance. Bolvar sent out invitations from Lima in
December , for a meeting to take place in . The other was his
concept of a Federation of the Andes, in which would be subsumed not
only Gran Colombia itself but Peru and Bolivia. For this creation he
envisaged a looser union than the Colombian (which was at least on
paper a highly centralized state), though with its component parts bound
more closely together than the members of the general league that he
hoped would emerge from the Congress of Panama. The number of
member states of the proposed Andean Federation was indeterminate,
since Gran Colombia might rst be divided into its three major sections
and Peru into separate northern and southern states. But whatever the
precise number, Bolvar hoped that the constitution he had been commissioned to draft for Bolivia could serve as model, in some form, for the
governments to be established in each of the other member statesand
presumably also the overall government of the Federation. The distinctive feature of the constitution as nally drafted was a president serving
for a life term and with the right to name his successor, so that inevitably
the scheme was assailed as nothing but a constitutional monarchy in
republican disguise. Bolvar, who had always disliked the conventional
republican constitution adopted by Colombia in , considered the

Introduction | xxxv
Bolivian project to be the product of his mature political thinking,
indeed his masterpiece.
Unfortunately for Bolvar, neither of his latest projects found wide
acceptance. The Congress of Panama did meet, in June and July ,
and though the vice president and foreign secretary he had left behind in
Bogot invited both the United States and Brazil, in violation of his
express wishes, in practice it was a meeting only of Spanish American
nations. (One United States delegate died on the way; another arrived
late; no Brazilian even set forth.) Yet not all of the Spanish American
governments sent representatives to Panama, and only Colombia ratied
the resulting agreements. Hence there was no league of Spanish American nationsand neither, of course, did the Andean Federation come
into being. Bolivia adopted Bolvars constitution, with some minor
changes such as deleting the provision for immediate abolition of slavery,
and so did Peru, but they did not join together at that point in federal
union. In Gran Colombia itself, even many of Bolvars close supporters
were skeptical of both his constitutional masterpiece and the Federation
of the Andes.
Instead, internal tensions that had been incubating for some time
within Colombia now reached a critical stage. In Venezuela, the fact of
subordination to a central government in Bogot had long rankled, and
Jos Antonio Pez gave expression to this regional disaection when he
rebelled against the authorities in Bogoteven while still professing
ultimate allegiance to Bolvarin April . Venezuelas deance
turned out to be the signal that people in Ecuador had been waiting for
to give vent to their own resentment, rather more clearly justied than in
the case of Venezuela, over the neglect of their regional interests at the
national capital; they launched no outright rebellion but in various places
adopted manifestos demanding ill-dened reforms and calling on the
Liberator to return from Peru to direct the process. In Bogot itself, Vice
President Santander had been managing the national executive with
considerable success in Bolvars absence, but intermittent frictions had
arisen between the two men, with Bolvar complaining over Santanders
failure to send him all necessary reinforcements when he wanted them
and Santander suering hurt feelings over Bolvars apparent lack of
appreciation for the eorts he actually made. Moreover, Santander and
his political faction, typically composed of New Granadan liberals, felt a
personal and ideological identication with the existing constitutional
order that Bolvar hoped to replace by means of his Bolivian constitution
or something similar. They were identied, too, with the program of

xxxvi | Introduction
generally moderate scal and ecclesiastical reforms that the national congress and administration had been adopting, whereas Bolvar increasingly made clear that even though he generally agreed with the objectives of
the reforms, he considered them premature, thus bound to stir dissension
and undermine internal stability.
When Bolvar nally returned to Gran Colombia in the latter part of
, he quickly pacied Venezuela by the simple expedient of granting
Pez and his partisans a full pardon for their rebellion. It was a practical
solution but one that oended Santander and his friends, who had been
trying as best they could to uphold legality. He oended them further by
continuing to lend an ear to anyone with a complaint against the existing
constitution and laws and by holding out the promise of a convention for
constitutional reform in technical violation of an existing provision that
prohibited any such reform before the year . But the Santanderistas
did their part in widening the gap between president and vice president
by making intemperate attacks on Bolvar in the press and by their
delighted celebration of an uprising by Colombian troops still stationed
in Lima against Venezuelan higher ocers whom they accused of plotting to foist the Bolivian constitution on Gran Colombia. In March ,
from Caracas where he was still settling aairs after the revolt of Pez,
Bolvar broke o correspondence with Santander, and by September he
had resumed personal control of the central administration, permanently displacing Santander from his role as acting chief executive.
The promised convention for constitutional reform took place at
Ocaa between April and June but was so divided between the
supporters of Bolvar and Santander and assorted independents that it
took no action at all. Bolvar concluded that he had no alternative but to
accept the dictatorship his supporters now oered him. He made clear
that it was only temporary, until such time as another convention could
be held to revamp the nations institutions. It was also a relatively mild
dictatorship, at least until the unsuccessful attempt on Bolvars life in
September that sparked a round of harsher repression, including
the exile of Santander for alleged complicity. Bolvar sought to satisfy
the demands of Venezuela and Ecuador by placing them under the direct administration of high-ranking generalsPez in the case of
Venezuelawith broad discretionary power in the local implementation
of national policies. He gave the military heightened inuence at all
levels of government and increased independence from civilian authority. He sought favor with the church through the expedient rollback of
controversial anticlerical measures, and he adopted a generally conser-

Introduction | xxxvii
vative approach in economic and social aairs, with the primary exception of slavery, as he tried to strengthen rather than weaken the manumission law enacted by Colombias constituent congress in .
In the short term Bolvars dictatorship obtained at least tacit acceptance from most people. However, its conservative bent did not sit well
with Venezuela, which was ideologically the most liberal part of the
country, particularly when members of Bolvars cabinet began sounding
out opinion at home and abroad over the possibility that Bolvar might
ultimately be succeeded by a European prince. This occurred while Bolvar himself had gone to the south of the country to deal with a brief
armed conict with Peru, but rightly or wrongly he received the blame,
and it did not hurt him only in Venezuela. The Peruvian war was unpopular, too, if only for the taxes and recruitment it entailed, and though
a new constitutional convention did meet, in January , by then
Venezuela was already preparing to go its way as a separate nation; the
repressed followers of Santander were regaining condence and returning to the fray, and with Bolvar himself visibly ailing, his leadership was
increasingly ignored even by his own supporters.
After nally resigning the presidency, he departed Bogot in May
for the Caribbean, intending to go into foreign exile as San Martn
had done earlier. He never got there. He died at Santa Marta on the
Colombian coast in December before he had a chance to take ship
but not before penning one of his most memorable lines: He who serves
a revolution ploughs the sea.

Bolvar and the Art of Government

Regardless of the exact source of Bolvars ideas, and despite all changes
in emphasis or detail, there is a remarkable consistency in his views of
how Spanish America should be governedor perhaps above all, how it
should not be governed. The author whom he cited most often in support of his political thinking was Montesquieu, who in his Spirit of the
Laws had argued so forcefully for the careful adaptation of any countrys
laws and institutions to its immediate geographic and cultural environment. To Bolvar this meant that his compatriots should scrupulously
avoid trying to create ideal types of government (ethereal republics, he
called them) and, perhaps above all, should never yield to the temptation
to copy the institutions of the United States, however successful they
might appear to be in North America. As he once observed to a correspondent, he would rather see America (by which he meant Spanish

xxxviii | Introduction
America) adopt the Koran than adopt the system of government of the
United States, even though he did not hesitate to add that it was the
best on earth.5 It just was not best for his part of the hemisphere. In
eect, while Anglo-America, thanks to its distinctive historical background among other factors, had become a singular model of political
and moral virtueas Bolvar put it in his Angostura Addressand thus
fully prepared to govern itself under a set of liberal institutions, the former Spanish colonies having suered for three centuries under the triple
yoke of tyranny, ignorance, and vice were not prepared for anything of
the sort.
Bolvar was particularly wary of the example of federalism that was
contained in the United States constitution and all too often appealed to
by Latin American federalists in justication of their various eorts to
concentrate power at the provincial or other regional level rather than at
the center, a tendency that he considered a disastrous source of weakness
in the midst of a war for national independence. Of course, his own proposal for a Federation of the Andes and the occasional references (by
Bolvar himself as well as others) to his projected Spanish American
league as a federation have at times led to terminological confusion.
The federalism to which Bolvar so vehemently objected was simply that
which took entire captaincies-generalor other major subdivisions of
the former Spanish empireand broke them down into groups of selfgoverning provinces loosely joined for matters of common interest, as in
the constitution of Venezuelas First Republic. He thus blamed the collapse of the First Republic in no small part on its federalist organization.
But he was sure that any irtation with federalism would remain a threat
to political and social order for years to come, and he lost few opportunities to dismiss it as a noxious example of unwise infatuation with foreign
models. In that regard he was guilty of exaggeration, because the vogue
of federalism in Venezuela and other parts of early Latin America represented more than a copying of the United States or other ancient or
modern foreign examples. It stemmed equally from the presence of real
dierences of interest and identity among regions of a given country and
from the sometimes bitter regional rivalries which had been only partly
repressed under the outward uniformity of the colonial system. Even so,
Bolvar could make his argument with plausibility because of the way in
which the federalists themselves kept pointing to the stability and rapid
development of the United States as a reason for establishing their own
federal republics.6

Introduction | xxxix
Federalism was not the only aspect of the United States model that
Bolvar considered inapplicable to Spanish America; he also felt that the
legislative and judicial branches enjoyed too much independence vis-vis the executive. Curiously, however, Bolvar could not resist citing
North American precedents in justication of the provision in his draft
constitution for Bolivia that authorized the life-term president to choose
his successor. Bolvar pointed out that this had in fact been happening in
the United States, where each of the last few presidents had been succeeded by the secretary of state whom he himself appointed ( Jeerson
followed by Madison, and so forth). The argument was ingenious, even
if more than a little misleadingas the ex-secretary still had to win an
election and could serve only a xed term or terms.
The appointive presidential succession was a relatively late addition to
Bolvars list of concrete recommendations for Spanish America, but
there were nevertheless underlying consistencies in what he proposed as
well as in what he warned against. The obverse of his constant antifederalism was naturally the demand for a strictly centralized political organization, and he was no less insistent over the years on the need for a vigorous executive if ever the disparate elements of the Spanish American
population were to be transformed into proper citizens of a free republica task bound to be dicult under the best of conditions. For another common thread running through Bolvars thought was his pessimistic
assessment of the human material that state builders in his part of America would have to work with.
Bolvar discussed the inadequacy of his fellow Spanish Americans for
assuming control of their own destinies in a number of personal letters as
well as in the Jamaica Letter and Angostura Address, but nowhere does
he treat the problem as comprehensively as in the latter. A large part of
the problem, from his viewpoint, was the legacy of the colonial regime
itself, which he painted in unremittingly negative terms. Spain had given her colonial subjects no opportunity whatsoever to practice the art of
government, appointment to all signicant posts being denied them; in
this regard, he complained, Spain in America had outdone such oriental
despotisms as China and Turkey, which at least recruited agents from
among their own subjects, whereas Spain used only European Spaniards
to rule the colonies. Thus reduced to a purely passive role, the Americans were entirely unschooled in politics and administration. In this
complaint Bolvar anticipated what later became a clich of historians
and others for explaining the revolutions and related ills of postindepen-

xl | Introduction
dence Latin America, and obviously he was guilty of exaggeration.
While only exceptionally did colonial-born subjects become viceroys or
captains-general or occupy other high oces, they inevitably occupied
most local oces and lled much of the midlevel bureaucratic apparatus.
Not only that, but informally and unocially they exerted signicant
inuence on the decisions of Spanish-born administrators, through
informal negotiation and social pressures.
Yet in Bolvars view there was more to the problem than just the
political repression and exclusion associated with the colonial regime, for
another obstacle dicult to overcome was the heterogeneous and indeterminate nature of the population itself. As he declared at Angostura,
Our people are not European, nor North American, but are closer to a
blend of Africa and America than an emanation from Europe, for even
Spain herself lacks European identity because of her African blood, her
institutions, and her character. It is impossible to say with certainty to
which human family we belong. . . . [T]he European has mixed with the
American and the African, and the African has mixed with the Indian
and with the European. All born in the womb of our common Mother,
our Fathers, dierent in origin and blood, are foreigners, and all dier
visibly in the color of their skin. In this passage Bolvar obviously was
not describing the Spanish American people as the end result of a melting-pot experience, nor was he looking forward to a future of multiculturalism. Instead, he was sketching a condition of latent disunity in
which it was hard even to identify the disparate elements of society.
Thanks in part to the ignorance, tyranny, and vice of the colonial system, those elements were all too often inherently unruly, a trait which
wartime experiences had only magnied; hence Bolvars somber warning, in a letter of , I fear peace more than war.7
The pardos were a particular cause of concern to Bolvar, who in his
correspondence expressed his fear of African hordes8 and repeatedly
raised the specter of pardocracy.9 Such comments did not arise from
innate racism on Bolvars part, for he readily accepted that racial dierences were nothing more than an accident of skin,10 and he consistently supported the principle of legal equality for all inhabitants regardless
of that or other accidents of birth. Instead, what he dreaded was that
the pardos might join together along racial lines to seek power for themselves as pardos, in opposition to his own ocially colorblind project of
liberation. As he stated in the manifesto that he issued concerning the
execution of the pardo general Manuel Piar, the revolution had already

Introduction | xli
oered equal rights and opportunity to all; therefore, any attempt to set
one race against another was an intolerable threat to patriotic unity.
Even though Bolvar never lost sight of that pressing need for unity,
and for a strong central executive to somehow bring order out of chaos
and lead his compatriots on the way to political and social virtue, the
details of his specic recommendations varied over time. He also marshaled a variety of historical antecedents as lessons and examples; and
curiously perhaps, in view of his insistence that institutions must be
molded to particular local circumstances, he seldom looked to Spanish
Americas own heritageeither Hispanic or Native American (or much
less African). When cataloging the iniquities of Spanish rule, he did not
neglect to include the injustice of the Conquest itself or the subsequent
oppression of the original inhabitants, but it never occurred to him to
model any of the institutions he proposed on those of the preconquest
civilizations or to suggest the title of Inca (as Miranda did)11 for an independent head of state. As for the agencies and statutes of the Spanish
colonial regime, they were to be excoriated rather than adapted for
republican use. The Spanish liberals, of course, looked still further back,
to the parliamentary institutions of medieval Spain, which they took as
precedents for the Cdiz Constitution of that they hoped would
serve as an enlightened basis for peacefully reuniting the Iberian
provinces and overseas territories. However, the bitterness of ghting in
Venezuela and the consequent revulsion against the former mother
countrywhich comes out so clearly in Bolvars decree of war to the
death and in his Manifesto to the Nations of the Worldnot only
made it unthinkable to accept the Spanish constitution but made the
Venezuelan patriots and their leader disinclined to see anything worth
conserving in the Spanish heritage. Only when faced with the disappointments and frustrations of the postwar period did Bolvar come to
take a more positive view of that heritage. He then began rolling back
innovations that he considered to have been premature and declared to
Jos Antonio Pez at the start of his nal dictatorship that he proposed
to base his actions as far as possible on the old laws, less complicated
and more sure and ecacious.12
In his major political texts, Bolvar displayed an impressive familiarity with both ancient and modern European history, from which he
derived certain general principles and numerous concrete examples. One
of the former was his conclusion that laws and institutions were less
important than political and civic virtuein spite of which, of course, he

xlii | Introduction
always insisted with Montesquieu that institutions must be consonant
with a peoples particular circumstances, and he further believed that if
well designed they could encourage virtuous conduct. Among the various political systems of the ancient world, Bolvar especially admired that
of the Roman Republic, and the Bolivian constitution that he considered
his masterpiece was duly sprinkled with Roman-sounding senators, tribunes, and censors. But it also bore a striking resemblance to the system
invented by Augustus Caesar for the early Roman Empire. The Bolivian
president who served for life and chose his own successor calls to mind
Augustus himself, who also served for life and, having no legitimate heir,
chose Tiberius to follow him in oce. Not only that, but the formal
powers vested in the Bolivian president, like those of the rst Roman
emperor, were modest. He would, however, have at his disposal a vast
fund of moral authority along with the advantage of indenite tenure.
In his own contemporary world, Bolvar reserved the highest praise
for the constitutional monarchy of Great Britain, which appeared to
combine executive vigor, personal freedom, and institutional stability in
just the right proportions. A telling example is his proposal to the Congress of Angostura to implant a creole version of the House of Lords, in
the form of a hereditary senate for Venezuela. Bolvar stopped short,
however, of suggesting at any time that Spanish America embrace
monarchy per se, even of the constitutional variety. In support of this
stand he cited miscellaneous lessons of ancient history, but he rested his
case principally once again on an argument in the vein of Montesquieu.
The very depth of Spanish Americas social and ethnic divisions, which
apologists for monarchy insisted could only be bridged through the reverential respect owed to a crowned head (preferably of some ancient
dynasty) in Bolvars opinion made all the more essential a cult of republican equality. Only thus would it be possible to satisfy the aspirations of
so many diverse castes. There is no real evidence that he changed his
mind on this matter even when, in the next-to-last year of his life, his
ministers launched a feasibility study of monarchy as a possible solution
to the problems of Colombia, something that Bolvar was perhaps just a
little slow in disavowing.
Bolvars critics were correct in asserting that his concept of life presidency, which in fact antedated the draft of the Bolivian constitution, was
little more than a form of monarchy in republican trappings. Bolvar nevertheless insisted, not without some reason, that his proposal was an
eminently liberal document. By this he chiey meant that the branches
of government were balanced in such a way as to prevent the abuse of

Introduction | xliii
power. Individual freedoms enjoyed protection as well, to the extent that
in his draft he included not only another call for the abolition of slavery
but a call for the grant of religious tolerance, which was rather more daring for the Spanish America of those years. In the last analysis, however,
in his political thought Bolvar was more concerned with seeing that
government properly interpreted the Rousseaunian general will than
with Lockian guarantees of individual rights. His rejection of doctrinaire
liberal individualism comes out most clearly, perhaps, in the opening
passages of his address to the Convention of Ocaa, at which point
he was already fully convinced that in Colombia liberal reforms had been
carried too far. Moreover, Bolvar never advocated electoral democracy in
the present-day sense. For him as for Rousseau, the general will was not
a simple matter of the opinions expressed by one-half plus one of the
population, and he favored both a restricted right to votealbeit not as
restricted as in Venezuelas First Republicand holding elections as
infrequently as possible. He had, nally, an obvious preference to govern
always with the aid of extraordinary powers, whether by delegation from
the legislative body to deal with a specic emergency or in the form of
outright dictatorship. Even so, he never regarded dictatorship as a longterm solution, invariably assuming that in due course limited, constitutional government (ideally in line with his recommendations) would be
restored.
Bolvars appreciation of things British extended to the area of foreign
policy, where he looked for British protection for the newly independent
Latin American nations. He readily accepted that in dealing with other
countries the British government was guided by national interest, but he
believed that British interest in Latin America revolved around peaceful
trade and investment, both of which he was prepared to welcome. He
was no less prepared to welcome whatever social and cultural inuences
came as a by-product of such economic relations. In trade policy, it is
true, he had a penchant for raising taris, but for scal reasons and not
out of systematic protectionism. And as for the welcoming of investment, Bolvar set a personal example through his persistent eorts to
rent and ultimately sell part of his own patrimony, the Aroa copper
mines in Venezuela, to British businessmen. Similarly, when in Peru, he
recommended that the Peruvian government try to sell state-owned silver mines to the British.13
Bolvar did not display the same degree of condence regarding the
United States. He could be as eusive as anyone in praise of George
Washington, but the failure to take a more active role in support of those

xliv | Introduction
who were ghting to win the same freedom for Spanish America was to
him more reprehensible on the part of the land of Washington than on
that of Great Britain. Concrete frictions that arose with North American
maritime interests as a result of Venezuelan naval warfare in the
Caribbean soured Bolvars rst encounter, at Angostura, with an informal U.S. representative, Baptis Irvine. Then, too, the rapid growth and
development of the United States, while exciting admiration, also raised
concern, and not just because of the danger that its federal institutions
would prove an irresistibly attractive example. The northern republic was
simply too powerful a neighbor for comfort and too potentially expansive.
Those feelings of distrust found their extreme and today best-known
expression in the letter of (to the British minister in Bogot) in
which Bolvar stated that the United States appeared destined to plague
America with miseries in the name of Freedom. He wrote those words
at a time when he was under bitter attack in the North American press
and from some U.S. ocial agents as well for his supposed betrayal of
republican principles, and they were thus among other things a response
to what he regarded as unwarranted hostility and interference in Latin
American aairs. Some years earlier, Bolvars latent distrust of the
northern neighbor can only have reinforced his decision to omit the
United States from the Inter-American system (in eect, Hispanic
American system) for which he had been laying plans since the earliest
stage of the independence movement. However, his primary stated reason for not inviting the United States to the Congress of Panama in
the meeting that he hoped would create a permanent structure of
Hispanic American collaborationwas his conviction that its people,
with their distinctive history and culture, were just too dierent from the
Spanish Americans (too heterogeneous, he said in his May letter
to Santander) for true understanding and cooperation to occur.
Bolvar justied his failure to invite Haiti to the Panama Congress,
despite the crucial aid he had received from the Haitian government in
time of need, on exactly the same grounds of heterogeneity, although
in this case his realistic awareness of independent Haitis pariah status
in the concert of nations no doubt entered in. For that matter, neither
did Bolvar invite Brazil, even if here the omission was not on grounds
of cultural-historical heterogeneity but rather because of the independent Brazilian Empires diplomatic and dynastic ties with continental
European powers hostile to the Spanish American cause. When Vice
President Santander and the Colombian foreign ministry in Bogot
proceeded to invite the United States and Brazil (but not Haiti) to

Introduction | xlv
attend the meeting anyway, Bolvar politely acquiesced, but he could
hardly have been regretful when Brazil sent no delegation and when
neither of the two U. S. delegates arrived for the meeting.14 Indeed,
Pan Americanism as incarnate in the current Organization of American States is something that Bolvar quite explicitly rejected. But despite his slighting of Haiti and Braziland despite the failure of the
Panama Congress to produce the Hispanic American league he had
in mindit is not far-fetched to claim him as a precursor of Latin
American integration.

The Social and Economic Agenda

Old-fashioned historians, of whom there are many still busily writing
about Bolvar, tend to pay scant attention to his economic and social
measures even while praising them generically as wise and benecent.
One of the few things normally mentioned has been his opposition to
slavery, in which he indeed was ahead of most of his class. His limited
eectiveness would be blamed, not altogether unfairly, on the narrower
vision and selsh interests of his associates. Bolvars stand in the matter
had its intellectual roots in the philosophy of the Enlightenment, but his
earliest ocial action was the Carpano decree of , which oered
immediate emancipation only to slaves who took up arms to ght for
independence (and to their family members). It was several years later, in
connection with the military recruitment of slaves in New Granada, that
Bolvar most clearly spelled out his rationale for abolitionism. In his letter of April to Santander, he emphasized the need for an additional source of military manpower but cited the teaching of Montesquieu and the example of Haiti to show the incompatibility of slavery
with the existence of free government and then as clinching argument
pointed to the desirability of freeing blacks so that they could suer their
proportionate share of war casualties. Of course, while the demographic
factor gave some urgency to slave emancipation, Bolvars support for
abolition was not limited to potential soldiers (plus respective dependents). He repeatedly urged total and immediate eradication of slavery; he
simply did not take it upon himself to put it in eect by executive decree.
Bolvars thinking about Spanish Americas Indian population was
more sporadic and in the end less consistent than his views on slavery (or
on the rights of free pardos). No doubt a major reason for the dierence
was the mere fact that in Venezuela itself the Indian population, though
appreciable, was chiey located in peripheral areas, out of sight and out

xlvi | Introduction
of mind. Thus most of his pertinent comments on the subject and measures taken date from the years when his attention was focused on New
Granada, Quito, and above all Peru. On numerous occasions he deplored
the misery in which the native Americans appeared to be living, but his
initial prescriptions were unremarkable, adhering to the conventional
liberal approach of treating the Indians as equal citizens with the same
rights and obligations as anyone else, including the right to private property that necessarily entailed the distribution of communal lands to individual Indian owners. Bolvars support of the nineteenth-century liberal objective of making all property freely transferable was likewise
evident in the articles of his Bolivian constitution abolishing both
entailed estates and ecclesiastical mortmain. But as far as the Indians
were concerned, during his nal dictatorship Bolvar reverted to the
unequal, formally paternalistic, approach of colonial legislation, placing
the Indians under the care of special protectors yet at the same time
restoring the recently suppressed Indian tribute.15 He took the latter step
in large part for scal reasons, but like his general reordering of Indian
policy it reected his growing conviction that the old laws were best, if
only because people were used to them and they were accordingly easier
to enforce.
Apart from his opposition to slavery, the best known of Bolvars initiatives in social policy is his bonus decree. It was, to be sure, a political-military measure, designed to strengthen republican morale at the
expense of enemy partisans whose conscated assets were slated for distribution to patriot veterans. The Venezuelan historian and spokesman
for the social-democratic Accin Democrtica Party, Jos Luis SalcedoBastardo, seized on this decree as a precocious example of agrarian
reformism.16 The maldistribution of landed property was not, however,
a problem that Bolvar addressed in any of his major political documents. He was more concerned with holding out the promise of some
tangible reward to his followers, who formed a broad cross-section of
the Venezuelan populace and among whom the llaneros, redoubtable
ghters of the Orinoco plains, probably cared little about landownershiponly about cattle. A good many patriot ocers, to whom Bolvars
decree oered a more lucrative scale of bonuses, did make good use of
the opportunity to amass ex-royalist assets. Common soldiers were more
likely in the end to sell their bonus certicates to speculators.17
For those eager to present Bolvar as a precursor of fashionable contemporary causes, a better example would perhaps be the decree that he
issued during his nal dictatorship for the conservation of forest

Introduction | xlvii
resources. We can safely imagine that it remained a dead letter in practice, yet in its intent it anticipated some of the aims of modern environmentalism. The one economic matter that consistently held his intention, in any case, was government nance, unglamorous but useful, which
was not an end in itself but a means to accomplish all his political and
military ends. And Bolvars approach to scal policy, grounded in pressing immediate needs rather than the science of economics that was still
in its infancy, was inevitably somewhat heavy-handed, as witness his
repeated calls for summary execution of those who defrauded the public
treasury. His eagerness to maximize treasury receipts largely explains his
tendency to increase tari rates, in spite of a sincere commitment to the
opening of Spanish America to foreign trade and investment (and in
spite of the fact that in reality higher rates did not necessarily yield more
revenue). Toward the end of his career, the same eagerness helps explain
Bolvars restoration of Indian tribute. Nor did he by any means share the
interest of doctrinaire liberals in progressive tinkering with the tax code.
Bolvar was hardly surprised when one of their proud achievements, the
substitution of a novel direct tax for the colonial alcabala or sales tax, produced more complaints than revenue. It was therefore one of the reforms
to be rolled back in the nal years of Gran Colombia.18 Indeed, in no
area was his stated preference for the old laws, as simpler and more
eective, so patent as in scal aairs.

Of Education and Culture

Although untouched by formal higher education, Simn Bolvar stands
out among the military leaders of Latin American independence for the
extent of his humanistic learning. Wherever possible, he would carry a
portable minilibrary with him on campaign. As one who had met and
conversed with luminaries of the world of art and letters during his visits to Europe, he valued any opportunity to engage in cultivated discourse when he encountered a person of similar tastes and breadth of
knowledge; one such was the French ocer Louis Peru de la Croix with
whom he whiled away over a month of waiting at Bucaramanga in ,
during the Convention of Ocaa, discussing history, literature, and philosophy in the broadest sense.19 And when the Guayaquil poet and
politician Jos Joaqun Olmedo sent Bolvar a copy of the ode he had
written in celebration of the victory of Junn, Bolvar wrote back not only
to give thanks but to make some observations (in a generally sprightly
vein) on aspects of poetic style that reected his close familiarity with

xlviii | Introduction
ancient and modern literary classics. It is hard to image either George
Washington or Jos de San Martn doing anything of the sort.
Like other leaders of his period, Bolvar made frequent reference in
his speeches and letters to the importance of education, and unlike a
good many of them, he was giving more than lip service. This was, after
all, one of the prime concerns of the Moral Power that he proposed to
the Congress of Angostura and that later reappeared, in altered guise, in
the Chamber of Censors of his Bolivian constitution. As he went about
liberating provinces, he also went issuing decrees for the establishment of
schoolsand for girls as well as boys, although he was not prepared to
contemplate other than domestic careers for the female sex, even warning his highly capable older sister Mara Antonia that women should not
get mixed up in political aairs.20 For lack of resources, the practical
eect of his educational measures was limited, but it should be noted
that in certain cases he was prepared to devote personal assets to the
cause of public instruction. The best example is his allocation of a part of
the bonus voted him by the Peruvian Congress to cover the expenses of
bringing the English pedagogue Joseph Lancaster to Caracas. It also
appears that the draft he wrote for this purpose against the promised
Peruvian bonus was not honored, since the funds had not been paid as
expected, and that he ended up paying Lancasters travel expenses from
his other resources.21
Bolvars sponsorship of Lancaster is one indication that in the realm
of education he was more open to innovative approaches than in, for
example, government tax policy. Lancaster was the proponent of the
novel method of mutual instruction or each-one-teach-one, whereby
advanced pupils were assigned to help in the instruction of other classmates and thus a single professional teacher could educate a greater
number of children. And Bolvars own original thinking comes out in
his instructions for the education of his nephew Fernando Bolvar, who
after studying rst at Germantown Academy in Philadelphia went on to
the University of Virginia.22 Of particular interest is his recommendation that history should be taught starting with recent events and work
back from there. This was in line with his own approach to history as a
storehouse of lessons for the solution of contemporary problems, but it
does have pedagogic advantages that not all professional historians (least
of all the textbook writers) are prepared to recognize.
The one other educational text in this volume is quite dierent in
spirit, for instead of promoting innovation of any sort, its purpose was to
defend Catholic orthodoxy in Colombian higher education. Adopted

Introduction | xlix
during Bolvars nal dictatorship, it is his decree prohibiting the use of
works by the English philosopher of utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham, and
it represents at rst glance a striking reversal, Bolvar having been an
admirer and correspondent of Bentham, whom he met personally during
his London mission in .23 To Catholic traditionalists, however, Bentham was a dangerously corrupting inuence because of his attempt to
devise an ethical system based on quantitative rationality without regard
to revealed truth. The formal prohibition of Bentham (whose works nevertheless remained in practice readily available to the young) thus served
to consolidate the support of the church and of conservative laymen for
Bolvars government, and he himself, though he no doubt agreed with
Bentham on many points, could scarcely sympathize with the Englishmans call for a general revamping of Spanish American law at the very
time when he was preparing to roll back reforms that may have been
desirable in themselves but for which in his view his countrymen were
not ready.
A somewhat comparable measure was the subsequent decree, issued
as part of the general reaction that followed the September attempt
on Bolvars life, for the prohibition of secret societies. This was directed
primarily against Freemasonry, something that Bolvar had briey dabbled in, while in Paris, during his second visit to Europe. He did not retain an aliation, although many other military and political leaders of
independence became strong supporters of the lodges, as did a good
many of their Spanish opponents. But whether republican or royalist,
the Masons had to defy assorted papal condemnations of their movement. Bolvar, to be sure, dropped out not because of anything the
popes had said but, apparently, because he found Masonic rituals hard
to take seriously.24 However, papal disapproval was reason enough for
conservative clerics to fulminate constantly against Freemasonry, and
the fact that the lodges attracted chiey men who were both political
liberals and anticlerical in matters of religious policy increased the intensity of that opposition. Hence the prohibition of secret societies,
while ostensibly a public-order measureand directed against people
who were mostly aligned with his enemieswas also one more instance
of Bolvars courting of clerical favor during the last stage of his career.
It is easy to discern Bolvars conscious eort to forge an alliance with
the church, of which the decrees just mentioned are only two examples,
but harder to categorize his personal religious beliefs or lack of belief. In
his public papers he was careful to show proper respect for the church as
an institution and for the symbols of Roman Catholicism, even though

l | Introduction
his references to religion tended to emphasize its potential contribution
to social order rather than its spiritual values. At the same time, in private correspondence and in casual remarks attributed to him by others,
Bolvar was often scathing in his attitude toward members of the clergy,
which would not in itself mean that he rejected whatever beliefs the clergy strove to instill yet is quite compatible with the widespread consensus
that he was throughout most of his life an agnostic freethinker.25 Certainly he respected the rights of other men and women to think freely in
matters of religious faith, as he demonstrated by his eloquent call for religious toleration in his address on the Bolivian Constitution. He did not
see t to expend political capital struggling to have that recommendation
actually accepted in Bolivia, or even at home in Colombia, but neither is
there any indication that he had changed his mind on the issue even
when otherwise appeasing the institutional church toward the end of his
life. As much as anything, and regardless of the extent to which he often
felt compelled to compromise his personal beliefs for the sake of some
immediate good, this one stand clearly marks him as an heir of the intellectual Enlightenment.
Notes
. Germn Carrera Damas, El culto a Bolvar (Caracas, ), , , .
. Felipe Larrazbal, La vida y correspondencia general del Libertador Simn
Bolvar, th ed., vols. (New York, ), I, .
. Letter to Francisco de Paula Santander, Arequipa, May , Obras completas del Libertador, vols. (Havana, , or Caracas, [?]), II, .
. The measures cited are in Decretos del Libertador, vols. (Caracas, ). The
same decree that declared universal surage in the case of the military specied
that for the moment only those soldiers could vote who did meet the specied
requirements, on the ground that a truly massive voting by the soldiery in the
midst of war was just not practicable.
. Letter to Daniel F. OLeary, September , Obras, III, .
. A particularly egregious example is Miguel de Pombo, Constitucin de los
Estados Unidos de Amrica . . . precedida de las actas de independencia y federacin
(Bogot, ), reprinted in Javier Ocampo Lpez, La independencia de los Estados
Unidos de Amrica y su proyeccin en Hispanoamrica: el modelo norteamericano y su
repercusin en la independencia de Colombia, un estudio a travs de la folletera de la
independencia de Colombia (Mexico City, ), .
. Letter to Pedro Gual, May , Escritos, xx, .

. Letter to Santander, August , Obras, II, .

. For example, letters to Santander, April , and to Antonio Jos de

Introduction | li
Sucre, May , in Selected Writings of Bolvar, comp. Vicente Lecuna and ed.
Harold A. Bierck Jr., vols. (New York, ), II, , .
. Proclamation of August , Escritos, x, .
. Francisco de Miranda, Textos sobre la independencia (Caracas, ; Biblioteca de la Academia Nacional de la Historia, ), .
. Letter to Pez, June , Obras, II, .
. Paul Verna, Las minas del Libertador (Caracas, ); letter to Santander,
October , Selected Writings, II, .
. Stephen J. Randall, Colombia and the United States: Hegemony and Interdependence (Athens, Ga., ), .
. On these and certain related measures, see my article The Last Dictatorship: Betrayal or Consummation? Hispanic American Historical Review (February ): .
. See esp. Jos Luis Salcedo-Bastardo, Visin y revisin de Bolvar, th ed.
(Buenos Aires, ), , .
. On the priorities of the llaneros, see Germn Carrera Damas, Boves: aspectos socieconmicos de la guerra de independencia (Caracas, ), . The bonus
question is further discussed in Bushnell, The Santander Regime in Gran Colombia (Newark, Del., ; reprint, Westport, Conn., ), .
. Bushnell, The Santander Regime in Gran Colombia, , . This
reversal of policy was actually decreed by Vice President Santander, but he made
clear that he was acting at the behest of Bolvar. Unfortunately, no systematic
study of Bolvars economic and scal policies exists. A useful synthesis is J. Len
Helguera, Bolvar: una interpretacin de su poltica econmica en la teora y en
la prctica, Boletn Histrico (Caracas), (May ): .
. Louis Peru de la Croix, Diario de Bucaramanga, ed. Nicols E. Navarro
(Caracas, , and numerous other editions). There is no reason to assume that
the diarist always recorded accurately what Bolvar had said on a given topic, but
there can be no doubt as to the remarkable breadth of topics discussed.
. For some decrees on school foundation, see Decretos, I, , ,
, , , . His comment to Mara Antonia Bolvar is in the letter of
July , Obras, II, .
. Daro Guevara, Bolvar y Lancaster, Boletn de la Academia Nacional de la
Historia (Caracas) : ( JanuaryMarch ): .
. Jerry W. Knudson, A Venezuelan in Virginia, Virginia Cavalcade (Charlottesville) (Autumn ): .
. Theodora L. McKenna, Jeremy Bentham and the Colombian Liberators, The Americas (April ): .
. Masonic authors naturally tend to exaggerate the intensity and duration
of Bolvars aliation. The most authoritative discussion is Jos A. Ferrer Benimeli, Bolvar y la masonera, Revista de Indias (Madrid) ( JulyDecember
): .

lii | Introduction
. Clerical authors naturally tend to exaggerate the extent of Bolvars religious belief at any stage of his career, and anticlericals tend to minimize or atly
deny it. Easily the best treatment of the topic is Alberto Gutirrez, La iglesia que
entendi el Libertador Simn Bolvar (Bogot, ), which is notably balanced,
whether because or in spite of its authors membership in the Jesuit order.

The Major Political Statements

This page intentionally left blank

The Cartagena Manifesto: Memorial

Addressed to the Citizens of New

Granada by a Citizen from Caracas

Cartagena of the Indies, December

My purpose in writing this memorial is to spare New Granada the fate
of Venezuela and to redeem Venezuela from the aiction it now suers.1
Please deign, fellow citizens, to accept it with indulgence out of respect
for such admirable intentions.
I am, Granadans, a son of unhappy Caracas who, miraculously
escaped from amid her physical and political ruins and ever faithful to
the just and liberal system proclaimed by my country, now follow the
banners of independence uttering so gloriously in these States.
Allow me, inspired by a patriotic zeal that emboldens me to address
you, to sketch for you the causes that led Venezuela to her destruction,
and to atter myself that the terrible and exemplary lessons proered by
that extinct Republic will persuade America to improve her own conduct, correcting the failures of unity, strength, and vigor manifest in her
several governments.
The most grievous error committed by Venezuela as she entered the
political arena was undoubtedly her fatal adoption of the governing ideal of tolerance, an ideal immediately rejected as weak and ineective by
everyone of good sense, yet tenaciously maintained right up to the end
with unparalleled blindness.
The rst signs our government gave of its folly were manifested when
it refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the subject city of Coro and
declared it insurgent and treated it as a hostile power.
Instead of subjugating that defenseless city, which was ready to surrender as soon as our maritime forces came into view, the Supreme Junta allowed it to build up its defenses and adopt an attitude of such

4 | The Major Political Statements

deance that it later managed to humble the entire federation, almost as
easily as we might initially have humbled it. The operating principle of
our Junta was apparently the mistaken notion of human nature that
restrains any government from liberating by force any town too stupid to
see the value of its rights.
The operating codes our leaders consulted werent those they might
have learned from any practical science of governance, but those formulated by certain worthy visionaries who, conceiving some ethereal republic, sought to achieve political perfection on the presumption of the perfectibility of the human species. So we ended up with philosophers for
generals, philanthropy for legislation, dialectics for tactics, and sophists
for soldiers. This subversion of principles and aairs shook the social
order to its core, and naturally enough the State rushed with giant steps
toward universal dissolution, which was not long in coming.
This led to the notion of impunity for crimes against the State committed so audaciously by malcontents, and particularly by our born, implacable enemies, the European Spaniards, who remained in our country
for the malicious purpose of provoking endless unrest and fomenting as
many conspiracies as our judges allowed, always pardoning them, even
when their plots were of such magnitude as to threaten the health of the
nation.
The doctrine behind this conduct had its origin in the philanthropic
maxims of certain writers who defend the idea that no one has the right
to take the life of a human being, even one who has committed the crime
of treason against the State.
Shielded by this pious doctrine, each conspiracy was followed by a
pardon, and each pardon by another conspiracy, subsequently pardoned,
because, you know, liberal governments feel obliged to distinguish themselves by the quality of mercy. But this is a criminal mercy that contributed more than anything else to the destruction of the machine we
had not yet nished building!
This was the source of the determined opposition to the practice of
calling up veteran troops, disciplined and capable of appearing on the
eld of battle, fully trained and ready to defend freedom with success and
glory. Instead, countless poorly disciplined militias were established,
which had the eect not only of exhausting the national treasury with
exorbitant salaries but also of destroying agriculture, tearing the farm
workers away from their farms, and turning the government into an
object of hatred, because it forced them to take up arms and abandon
their families.

The Major Political Statements | 5

Republics, we are told by our statesmen, do not require salaried soldiers to maintain their freedom. Every citizen will become a soldier
when the enemy attacks. Greece, Rome, Venice, Genoa, Switzerland,
Holland, and recently North America defeated their enemies without
the help of mercenary troops, who are ever ready to uphold despotism
and subjugate their fellow citizens.
The simple-minded were easily taken in by these impolitic and
imprecise arguments, but they did not fool the prudent, who were well
aware of the immense dierence existing between nations, times, and the
customs of those republics and ours. It is true that they did not pay for
standing armies, but that was because in antiquity there were none, and
they entrusted their salvation and the glory of the State entirely to their
political virtues, Spartan habits, and military character, qualities we are
far from possessing. With regard to modern republics that have thrown
o the yoke of their tyrants, it is no secret that they did so by maintaining a strong enough veteran contingent to guarantee their security. One
exception to this rule is North America: being at peace with the rest of
the world and surrounded by oceans, they saw no need in recent years to
maintain an army of veteran troops to defend their borders and towns.
Venezuela learned the error of its policy the hard way: the militiamen,
marching against the enemy with no training in the use of their weapons
and unaccustomed to discipline and obedience, were routed at the very
outset of this last campaign, despite the heroic and extraordinary eorts
of the ocers to spur them on to victory. This produced a mood of general discouragement in both soldiers and ocers, as it is a military truism
that only seasoned armies are capable of overcoming the initial setbacks
in a campaign. The novice soldier thinks all is lost if he suers a defeat,
because experience has not yet shown him that courage, skill, and persistence can make up for bad fortune.
The subdivision of the Province of Caracas, which was planned, discussed, and sanctioned by the federal Congress, aroused and fomented
an implacable rivalry in the smaller cities and towns against the capital,
which was, according to members of Congress, anxious to gain power
and inuence in their districts, the tyrant of cities and leech of the
state.2 This is how the ames of civil insurrection were fanned in Valencia and never extinguished even with the defeat of that city but, still
burning secretly, spread from neighboring towns to Coro and Maracaibo
where they took on greater intensity and thus facilitated the entry of the
Spaniards, bringing about the fall of Venezuela.
The waste of public revenues on frivolous and harmful items and in

6 | The Major Political Statements

particular, salaries for hordes of oce workers, secretaries, judges, magistrates, and local and federal legislators, dealt a mortal blow to the
Republic, because it was forced to turn to the dangerous expedient of
printing paper money, with no guarantee other than the power and
anticipated revenues of the confederation. This new money seemed to
most a clear violation of the rights of property, because they imagined
themselves stripped of objects of intrinsic value in exchange for others
whose value was uncertain or even illusory. The paper money exacerbated the discontent of the stolid citizens of the interior, who called on the
commandant of the Spanish troops to come and liberate them from a
currency they regarded as more monstrous than slavery.
But what most weakened the government of Venezuela was the federalist structure it adopted, embodying the exaggerated notion of the
rights of man. By stipulating that each man should rule himself, this idea
undermines social pacts and constitutes nations in a state of anarchy.
Such was the true state of the confederation. Each province governed
itself independently, and following this example, each city claimed equal
privilege, citing the practice of the provinces and the theory that all men
and all peoples have the right to institute whatever form of government
they choose.
The federal system, although it is the most perfect and the most suitable for guaranteeing human happiness in society, is, notwithstanding,
the form most inimical to the interests of our emerging states. Generally speaking, our fellow citizens are not yet ready to take on the full and
independent exercise of their rights, because they lack the political
virtues marking the true citizen of a republic. Such virtues are impossible to attain in absolutist governments, where there is no training in the
rights or duties of citizenship.
On the other hand, is there a country anywhere, no matter how sensible and republican it is, capable of ruling itself during times of internal
unrest and external warfare by a system as complicated and weak as a
federalist government? It would not be possible to maintain order during
the tumult of battle and internal factionalism. The government must
necessarily adjust itself, so to speak, to the context of the times, men, and
circumstances in which it operates. If these are prosperous and serene, it
has to be gentle and protective, but if they are calamitous and turbulent,
it has to be severe and armed with a strength equal to the dangers, without regard for laws or constitutions until such time as happiness and
peace are restored.
Caracas had to suer greatly because of aws in the confederation,

The Major Political Statements | 7

which far from being helpful exhausted her revenues and military supplies. When danger threatened, it abandoned the city to her own devices,
without providing even minimal military support. Moreover, it exacerbated her problems by encouraging competition between the federal and
the local authority, which allowed the enemy to reach the very heart of
the State and occupy a large sector of the province before there was time
to resolve the question of which troops, federal or provincial, should
drive them back. This fatal dispute produced a delay that had terrible
consequences for our forces, which were defeated in San Carlos before
the reinforcements needed for victory arrived.
I am of the opinion that until we centralize our American governments, our enemies will gain irreversible advantages. We will be
inevitably embroiled in the horrors of civil dissension and ingloriously
defeated by that handful of bandits infesting our territories.
The popular elections conducted by the rustic inhabitants of the
countryside and by the intriguers living in the cities pose an additional
obstacle to the practice of federation among us, because the former are so
ignorant that they vote mechanically while the latter are so ambitious
that they turn everything into factions. Therefore, we never experienced
a free, correct election in Venezuela, so that the government ended up in
the hands of men who were incompetent, corrupt, or uncommitted to
the cause of independence. The party spirit prevailed in all matters, causing more chaos than the events themselves. Our division, not the Spanish forces, reduced us to slavery.
It is true that the earthquake of March was as devastating physically as it was spiritually and can fairly be said to have been the immediate cause of Venezuelas ruin, but this catastrophe would not have
produced such fatal eects if Caracas had been governed by a single authority that could have quickly and vigorously set about repairing the destruction, without the complications and conicts that slowed down the
recovery in the provinces, exacerbating the harm until it was incurable.
If instead of a languid and untenable confederation Caracas had
established a simple government as required by her political and military
situation, you would still exist today, Venezuela, and would be enjoying
your freedom!
Following the earthquake, the ecclesiastical inuence was a considerable factor in the insurrection of the smaller towns and cities and in the
introduction of the enemy into the country, abusing the sanctity of its
ministry most sacrilegiously in favor of those fomenting civil war. Still,
in our naivete we have to confess that these treacherous priests were

8 | The Major Political Statements

encouraged to commit the execrable crimes they have been accused of
because impunity for crimes was absolute, a situation scandalously abetted by the Congress. This travesty of justice reached such a height that
after the insurrection of the city of Valencia, whose pacication cost
nearly a thousand lives, not a single rebel was made to answer to the law;
all of them left with their lives intact and most of them with their property unconscated.
From the foregoing, it is clear that among the causes leading to the
fall of Venezuela, rst was the nature of her constitution, which was, I
repeat, as inimical to her interests as it was favorable to those of her enemies. Second was the spirit of misanthropy that took hold of our governors. Third was the opposition to the establishment of a standing army
that could have saved the Republic and warded o the blows dealt by the
Spaniards. Fourth was the earthquake accompanied by the fanaticism
that gave such dire interpretations to this event. Finally, there were the
internal factions that were in reality the mortal poison that pushed the
country into her grave.
These examples of errors and misfortunes are not void of value for the
peoples of South America who aspire to freedom and independence.
New Granada has witnessed the collapse of Venezuela; in consequence it ought to avoid the reefs that destroyed her. To this end I present as an indispensable measure for the security of New Granada the
reconquest of Caracas. On the surface this project will seem fruitless,
costly, and perhaps impracticable, but when we examine it deeply, carefully, and with foresight, it is impossible to ignore its necessity and to
neglect carrying it out, once we understand why.
The rst consideration in favor of this operation is the origin of the
destruction of Caracas, which was precisely the disdain with which she
regarded the existence of an enemy that seemed inconsequential, but not
when regarded in its true light.
Certainly, Coro could never have competed with Caracas in terms of
her intrinsic power, but since in the order of human vicissitudes it is not
always the greater physical mass but rather the superiority of moral force
that determines political balance, the government of Venezuela should
not have refrained from extirpating an enemy that despite its apparent
weakness nonetheless had the advantage of support from the following
sources: the province of Maracaibo, including all those subservient to the
[Council of ] Regency; gold and the cooperation of our eternal enemies
the Europeans who live among us; the clerical party, ever addicted to its
master and crony, despotism; and above all, the unwavering support of

The Major Political Statements | 9

every ignorant and superstitious resident of our states. So all it took to
dismantle the machinery of state was for one treasonous ocial to summon the enemy, after which all the exemplary and patriotic eorts performed by the defenders of Caracas could not prevent the fall of an edice already toppling from the blow it received from a single man.
Applying the example of Venezuela to New Granada, and expressing
it algebraically, we could say that Coro is to Caracas what Caracas is to
all America. The danger that threatens this country is related to this formula, because given Spains control over the territory of Venezuela, she
can easily commandeer men, supplies, and munitions enabling her, under
the direction of ocers seasoned in battle against the masters of war, the
French, to penetrate from the provinces of Barinas and Maracaibo to the
very tip of South America.
Spain has a great number of general ocers, ambitious and bold,
accustomed to danger and privation, who would love to come here and
seek an empire to replace the one she just lost.3
It is quite likely that with the decline of fortunes in the Peninsula
there will be a prodigious emigration of men of all kinds, and in particular droves of cardinals, archbishops, bishops, canons, and revolutionary
clergymen capable of subverting not only our tender and hapless states
but of enmeshing the entire New World in frightful anarchy. The religious inuence, the empire of civil and military power, and all the privileges and prestige they can use to seduce the human spirit will be just
that many more instruments available to them in their subjugation of
these territories.
Nothing can stop this emigration from Spain. It is likely that England
will facilitate the exodus of a group whose departure will weaken the
strength of Bonaparte in Spain and strengthen and stabilize their own
power in America. France will not be able to prevent this; neither will
North America; and neither will we, because since none of our countries
possesses a respectable navy, our eorts will be in vain.
These fugitives will no doubt receive a warm welcome in the ports of
Venezuela, since they will be coming to reinforce the oppressors of that
country and to undertake the conquest of the independent States.
They will raise fteen or twenty thousand men who will be quickly
trained by the generals, ocers, sergeants, corporals, and veteran soldiers. This army will be followed by an even more terrible host of ministers, ambassadors, advisors, magistrates, the entire ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the grandees of Spain, whose profession is fraud and intrigue,
and these will be bedecked with ostentatious titles to dazzle the multi-

10 | The Major Political Statements

tudes. This host, spreading like locusts, will swamp everything, pulling
up the seeds and roots of the tree of freedom of Colombia.4 The soldiers
will assault us on the elds of battle, and the latter, from their oces, will
wage war on us with the instruments of seduction and fanaticism.
Therefore, we have no other recourse to guard against these calamities but to quickly pacify our rebellious provinces, and then to turn our
arms against the enemy and in the process prepare a body of soldiers and
ocers worthy of calling themselves the army of the nation.
Everything conspires to make us adopt this measure. Without mentioning the urgent necessity of bolting our doors against the enemy, there
are other equally powerful reasons for taking the oensive, so that to fail
to do so would be an inexcusable military and political mistake. We have
been invaded and are thereby obliged to drive the enemy back across our
borders. In addition, it is a principle of the art of war that defensive warfare is harmful and ruinous to the country conducting it, since it brings
damage with no hope of compensation, whereas hostilities in enemy territory are always advantageous because of the good that results from
harm done to the enemy. Therefore, under no circumstances should we
consent to go on the defensive.
We should consider as well the current state of the enemy, which is in
a very vulnerable position, since most of their creole troops have deserted just when they need to defend Caracas, Puerto Cabello, La Guaira,
Barcelona, Cuman, and Margarita, where they keep their supplies. They
dare not abandon these patriot cities for fear of a general insurrection as
soon as they leave. So it is not impossible that our troops could march all
the way to the gates of Caracas without a battle.
Another advantage is that as soon as we show up in Venezuela, thousands of brave patriots who are anxiously awaiting our arrival to help
them shake o the yoke of their tyrants will join their forces to ours in
defense of freedom.
The nature of the present campaign gives us the opportunity of
reaching Maracaibo through Santa Marta, and Barinas through Ccuta.
Let us take advantage, then, of such a propitious moment; do not let
the reinforcements that could arrive from Spain at any moment totally
change the strategic balance; do not let us lose, perhaps forever, the happy opportunity to assure the fortune of these States.
The honor of New Granada absolutely demands that we teach these
audacious invaders a lesson, pursuing them to their last strongholds.
Since our own glory requires that we undertake the campaign against
Venezuela, to liberate the cradle of Colombian independence, the mar-

The Major Political Statements | 11

tyrs and worthy people of Caracas, whose cries are addressed only to
their beloved compatriots, the Granadans, whom they await with mortal
impatience, as their redeemers, let us march forth to break the chains of
those victims groaning in dungeons, still awaiting salvation from us. Do
not betray their trust; do not be deaf to the pleas of our brothers. Rush
forth to avenge death, to give life to the dying, succor to the oppressed,
and freedom to all.

The Jamaica Letter: Response from a

South American to a Gentleman from

This Island

Kingston, September
I hasten to reply to the letter of August, which you [Henry Cullen]
honored me by writing and which I received with the greatest satisfaction.5
Duly sensitive to the concern you expressed for the fortunes of my
country and your distress over the torments she has suered from the
moment of the discovery until the ravages most recently aicted on her
by the Spaniards, I am nonetheless troubled by the obligation I feel to
respond to your sympathetic questions concerning the most important
aspects of American politics. I nd myself torn between the desire to satisfy the trust you place in me and the diculty of doing so, as much for
lack of documents and books as for my limited knowledge about such an
immense, varied, and mysterious land as the New World.
In my opinion it is impossible to answer the questions you honored
me by asking. Baron von Humboldt himself, with his vast theoretical and
practical knowledge, could scarcely do so with exactitude, because
although some statistical and historical information about America is
known, I dare say that most is shrouded in darkness. Consequently, one
can only oer imprecise conjectures, especially concerning future successes and the true plans of the Americans. Because of our physical geography, the vicissitudes of war, and the unpredictable eects of politics, we
are susceptible to the same uncertainties marking the history of the other nations.
As I feel obliged to address the concerns of your kind and wellmeaning letter, I am inspired to send these lines to you, in which you

The Major Political Statements | 13

will nd not the brilliant ideas you hope for but merely the candid expression of my thoughts.
Three centuries ago, you write, marked the beginning of the atrocities committed by the Spaniards in the vast hemisphere of Columbus.
Atrocities discounted as fables by contemporary historians, simply
because they seem to transcend the limits of human perversity. Modern
critics would never have accepted such horrors as true had they not been
veried by an endless stream of texts documenting the events. The philanthropic bishop of Chiapas, the apostle of America, [Bartolom de] Las
Casas, has bequeathed to posterity a brief account of them, extracted
from the summaries of the indictments brought against the conquistadores in Seville, with testimony by every respectable person living in the
New World at the time, and with the detailed records of the accusations
the tyrants leveled at each other, all of this documented by the most sublime historians of the period. All impartial accounts support the integrity and passion for truth of that friend of humanity, who so fervently and
forcefully denounced before his own government and contemporaries
the most depraved acts of that bloodfest.
How deeply grateful I am to read the passage from your letter where
you write, May the good fortune experienced at that time by the Spanish armies now favor the armies of their enemies, the terribly oppressed
South Americans! I take this wish as a prediction, if justice has any part
in the conicts between men. Success will crown our eorts because the
destiny of America is irrevocably xed; the tie that bound her to Spain is
severed, for it was nothing but an illusion binding together the two sides
of that vast monarchy. What formerly united them now separates them.
The hatred we feel for the Peninsula is greater than the sea separating us
from it; it would be easier to bring the two continents together than to
reconcile the spirits and minds of the two countries. The habit of obedience, a commerce of shared interests, knowledge, and religion; mutual
goodwill; a tender concern for the birthland and glory of our ancestors;
in brief, everything that constituted our hopes came to us from Spain.
This was the source of a principle of adhesion that seemed eternal, even
though the behavior of our rulers undermined that sympathy, or to put it
more accurately, that closeness imposed on us by rule of force. Today, the
opposite is true: death, dishonor, everything harmful threatens us and
makes us fearful. That wicked stepmother is the source of all our suering. The veil has been rent, and now we can see the light; now she wants
to return us to darkness. The chains have been broken, weve been liberated, and now our enemies want to make us slaves. This is why America

14 | The Major Political Statements

ghts with such deance, and it would be rare should such desperate
intensity not bring victory in its wake.
Just because our successes have been partial and intermittent is no
reason to doubt our fortune. In some places the independents win victories, while in others the tyrants seem to be gaining ground. But what is
the nal outcome? Is not the entire New World stirred to action and
armed for defense? If we look around, we observe a simultaneous struggle throughout this hemisphere.
The warlike state of the provinces of the River Plate region has
purged their own territory and extended their victories to upper Peru,
frightening Arequipa and making the royalists of Lima nervous. Almost
a million inhabitants are celebrating their freedom there.
The kingdom of Chile, with its , souls, is resisting the enemies
who seek to dominate it; they seek in vain, because those who previously stopped the Spaniards in their tracks, the free and indomitable Araucanians, are now their neighbors and fellow patriots. Their sublime
example is sucient to prove to them that a people who love their independence will end up winning it.
The Viceroyalty of Peru, whose population exceeds a million and a
half inhabitants, is without a doubt the most submissive, having been
subjected to the greatest sacrices for the royal cause; yet even though
accounts concerning that portion of America have been discouraging,
even there unrest prevails, and the royalists have been unable to withstand the growing threat to most of their provinces.
New Granada, which is so to speak the heart of America, now obeys
a general government, excepting Quito, where Spain manages with great
diculty to contain a hostile population strongly devoted to the cause of
their country, and excepting also the provinces of Panama and Santa
Marta, which sorrowfully endure the tyranny of their rulers. Two and a
half million inhabitants now defend that territory against the Spanish
army commanded by General [Pablo] Morillo, who will in all likelihood
be turned back at the impregnable fortress of Cartagena. But even if he
were to capture it, he would suer great losses and would then lack sucient forces to subjugate the disciplined and courageous inhabitants of
the interior.
As for unfortunate, heroic Venezuela, events there have been so sudden, and the devastation so extreme, that she has been reduced to utter
poverty and frightful desolation, though formerly she was one of the
most beautiful countries, one of the glories of America. Her tyrants rule
over a desert, oppressing only a few sad survivors who, having escaped

The Major Political Statements | 15

death, live a precarious existence. A few women, children, and old men
are the only ones left. Most of her men perished rather than become
slaves, and those who still live ght on furiously in the countryside and
villages of the interior, determined to die or drive back into the sea those
savages insatiable for blood and crime and who rival the rst monsters
who obliterated the primitive tribes of America. Nearly a million people
once lived in Venezuela, and I can say without exaggeration that a fourth
of them have been sacriced by the terrain, the sword, hunger, plague,
and homeless wandering. Except for the earthquake, all of this is the
result of war.
Baron von Humboldt informs us, accurately it would seem, that in
there were ,, people living in New Spain, if we include
Guatemala.6 Since that time, the insurrection that has swept through
almost all those provinces has reduced those numbers substantially; more
than a million men have died, as you will see in the report made by Mr.
Walton, who describes in detail the bloody crimes committed in that
wealthy empire.7 There the struggle is perpetuated by the sacrice of
humans and every other species, for the Spaniards spare no eort to subjugate those who had the misfortune of having been born on that soil,
which seems destined to be drenched with the blood of its children.
Despite all this, the Mexicans will be free because they have embraced
the party of the country and resolved to avenge their ancestors or follow
them to the grave. Now they can say with Raynal, the time has come, at
last, to repay the Spaniards torment for torment and to drown that race
of exterminators in their own blood or in the sea. 8
The islands of Puerto Rico and Cuba, which combined make up a
population of between seven and eight hundred thousand souls, are the
lands most tranquilly possessed by the Spaniards, because they have no
contact with the independents. But are those island dwellers not Americans? Are they not abused? Do they not seek their own good?
This portrait represents a military zone of , leagues of longitude
and leagues of latitude at its widest extension, in which sixteen million Americans defend their rights or live oppressed by the Spanish
nation which, though once the vastest empire on earth, is now reduced
to remnants that can neither dominate the new hemisphere nor even
maintain control of the old. And civilized Europe, merchant, lover of liberty, will she allow a decrepit serpent to devour the most beautiful part of
the globe out of pure venomous rage? What? Is Europe deaf to the clamor of her own interests? Has she no eyes to see justice? Has she become
inured to the suering of others to be this insensitive? The more I think

16 | The Major Political Statements

about these questions, the more bewildered I become. I almost believe
that Europe would prefer for America to simply disappear. But this is
impossible, because Europe isnt just Spain.
Ah, the madness of our enemy, to want to conquer America once
again, without a navy, with no money in the treasury, almost without any
soldiers! The few she has are scarcely enough to keep her own people in
a state of forced obedience and to defend herself against her neighbors.
Besides, is there any way that this nation could control the commerce of
half the world without a manufacturing base, with no productivity from
the land, with no art, no sciences, no clear policy? Even if such a mad
project were realized, and even supposing that they managed to pacify
their empire, would not the children of todays Americans, allied with
the children of their European conquerors, within a single generation,
feel a resurgence of the same patriotic aspirations for which they now
struggle and die?
Europe could do Spain a favor by dissuading her from this reckless
course; she would at the very least avoid the waste of funds and the shedding of blood, so that by focusing on her own immediate interests she
could begin to rebuild her prosperity and power on foundations far more
solid than these uncertain conquests, precarious commercial enterprises,
and violent pillaging in lands that are remote, hostile, and powerful.
Europe herself, with an eye to rational foreign relations, should have prepared and carried out the project of American independence, not only
because world equilibrium demands it but because this is the legitimate
and sure way to acquire overseas markets. Europe, unaicted by the violent passions of vengeance, ambition, and greed motivating Spain, would
have been fully justied by reasons of fairness and enlightenment to proceed on this course dictated by her own best interests.
There is unanimous agreement in this regard among all the writers
who have treated the topic. Consequently, we were justied in expecting
all civilized nations to rush to our aid, helping us achieve a goal whose
advantages are mutual to both hemispheres. Never were reasonable
hopes so frustrated! Not only the Europeans but even our brothers to
the north stood apart as idle spectators of this struggle, which is in
essence the most just and in outcome the most beautiful and important
of any ever undertaken in ancient or modern times. Truly, is there any
way to calculate the transcendent eects of freedom for Columbuss
hemisphere?
You state that Bonapartes felonious seizure of Carlos IV and Fernando VII, kings of this nation which three centuries earlier treacher-

The Major Political Statements | 17

ously imprisoned two monarchs of South America, is quite clearly an act
of divine retribution, as well as proof that God supports the just cause of
the Americans and will grant them their independence.
I believe you are alluding to Montezuma, the monarch of Mexico,
captured and killed by Cortez according to Herrera, though Sols says
the Mexican people killed him,9 and Atahualpa, the Inca of Peru,
destroyed by Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. However, there is
such a dierence between the fortunes of the Spanish kings and the
American kings that no comparison is valid; the rst were treated with
dignity, allowed to live, and ultimately restored to freedom and power,
while the latter suered unimaginable torture and shameful abuse. If
Cuauhtemoc, Montezumas successor, was treated as emperor and
crowned, it was out of ridicule, not respect, a way of mocking him before
torturing him. Similar abuse befell Catzontzin, king of Michoacn, as
well as the Zipa of Bogot, and innumerable toquis, imas, zipas,
ulmenes, caciques, and other Indian dignitaries who succumbed to Spanish power. The case of Fernando VII is comparable to what happened in
Chile in to the ulmen of Copiap, who ruled that region at that
time. The Spaniard Almagro pretended, as did Bonaparte, to support the
claim of the legitimate sovereign, and therefore he summoned the usurper, which was Fernandos position in Spain; pretending to restore the
legitimate ruler to his estates, he ended up imprisoning and burning
the poor ulmen alive, without even allowing him to speak in his own
defense. This parallels the example of Fernando VII and his usurper.
The European kings only suer exile; the ulmen of Chile loses his life
atrociously.10
After several months, you add, I have thought much about the situation of the Americans and their hopes for the future. I take a keen
interest in what happens there, but I lack much information related to
their current circumstances and regarding their aspirations. I greatly
desire to know the political situation of each province, as well as the
approximate population, and whether they prefer republics or monarchies and whether they will establish a great republic or a great monarchy. I will greatly appreciate any information you can provide relevant to
these matters or sources I can consult.
Generous souls are ever interested in the lot of a people who strive to
recover the rights with which the Creator, or nature, has endowed them,
and one would have to be in the grip of error or passion to reject such a
noble sentiment. You have invested serious thought and interest in my
country, and this act of benevolence inspires my most vivid appreciation.

18 | The Major Political Statements

My estimate of the population is based on approximate calculation,

which a thousand circumstances render erroneous and whose inexactitude is not easy to remedy, because most of the inhabitants live in rustic
and sometimes impermanent dwellings, as they are farmers, shepherds,
nomads, lost in the middle of vast, thick forests, solitary plains, often
isolated by lakes and torrential rivers. Who could come up with complete and accurate statistical data for such regions? Moreover, the taxes
demanded of the natives, the painful experiences of the slaves, the obligation of oering rst fruits, tithes, and other tributes demanded of
farmers, as well as other circumstances, lead many wretched Americans
to avoid their homes. Not to mention the genocide that has already decimated the population and frightened even more into hiding. Thus, the
diculties are insuperable and the census will likely include only half
the true count.
It is even more dicult to predict the future lot of the New World, or
to make denitive statements about its politics, or to make prophecies
about the form of government it will adopt. Any idea relative to the
future of this land seems to me to be purely speculative. Could anyone
have foreseen, when the human race was in its infancy, besieged by so
much uncertainty, ignorance, and error, what particular regime it would
embrace for its own survival? Who would have dared predict that one
nation would be a republic or another a monarchy, that this one would be
unimportant, that one great? In my opinion, this is the image of our situation. We are a small segment of the human race; we possess a world
apart, surrounded by vast seas, new in almost every art and science,
though to some extent old in the practices of civil society. I consider the
current state of America similar to the circumstances surrounding the fall
of the Roman Empire, when each breakaway province formed a political
system suitable to its interests and situation or allied itself to the particular ambitions of a few leaders, families, or corporations. There is,
though, this notable dierence, that those dispersed members reestablished their former nations with the changes demanded by circumstances
or events, while we, who preserve only the barest vestige of what we were
formerly, and who are moreover neither Indians nor Europeans, but a
race halfway between the legitimate owners of the land and the Spanish
usurpersin short, being Americans by birth and endowed with rights
from Europend ourselves forced to defend these rights against the
natives while maintaining our position in the land against the intrusion
of the invaders. Thus, we nd ourselves in the most extraordinary and
complicated situation. Even though it smacks of divination to predict the

The Major Political Statements | 19

outcome of the political path America is following, I venture to oer
some conjectures, which of course I characterize as arbitrary guesses dictated by rational desire, not by any process of probable reasoning.
The posture of those who dwell in the American hemisphere has
been over the centuries purely passive. We were at a level even lower than
servitude, and by that very reason hindered from elevating ourselves to
the enjoyment of freedom. Allow me to oer these considerations to
place the question in context. Slave states are identied as such by virtue
of their constitution or the abuse of it. People are slaves when the government, by its essence or through its vices, tramples and usurps the
rights of the citizen or subject. Applying these principles, we will nd
that America was not only deprived of its freedom but deprived as well
of the opportunity to practice its own active tyranny. Let me explain
what I mean. In absolute regimes, no limits are acknowledged in the
exercise of governmental powers: The will of the great sultan, khan, bey,
and other despots is the supreme law, and this is executed almost arbitrarily by the lesser pashas, khans, and satraps of Turkey and Persia, who
have organized a system of oppression in which subordinates participate
according to the authority entrusted to them. They are in charge of the
civil, military, and political administration as well as the treasury and the
religion. But there is this dierence: The rulers of Isfahan are, after all,
Persians; the viziers of the Grand Vizier are Turks; the sultans of Tartary
are Tartars. China does not seek out military commanders and judges
from the country of Ghengis Khan, who conquered her, even though the
present-day Chinese are direct descendants of those subjugated by the
ancestors of the present-day Tartars.
How dierent it was in our case. From the beginning we were
plagued by a practice that in addition to depriving us of the rights to
which we were entitled left us in a kind of permanent infancy with
respect to public aairs. If we had even been allowed to manage the
domestic aspects of our internal administration, we would understand
the processes and mechanisms of public aairs; then we would enjoy the
personal esteem in the eyes of the public that derives from a certain automatic respect so necessary to maintain during revolutions. This is why I
said that we were deprived of an active tyranny, since we were not
allowed to practice those functions.
The Americans, within the Spanish system still in force, and perhaps
now more than ever, occupy no other place in society than that of servants suited for work or, at best, that of simple consumers, and even this
role is limited by appalling restrictions: for instance, the prohibition

20 | The Major Political Statements

against the cultivation of European crops or the sale of products monopolized by the king, the restriction against the construction of factories
that dont even exist on the peninsula, exclusive privileges for engaging in
commerce even of items that are basic necessities, the barriers between
American provinces, preventing them from establishing contact, or communicating, or doing business with one another. In short, would you like
to know the extent of our destiny? Fields for the cultivation of indigo,
grain, coee, sugar cane, cacao, and cotton, empty prairies for raising cattle, wilderness for hunting ferocious beasts, the bowels of the earth for
excavating gold that will never satisfy the lust of that greedy nation.
So negative was our situation that I can nd no other like it in any
other civilized society, no matter how much I peruse the succession of
epochs and political systems of all nations. To expect that a land so abundantly endowed, so extensive, rich, and populous should remain merely
passive, is this not an outrage and a violation of the rights of humanity?
We were, as I just explained, lost, or worse, absent from the universe
in all things relative to the science of government and the administration
of the state. We were never viceroys, never governors, except in extraordinary circumstances; hardly ever bishops or archbishops; never diplomats; soldiers, only in lower ranks; nobles, but without royal privileges.
In short, we were never leaders, never nanciers, hardly even merchantsall in direct contravention of our institutions.
The emperor Charles V entered into a pact with the discoverers, conquerors, and settlers of America, which is, according to Guerra,11 our
social contract. The monarchs of Spain entered into a solemn contract
with them, stipulating that they performed these acts at their own
expense and risk, without any cost to the royal treasury, and in turn
acknowledging them to be lords of the land, authorized to organize the
administration and function as appellate court, with other exemptions
and privileges too numerous to mention. The king pledged never to
alienate the American provinces, since he held no other jurisdiction than
that of supreme dominion, granting a kind of feudal ownership to the
conquerors and their descendants. At the same time, there exist express
laws exclusively favoring those born of Spanish parents in the new land
in matters of civil and ecclesiastical employment and regarding collection
of taxes. Thus, in obvious violation of the laws and subsequent agreements, those native-born Spaniards have been stripped of the constitutional authority granted them in the code.
From all that I have related, the obvious conclusion is that America
was not ready to break free from the metropolis, as happened so sudden-

The Major Political Statements | 21

ly, because of the eects of the unlawful concessions at Bayonne, and
because of the vicious war which the Regency declared against us, contrary to all right, lacking not only in justice but also in legitimacy.
Concerning the nature of the Spanish governments, their threatening
and hostile decrees, and the entire course of their desperate conduct,
there are articles of the greatest merit in the newspaper El Espaol, written by Mr. Blanco, and since this aspect of our history is very well covered, I will simply mention it in passing. 12
The Americans have made their debut on the world stage suddenly
and without prior knowledge or, to make matters worse, experience in
public aairs, having to enact the eminent roles of legislators, magistrates, ministers of the treasury, diplomats, generals, and all the other
supreme and subordinate authorities that make up the hierarchy of a
well-organized state.
When the French eagles swept over the peninsula, crushing every
fragile government until they were stopped at the walls of Cdiz, we
were left orphaned. Previously we had been delivered up to the mercy of
a foreign usurper; then, attered by the idea of justice we thought we
deserved, and with these nave hopes ever thwarted, nally, unsure of our
future destiny and threatened by anarchy for lack of a legitimate, just,
and liberal government, we threw ourselves headlong into the chaos of
revolution. Our rst impulse was to provide for domestic security, against
the enemies nestled within. Then we looked to guarantee security against
foreign enemies. Authorities were established to replace those we had
just deposed, charged with directing the course of our revolution and
with taking advantage of the propitious circumstance that would make it
possible to set up a constitutional government worthy of the present century and adequate to our situation.
All the new governments started out by establishing popular juntas.
These immediately formulated procedures for the convocation of congresses that produced important changes. Venezuela set up a democratic
federation based on a declaration of the rights of man, maintaining the
balance of powers, and writing general laws favoring civil liberty, freedom of the press, and so forth; nally an independent government was
formed. New Granada modeled itself on the political institutions and the
many reforms established in Venezuela, postulating as the fundamental
basis of its constitution the most exaggerated system of federalism that
ever existed; recently the system has been improved with respect to the
general executive power, which has been provided with all the powers
proper to it. According to what Ive heard, Buenos Aires and Chile have

22 | The Major Political Statements

followed this same line of operations; however, since we are so far away,
and the documents are so rare, and the news is so inexact, I will not presume even to oer an outline of their transactions.
The events in Mexico have been too varied, complex, rapid, and
unfortunate to keep track of the course of the revolution there. We lack,
moreover, the necessary instructive documents to allow us to judge them.
The Mexican independents, from what weve learned, took the rst step
toward insurrection in September , and one year later they had
already centered their government in Zitcuaro and set up a national
junta there, under the auspices of Fernando VII, in whose name the governmental functions were conducted. Due to the vicissitudes of war, this
junta was moved from place to place, and it is likely that it continues to
function today, with the modications imposed by circumstances. They
say that the junta has appointed a supreme general or dictator, the distinguished general [ Jos Mara] Morelos; others insist it is the famous
general [Ignacio Lpez] Rayn. What is certain is that one of these great
men, or both separately, exercise the supreme authority in that country,
and recently a constitution has been drawn up for the administration of
the state. In March , from Zultepec, the government presented a plan
for peace and war to the viceroy of Mexico, conceived with the most profound wisdom. In it the rights of the people were specied, establishing
principles of unquestioned rigor. The junta proposed that war should be
conducted as if it were between brothers and fellow citizens, so that it
wouldnt be more ruthless than between foreign nations, and that human
rights and the rules of war, inviolable even for pagans and savages, ought
to be even more so for Christians, who are subject to a sovereign and to
the same laws. It also proposed that prisoners of war should not be treated as criminals guilty of lse majest, and that those who surrendered
should not be beheaded, but held as hostages for later exchange, and that
peaceful villages should not be razed, or decimated, or their citizens
rounded up for sacrice. It concludes that if this plan were rejected, there
would be strict reprisals. These proposals were rejected with utmost
scorn: No reply at all was given to the national junta; the original documents were publicly burned by the executioner in the plaza of Mexico
City, and the war of extermination was continued by the Spaniards with
their usual rapacity, while the Mexicans and other American nations
refrained from practicing such cruelty, not even putting Spanish prisoners to death. It should be noted that it was considered politic to maintain
the appearance of submission to the king and even to the royal constitution. It seems that the national junta is absolute in the exercise of legisla-

The Major Political Statements | 23

tive, executive, and judicial functions and that the number of its members
is quite limited.
The events on the [South American] mainland have demonstrated
that perfectly representative institutions are not appropriate to our character, our customs, and our current level of knowledge and experience. In
Caracas, party spirit had its origins in the social groups, assemblies, and
popular elections, and these parties returned us to slavery. And just as
Venezuela has been the American republic most advanced in her political institutions, she has also been the clearest example of the impracticality of the democratic and federalist model for our emerging states. In
New Granada, the excessive power of the provincial governments and
the lack of centralization in general have led that precious country to the
situation it nds itself in today []. For this reason, its weak enemies
have managed to survive, against all probability. Until our compatriots
acquire the political skills and virtues that distinguish our brothers to the
north, entirely popular systems, far from being favorable to us, will, I
greatly fear, lead to our ruin. Unfortunately, the acquisition of these qualities to the necessary level would seem to be very remote from us; on the
contrary, we are dominated by the vices contracted under the rule of a
nation like Spain, which has shown itself to excel only in pride, ambition,
vengeance, and greed.
It is harder, says Montesquieu, to rescue a country from slavery
than to enslave a free one. This truth is veried by the annals of every
period in history, which show most free nations being subjected to the
yoke and very few subject nations recovering their freedom. Despite this
convincing evidence, the people of South America have manifested the
inclination to establish liberal and even perfect institutions, an eect, no
doubt, of the instinct all men share of aspiring to the highest possible
degree of happiness, which is invariably achieved in civil societies founded on the principles of justice, freedom, and equality. But are we capable
of maintaining in proper balance the dicult undertaking of a republic?
Is it conceivable that a newly liberated people can be launched into the
sphere of freedom without their wings disintegrating and hurling them
into the abyss, like Icarus? Such a wonder has never been seen, is inconceivable. In consequence, there is no rational basis for such a hope.
More than anyone, I would like to see America become the greatest
nation on earth, regarded not so much for its size and wealth as for its
freedom and glory. Although I aspire to a perfect government for my
country, I cant persuade myself that the New World is ready at this time
to be governed by a grand republic. Since this is impossible, I dare not

24 | The Major Political Statements

wish it, and even less do I desire a universal American monarchy, because
such a project, without even being practical, is also impossible. The abuses that currently exist would not be reformed, and our regeneration
would be fruitless. The American states need the stewardship of paternalistic governments to cure the wounds and ravages of despotism and
war. The metropolis, for example, would be Mexico, which is the only
country capable of assuming that role, because of her intrinsic power,
without which there can be no metropolis. Let us imagine that the Isthmus of Panama were the metropolis, being the central point for all the
extremes of this vast land. Would these not persist in their current state
of lethargy and disorder? For a single government to bring to life, to animate, to marshal all the resources of public prosperity, and to correct,
enlighten, and perfect the New World, it would have to have the powers
of a God, or at least the enlightenment and virtues of all human beings.
The partisan spirit vexing our states would then are up more ercely, since the only source of power capable of quenching it would be far
away. Besides, the notables of the [regional] capitals would balk at the
domination of the metropolitans, whom they would regard as just so
many tyrants. Their jealousy would be so intense that they would compare them to the hateful Spaniards. In short, such a monarchy would be
a monstrous colossus, whose own weight would bring it down at the least
convulsion.
M. de Pradt has wisely divided America into fteen or seventeen
independent states, each governed by its own monarch.13 I concur with
such a division, because America is large enough to support the creation
of seventeen nations. As for his second point, although it would be quite
simple to achieve, it is less practical, so I am opposed to the idea of
American monarchies. Here are my reasons: Rightly understood, the
interest of a republic is limited to concerns about its preservation, prosperity, and glory. Since freedom exercises no power, because it is directly
opposed to it, there is nothing to motivate republicans to extend the borders of their nation, in detriment of their own resources, for the mere
purpose of forcing their neighbors to participate in a liberal constitution.
They acquire no new rights; they derive no advantage by defeating them,
unless they follow Romes example in reducing them to colonies, either
conquered or allied. Such notions and examples are in direct opposition
to the principles of justice of republican systems. I will go even further:
They are in clear opposition to the interests of their citizens, because a
state that is too large in itself or in conjunction with its dependent territories ultimately falls into decadence and converts its free form into

The Major Political Statements | 25

tyranny. It relaxes the principles that were meant to preserve it and lapses ultimately into despotism. The unique quality of small republics is
their permanence, while large ones suer a variety of changes, always
tending toward empire. Almost all small republics have been long-lasting; the only large one that lasted for several centuries was Rome, but
that was because the capital was a republic while the rest of its possessions were governed by dierent laws and institutions.
The politics of a king is quite dierent, his inclination being directed
constantly to the increase of his possessions, wealth, and powerswith
good reason, because his authority grows with these acquisitions both in
the eyes of his neighbors and in those of his own subjects, who come to
fear him as a power as formidable as his empire, which is maintained
through war and conquest. For these reasons I believe that Americans,
desirous of peace, sciences, art, commerce, and agriculture, would prefer
republics to kingdoms, and it seems to me that these desires are also in
keeping with the aspirations of Europe.
Of all popular and representative systems I nd the federalist system
too perfect, in that it requires political virtues and skills far superior to
ours. For the same reason I reject the monarchical blend of aristocracy
and democracy, which has brought such fortune and splendor to England. Since the most perfected form of republic and monarchy is beyond
our capacity, let us avoid falling into demagogic anarchy or monocratic
tyranny. Let us seek a middle way between these opposite extremes,
either of which will lead us to founder on the identical reefs of misery
and dishonor. In an eort to resolve my doubts about the future lot of
America, I will venture the following suggestion: Let us strive not for the
best but for the most likely of attainment.
For reasons of geography, wealth, population, and character, I imagine that the Mexicans will initially attempt to establish a representative
republic, granting great power to the executive, concentrating it in a single individual who, if he performs his duties properly and fairly, will
almost certainly hold his authority for life. Should he, through incompetence or violent exercise of power, stir up a successful popular revolt, this
same executive power may end up being conferred on an assembly. If the
ruling party is military or aristocratic, it will likely demand a monarchy,
which will at rst be limited and constitutional but inevitably deteriorate
into absolutism, for we have to concede that nothing is more dicult to
maintain in the political order than a mixed monarchy and that only a
people as patriotic as the English could contain the authority of a king
and sustain the spirit of freedom under a scepter and a crown.

26 | The Major Political Statements

The states of the Isthmus of Panama as far north as Guatemala will

perhaps form a confederation. Its magnicent strategic position between
two great oceans may in time result in a universal emporium, its canals
shortening the distances between worlds and reinforcing commercial ties
between Europe, America, and Asia, bringing tribute to this happy
region from the four quarters of the globe. Here alone, perhaps, it will be
possible to establish a world capital, as Constantine aspired for Byzantium to become for the ancient world.
New Granada will unite with Venezuela if they can agree to form a
central republic, whose capital might be Maracaibo. Or perhaps a new
city named for the philanthropic hero, Las Casas, will be built on the
border of the two countries near the magnicent port of Baha-Honda.
This site, although little known, is advantageous in all respects. It is easily accessible, yet in such a dominant position that it can be made
impregnable. It has a pure, healthy climate, terrain as suitable for agriculture as for raising cattle, and an abundance of wood for construction.
The natives who inhabit it would become civilized, and our possessions
would grow with the acquisition of the Goajira [Peninsula]. This nation
would be named Colombia in fair and grateful tribute to the creator of
our hemisphere. Its government might be modeled on the English,
though in place of a king there would be an executive power elected for
life, never hereditary, assuming that a republic is the goal. The senate or
upper legislative body would be hereditary, and during times of political
turmoil it would mediate between the frustrations of the people and
unpopular governmental decrees. Finally, there would be a legislative
body, freely elected, as unencumbered by restrictions as the English
House of Commons. This constitution would borrow elements from all
political forms, though I would hope it would not partake of their vices.
As this Colombia is my country, I have an inalienable right to wish for it
what I believe is best. It is quite possible that New Granada, being
intensely addicted to the federalist system, would not wish to subject
itself to a centralized government. It might, then, form on its own a state
that, if it survived, would attain great prosperity because of the abundance and variety of its resources.
We know little about the opinions prevailing in Buenos Aires, Chile,
and Peru; judging by what can be surmised from appearances, in Buenos
Aires there will be a centralized government dominated by the military
as a consequence of internal divisions and wars abroad. This system will
inevitably degenerate into an oligarchy, or a monarchy with greater or
lesser restrictions, these being impossible to characterize or predict. Such

The Major Political Statements | 27

an outcome would be painful to behold, because the people living there
deserve a more glorious destiny.
The kingdom of Chile is destined, by the nature of its geography, by
the innocent and virtuous customs of its inhabitants, by the example of
its neighbors, the indomitable republicans of Arauco,14 to enjoy the
blessings conferred by the just and gentle laws of a republic. If any American republic is to endure, I am inclined to believe it will be Chile. There,
the spirit of freedom has never waned; the vices of Europe and Asia will
come late or never to corrupt the customs of that far corner of the world.
Its territory is limited; it will always be free of contagion from other peoples; it will not alter its laws, its customs, or its habits; it will preserve its
uniformity in political and religious ideas; in a word, Chile can be free.
Peru, to the contrary, is marked by two elements that are inimical to
any just and liberal regime: gold and slaves. The rst corrupts everything;
the second is inherently corrupt. The soul of a slave rarely manages to
appreciate the wholesome condition of freedom. It turns to rage during
uprisings or to servility in its chains.
Although these truths could be applied to all of America, I believe
they are most justied with regard to Lima, because of the concepts I
have presented and because of her collusion with her Spanish masters
against her own brothers, the illustrious sons of Quito, Chile, and Buenos
Aires. Obviously, to win freedom, some degree of eort is required. I
assume that in Lima, the rich will not tolerate democracy, nor will the
slaves and free pardos tolerate aristocracy. The rich would prefer the
tyranny of a single individual, so as not to suer the violence of the mob,
and also to establish a somewhat peaceful order. It will be a wonder if
Peru manages to recover her independence.
From the foregoing, we can deduce certain consequences: The American provinces are involved in a struggle for emancipation, which will
eventually succeed; a few will constitute themselves as conventional federal and centralized republics; almost inevitably the larger territories will
establish monarchies, some so wretched that they will devour their natural and human resources in present and future revolutions, for it will be
dicult to consolidate a great monarchy, impossible to maintain a great
republic.
The idea of merging the entire New World into a single nation with
a single unifying principle to provide coherence to the parts and to the
whole is both grandiose and impractical. Because it has a common origin, a common language, similar customs, and one religion, we might
conclude that it should be possible for a single government to oversee a

28 | The Major Political Statements

federation of the dierent states eventually to emerge. However, this is
not possible, because America is divided by remote climates, diverse
geographies, conicting interests, and dissimilar characteristics. How
beautiful it would be if the Isthmus of Panama could be for us what
Corinth was for the Greeks! I hope that someday we will have the good
fortune to install there an august congress of the representatives of these
republics, kingdoms, and empires for the purpose of considering and discussing the important issues of peace and war with the nations of the rest
of the world. Such a corporation might conceivably emerge at some
felicitous moment in our regeneration; any other thought is as impractical as the praiseworthy delirium of the Abb de Saint-Pierre, who proposed assembling a European congress to decide the fate and interests of
those nations.15
You go on to write: Important and happy mutations can often be
produced by individual eort. The South Americans have a tradition
that when Quetzalcoatl, the Hermes or Buddha of South America,
vacated his cult and abandoned his followers, he promised to return after
the passage of a specied number of centuries to reestablish his cult and
restore their happiness. Is not this tradition still operative? Does it not
give rise to the conviction that he must return in the near future? Can
you imagine the eect it would produce if an individual should appear
among them manifesting the signs of Quetzalcoatl, this Buddha of the
rainforest, or Mercury, who has been the object of so much discussion in
other countries? Dont you imagine that this would aect each of the
states? Is not unity the only thing needed to encourage them to expel the
Spaniards, their brigades, and every partisan of corrupt Spain, so that
they could then establish a powerful empire with a free government and
benevolent laws?
I believe as you do that individual actions can produce general eects,
especially during revolutions. But it isnt the hero, Quetzalcoatl, great
prophet or god of Anhuac, who would be capable of bestowing the
prodigious benets you propose. This gure is hardly known at all by the
Mexican people, nor highly regarded, for such is the lot of the defeated
even if they are gods. Only historians and literary scholars have dedicated themselves to carefully investigating his origins, his mission, whether
true or false, his prophecies, and the termination of his cult. Questions
still remain as to whether he was an apostle of Christ or a pagan. Some
suggest that his name means Saint Thomas; others, the Plumed Serpent;
and others say that he is the famous prophet of Yucatn, Chilan-Cambal
[Kukulkn]. In a word, most Mexican writers, polemicists, and secular

The Major Political Statements | 29

historians have considered to one degree or another the question about
the true nature of Quetzalcoatl. The fact is, according to Acosta, that he
established a religion whose rites, dogma, and mysteries had a remarkable anity to the religion of Jesus, being perhaps the one most like it.16
Still, many Catholic writers have attempted to dismiss the idea that this
prophet was authentic, refusing to identify him with someone like Saint
Thomas, as other famous authors have done. The general opinion is that
Quetzalcoatl is a divine legislator among the pagan peoples of Anhuac,
and that the great Montezuma derived his authority from him as his representative. From this it can be inferred that our Mexicans would not follow the pagan Quetzalcoatl even if he were to appear in the same benecent forms as in his original manifestation, for they profess the most
intolerant and exclusive religion of all.
Fortunately, those directing Mexican independence have been able to
exploit this fanaticism to great eect, proclaiming the famous Virgin of
Guadalupe as queen of the patriots and invoking her name at every critical moment and raising her image on their ags. In this way, political
enthusiasm has merged with religion to produce a passionate fervor for
the sacred cause of freedom. The veneration of this image in Mexico is
superior to the most exalted rapture that the cleverest prophet could
inspire.
Undoubtedly, unity is what we need to complete our project of regeneration. However, our division is not surprising, for such is the nature of
civil wars, usually fought between two factions: conservatives and reformers. Generally, the former are more numerous, because the rule of
custom inclines us to obedience to established powers; the latter are always less numerous but more passionate and enlightened. In this way
physical mass is balanced by moral force, so that the conict is prolonged
and the results are uncertain. Fortunately, in our case, mass has followed
intelligence.
I will tell you exactly what we need to ready ourselves to expel the
Spaniards and form a free government: unity, of course; however, such
unity will not come to us through divine miracle but through sensible
action and well-organized eort. America has come together here because it nds itself abandoned by all other nations, isolated in the world,
without diplomatic relations or military support, and besieged by a
Spain that wields more machinery for war than anything we can amass
in secret.
When success is uncertain, when the state is weak, and when the
undertaking is still remote in time and space, all men vacillate; opinions

30 | The Major Political Statements

are divided, inamed by passion and by the enemy, which seeks to win
easy victory in this way. When we are at last strong, under the auspices of
a liberal nation that lends us its protection, then we will cultivate in harmony the virtues and talents that lead to glory; then we will follow the
majestic path toward abundant prosperity marked out by destiny for
South America; then the arts and sciences that were born in the Orient
and that brought enlightenment to Europe will y to a free Colombia,
which will nourish and shelter them.
Such, sir, are the observations and thoughts that I am honored to
submit for your consideration and which you may correct or reject
according to their merit. I implore you to understand that I have
expressed myself forthrightly, not to be discourteous but because I
believe I am in a position to inform you on these matters.
Yours,

Simn Bolvar

The Angostura Address

February
Sir: Happy is the citizen who, displaying the armorial shield of his command, has the privilege of convoking the representatives of national sovereignty so that they might exercise their will, which is absolute.17 I
number myself among those most favored by Divine Providence, in that
I have the honor of assembling the representatives of the people of
Venezuela in this august congress, the font of legitimate authority, repository of the sovereign will, and arbiter of the destiny of the nation.
In returning to the representatives of the people the supreme power
that had been entrusted to me, I fulll my hearts wishes, those of my fellow citizens, and those of our future generations, who place all hope in
your wisdom, integrity, and prudence. In complying with this pleasant
obligation, I free myself of the immense authority that so overwhelmed
me, as well as the unlimited responsibility that weighed so heavily on my
meager resources. Only undeniable necessity, conjoined with the imperious will of the people, could have imposed on me the terrible and dangerous oce of dictator and supreme chief of the republic. But I breathe
freely once again as I return to you this authority I somehow managed to
exercise, with such peril, diculty, and sorrow, amid the most horrible
tribulations that ever aicted any society.
The republic over which I presided during this period was not marked
by some new political tempest, or bloody war, or even an outburst of
popular anarchy. It was something worsethe upheaval of all disruptive
forces combined, the inundation of an infernal torrent ravaging the soil
of Venezuela. One man, a man like myself, what dikes could he marshal
to hold back the power of such devastation? Adrift on this sea of troubles
I was but the lowly plaything of the revolutionary hurricane tossing me
about like a piece of straw. I could eect neither good nor ill: irresistible
forces controlled the course of events. To attribute them to me would be
unfair, granting me an importance I do not merit. Would you like to

32 | The Major Political Statements

know the authors of the past events and the current situation? Consult
the annals of Spain, of America, of Venezuela; examine the laws of the
Indies, the system of our former rulers, the inuence of religion and foreign domination; observe the rst acts of the republican government, the
ferocity of our enemies, and the national character. Dont question me
about the eects of these upheavals, always so distressing. I can scarcely
be called even the simple instrument of the great forces playing themselves out in Venezuela, yet my life, my conduct, all my public and private
actions are subject to the censure of the people. Representatives, it is you
who must judge them! I submit the history of my command to your
impartial judgment; I will add nothing to excuse it; I have already said all
I have to say in my defense. If I merit your approval, I will have achieved
the sublime title of good citizen, which I prefer to the title of Liberator
bestowed on me by Venezuela, or Peacemaker, given me by Cundinamarca,18 or any other title I may be given by anyone, anywhere.
Legislators! I place in your hands the supreme command of Venezuela. It is now your august duty to dedicate yourselves to the happiness
of the republic: in your hands now rest the balance of our destinies, the
measure of our glory; your hands will seal the decrees that will guarantee
our freedom. At this moment the supreme chief of the republic is but a
mere citizen, and so he wishes to remain until his death. I will, however,
serve as a soldier as long as there are enemies in Venezuela. The nation
has many worthy sons capable of governing her: Talents, virtues, experience, whatever is needed to rule free men, these are the patrimony of
many of those assembled here to represent the people; and beyond this
sovereign body we have citizens who at every stage have shown they have
the courage to confront dangers, the prudence to avoid them, and last,
the skill to govern themselves and to govern others. These illustrious
men will undoubtedly earn the trust of the congress and be given the
responsibility to govern, a charge I relinquished moments ago with all
respect and sincerity.
The continuation of power in the same individual has frequently led
to the demise of democratic governments. Periodic elections are essential
in popular systems, because nothing is so dangerous as to leave power in
the hands of a single citizen over long periods of time. The people grow
accustomed to obeying him, and he grows accustomed to ruling them,
whence come usurpation and tyranny. A just zeal is the guarantee of
republican freedom, and our citizens should properly fear that the same
ruler who has long ruled them will wish to rule them forever.

The Major Political Statements | 33

Having demonstrated through this act my devotion to the freedom of

Venezuela, and aspiring thereby to the glory of being counted among her
most loyal patriots, allow me, Sir, to express with the frankness of a true
member of the republic my respectful thoughts on this Project for a
Constitution, which I take the liberty of oering to you as proof of the
sincerity and candor of my sentiments. As it deals with the well-being of
everyone, I dare to presume that I have the right to be heard by the representatives of the people. I know very well that your wisdom has no
need of counsel, and I know too that my project will perhaps seem illconceived, impracticable. Nonetheless, Sir, kindly accept this eort
which is not so much the eect of a presumptuous whim as it is the tribute of my sincere submission to this congress. In addition, as it is your
function to create a political body and, it could even be said, to create an
entire society, beset by all the hazards inherent in this most dicult and
singular circumstance, perhaps the plea of a citizen can alert you to the
presence of a hidden or unanticipated danger.
Looking back over our past history, we will see what it is that constitutes the Republic of Venezuela.
When America broke free of the Spanish Monarchy, the situation
was similar to the fall of the Roman Empire, when that enormous mass
fell apart in the ancient world. Each fragment formed an independent
nation according to its particular situation or interests, but with this dierence: those fragments ended up reestablishing their former associations. We, on the other hand, do not even retain the vestiges of what
things were like in earlier times; we are not Europeans, nor Indians, but
a species halfway between aboriginal and Spanish. Americans by birth
and Europeans by law, we nd ourselves contending with the natives for
titles of ownership and at the same time trying to maintain our rights in
our birth country against the opposition of the invaders; thus our case is
most extraordinary and complex. But there is more; our lot has always
been purely passive, our political existence nonexistent, so we nd ourselves all the more disadvantaged in our quest for freedom because we
have always occupied a station lower than that of servants. They took
away not only our freedom but even the possibility of exercising an active
domestic tyranny. Allow me to explain this paradox. In an absolute
regime, the authorized power acknowledges no limits. The will of the
despot is the supreme law implemented arbitrarily by the subordinates
who participate in the organized oppression by virtue of the authority
they enjoy. They control all civil, political, military, and religious func-

34 | The Major Political Statements

tions; but the fact is, the Satraps of Persia are Persian, the Pashas of the
Grand Turk are Turks, and the Sultans of Tartary are Tartars. China does
not seek out Mandarins from the birthplace of Ghengis Khan, who conquered her. To the contrary, in America, everything was received from
Spain, which in a very real sense deprived her of the pleasure of exercising active tyranny, since we were given no role in our domestic aairs and
internal administration. This deprivation made it impossible for us to
understand the operation of public aairs; neither could we enjoy the
personal consideration that the sheen of power inspires in the eyes of the
multitudes and that is of such importance in great revolutions. I will say
it just once: We were kept apart, in total ignorance of everything related
to the science of government.
Enslaved by the triple yoke of ignorance, tyranny, and vice, we American people have never experienced knowledge, power, or virtue. As disciples of this pernicious trio of masters, the lessons we learned and the
examples we followed have been purely destructive. Weve been ruled
more by deceit than power and corrupted more by vice than by superstition. Slavery is the daughter of darkness. An ignorant people is the blind
instrument of its own destruction. Ambition and intrigue exploit the
credulity and inexperience of men totally bereft of political, economic, or
civil knowledge. They mistake pure illusion for reality, license for freedom, treason for patriotism, vengeance for justice. Like a robust blind
man deluded by his sense of power, they march forward as condently as
the most clear-sighted, and bouncing from reef to reef, they are unable to
nd the way. A corrupt people can indeed attain freedom but lose it at
once. We endeavor in vain to show them that happiness consists in the
practice of virtue, that the rule of law is more powerful than the rule of
tyrants because the former is inexible and everything must yield to its
benecent rigor, that good habits, not force, are the columns of the law,
and nally that the practice of justice is the practice of freedom. Hence,
legislators, your task is all the more dicult in that you have to reform
men perverted by the illusions of error and unhealthy desire. Freedom,
says Rousseau, is a succulent food but hard to digest. Our weakened citizens will have to strengthen their spirits mightily before they succeed in
digesting the healthful nourishment of freedom. Their arms and legs
numbed by chains, their sight dimmed in dark dungeons, and stricken by
the plague of servility, will they ever be capable of marching with rm
steps toward the august temple of Freedom? Can they approach near
enough to admire its splendid beams of light and breathe its pure air
without oppression?

The Major Political Statements | 35

Think well before choosing, Legislators. Remember, you are to lay the
foundation of a nascent people who can achieve the grandeur Nature
envisioned if you raise its base to the height they deserve. If your actions
are not ruled by the tutelary genius of Venezuela, which should guide you
to an inspired choice of the nature and form of government you will
adopt for the happiness of the people, I say, if you choose incorrectly,
slavery will be the outcome of our transformation.
The annals of past times will present you with thousands of dierent
governments. Focus on the nations that have cast a brilliant light on
earth, and youll conclude with great distress that almost the entire earth
has been, and is still, the victim of its governments. You will observe
many systems for managing men, none that does not oppress them, and
if our habit of regarding the human race as being lovingly guided by
shepherds of men did not lessen the horror of such a shocking spectacle,
we would be appalled to watch our docile species grazing on the surface
of the globe like mindless sheep being led to slaughter for the nourishment of their leaders. It is true that nature endows us at birth with the
instinct for freedom, but whether through laziness or some other proclivity inherent to humankind, it is even truer that we submit serenely to
the shackles that hobble us. As we contemplate this condition of willing
prostitution, it is almost as if we were justied in persuading ourselves
that most men are correct in accepting this humiliating maxim: It is
harder to maintain the equilibrium of freedom than to endure the weight
of tyranny. Would that this maxim, so contrary to the moral imperative
of nature, were false! Would that this maxim were not sanctioned by the
indolence of men with respect to their sacred rights!
Many ancient and modern nations have shaken o oppression, but
rare are those that have succeeded in enjoying even a few precious
moments of freedom; almost at once theyve fallen back into their former
political vices, because it is the people, not their governments, who drag
tyranny in tow. The habit of domination makes them oblivious to the
charms of honor and national prosperity, and they are indierent to the
glory of experiencing true freedom, under the tutelage of laws dictated by
their own will. The annals of world history proclaim this appalling truth.
Only democracy, in my opinion, is conducive to absolute freedom.
But was there ever a democratic government that succeeded in conjoining power, prosperity, and permanence? And on the contrary, have we
not seen aristocracies and monarchies hold together grand and powerful
empires that lasted for centuries and centuries? Is there any government
more ancient than Chinas? Has there ever been a republic that endured

36 | The Major Political Statements

longer than that of Sparta or Venice? Did not the Roman Empire conquer the whole world? Hasnt France had fourteen centuries of monarchy? Who is greater than England? These nations, however, were or still
are aristocracies and monarchies.
Despite these cruel reections, I feel infused with joy over the enormous strides our republic has taken at the outset of her noble destiny.
Loving what is most useful, inspired by what is most just, and aspiring to
perfection as she breaks free of the Spanish nation, Venezuela has
regained her independence, her freedom, her equality, and her national
sovereignty. Constituting herself as a democratic republic, she has outlawed monarchy, distinctions, nobility, and special rights and privileges.
She has established the rights of man, the freedom to work, think, speak,
and write. These eminently liberal decrees can never be too highly
praised for the purity that dictated them. The rst congress of Venezuela
embossed in the annals of our legislation with indelible characters the
majesty of the people, ttingly expressed, when it imprinted its seal on
the social decree most capable of leading to the happiness of a nation. I
have to summon all my energy to express with all the vehemence of
which Im capable the supreme virtue embodied in this immortal Code
of our rights and laws. Yet dare I say it? Do I dare profane with my criticism the sacred tablets of our laws? There are sentiments that cannot be
kept silent in the breast of one who loves his country; they brim over,
driven out by their own intensity, and against the will of the person harboring them, an imperious necessity gives them voice.
I am fully convinced that the government of Venezuela must be
reformed, and that although many distinguished citizens share my
thought, not all of them are daring enough to profess publicly the adoption of new principles. This consideration moves me to take the initiative
in a matter of the greatest seriousness and to commit the audacity of
oering advice to the advisors of the people.
The more I admire the excellence of the federal constitution of
Venezuela, the more convinced I am of the impossibility of its application to our nation. In my opinion, it is a miracle that its model in North
America endures with such prosperity and that it does not fall apart at
the rst manifestation of trouble or danger. Although that country is a
singular model of political and moral virtue, and though freedom was its
cradle and its nursery, and though it is nourished on pure freedomin
brief, although in many respects that nation is unique in the history of
the human raceit is a miracle, I repeat, that a system as weak and complex as federalism ever managed to guide it through circumstances as

The Major Political Statements | 37

dicult and delicate as those of its recent past. But I should say that
however successful this form of government proved for North America,
it never entered my mind to compare the situation and nature of two
states as diametrically dierent as English America and Spanish America. Would it not be dicult to apply to Spain Englands political, civil,
and religious Charter of Liberties? Well, it is even more dicult to adapt
the laws of North America to Venezuela. Do we not read in the Spirit of
the Laws that they must be suitable to the country for which they are
written? That it is an astonishing coincidence for the laws of one nation
to be applicable to another? That they must take into account the physical aspect of the country, its climate, the nature of its terrain, its location,
size, and the way of life of its people? That they must reect the degree
of freedom that the constitution can support, the religion of the inhabitants as well as their inclinations, their standard of living, their number,
their commerce, their customs, and their character? This then is the code
we should consult, not the one written for Washington!
The Venezuelan constitution, despite having taken as its model the
most perfect constitution ever formulated in terms of the correctness of
principles and the benecent eects of its administration, diered essentially from the North American in one cardinal point, undoubtedly the
most important. The congress of Venezuela, like that of North America,
shares some of the powers exercised by the executive. We go even further,
subdividing this power and vesting it in a collective body, which adds the
inconvenience of periodically interrupting or suspending the authority of
the government whenever its members are apart. Our triumvirate lacks,
so to speak, unity, continuity, and individual responsibility; it is incapable
of timely action, continuous existence, real uniformity, direct responsibility. A government dispossessed of everything constituting its moral
authority might as well not exist.
Although the powers of the president of the United States are limited by excessive restrictions, he alone exercises all the governmental functions vested in him by the constitution, and his administration must necessarily be more uniform, consistent, and autonomous than that of an
authority diused among numerous individuals whose composite could
hardly be more monstrous.
The judicial power in Venezuela is similar to the North American;
appointments have no xed duration, but are temporary, not for life; it
enjoys the full independence proper to the judiciary.
In drafting its federalist constitution, the rst congress was more
attentive to the spirit of the provinces than to the solid idea of forming

38 | The Major Political Statements

an indivisible and centralized republic. In this, our legislators bowed to
the rash insistence of those provinces that were bedazzled by the happy
fortune of the people of North America, mistakenly believing that the
blessings that country enjoys are due exclusively to her form of government rather than to the character and customs of her citizens. In eect,
the astonishing prosperity of the United States was an example too
seductive not to be followed. Who can resist the triumphant appeal of
the full and absolute enjoyment of sovereignty, independence, and freedom? Who can resist the love inspired by an intelligent government that
conjoins simultaneously individual and societal rights, that bases the
supreme law of individual behavior on the will of society? Who can resist
the rule of a benevolent government that with a single, active, and powerful hand continually and everywhere directs all of its resources toward
social perfection, which is the only proper goal of human institutions?
But no matter how enticing this magnicent federalist system may
seem to be, it was not conceivable for the Venezuelan people to adopt it
overnight on emerging from their chains. We were not ready for such
bounty; good, as well as evil, is fatal when it comes too suddenly or in
extreme doses. Our moral constitution did not yet possess the necessary
consistency to receive the benet of a completely representative government, one so sublime that it might better suit a republic of saints.
Representatives of the people! You are called to consecrate or annul
whatever portion of our social contract you deem worthy of preservation,
reform, or omission. It falls to you to correct the works of our rst legislators; I almost said, it falls to you to cover over part of the beauty contained in our political code, because not all eyes are capable of withstanding the heavenly light of perfection. The writings of the apostles,
the moral wisdom of Jesus, the divine project sent us by Providence for
the betterment of mankind is a thing so sublime, so holy, that it would
rain re on Constantinople and all of Asia would burst into ame if this
book of peace were suddenly imposed on it as the code of religion, of
laws, and of customs.
Allow me to call the attention of congress to a matter that may be of
vital importance. Let us bear in mind that our people are not European,
nor North American, but are closer to a blend of Africa and America
than an emanation from Europe, for even Spain herself lacks European
identity because of her African blood, her institutions, and her character.
It is impossible to say with certainty to which human family we belong.
Most of the indigenous peoples have been annihilated. The European
has mixed with the American and the African, and the African has

The Major Political Statements | 39

mixed with the Indian and with the European. All born in the womb of
our common mother, our fathers, dierent in origin and blood, are foreigners, and all dier visibly in the color of their skin; this dierence
implies a bond and obligation of the greatest transcendence.
The citizens of Venezuela, governed by a constitution that serves to
interpret Nature, all enjoy a perfect equality. While such equality may
not have been a feature of Athens, France, or North America, it is
important for us to consecrate it in order to correct the dierences that
are so apparent here. As I see it, legislators, the fundamental principle of
our system demands that equality be immediately and exclusively established and put into practice in Venezuela. That all men are born with an
equal right to the benets of society is a truth sanctioned by most wise
men, as is the following: All men are born equally capable of aspiring to
the highest attainments. Well, all men should practice virtue, but not all
do; all should be courageous, but not all are; all should have talent, but
not all do. This is the source of the eective dierence we observe among
the individuals of even the most liberally conceived society. If the principle of political equality is generally recognized, so too is the principle of
physical and moral inequality. Nature makes men unequal, in intelligence, temperament, strength, and character. The laws correct this dierence because they place the individual in society so that education,
industry, the arts, the services, and the virtues can give him a ctitious
equality that is properly called political and social. It was an eminently
benecent inspiration to merge all classes into a single state where diversity would increase along with the propagation of the species. By this
single step, cruel discord has been eradicated. How much jealousy, how
much enmity, how much hatred has been thus avoided!
Having addressed the questions of justice and humanity, let us turn to
politics and society, smoothing the diculties that arise in a system so
simple and natural, but so weak that the slightest adversity upsets and
destroys it. The diversity of origins requires an innitely rm and
innitely delicate touch to manage this heterogeneous society whose
complex structure becomes dislocated, divided, and dissolved at the
slightest alteration.
The most perfect system of government is the one that produces the
greatest possible happiness, the highest level of social security, and the
greatest degree of political stability. Based on the laws enacted by the rst
congress, we have the right to expect that happiness will be the legacy
Venezuela bequeaths her citizens, and with those enacted here by this
assembly we should expect that security and stability will make that hap-

40 | The Major Political Statements

piness eternal. It is your task to resolve this problem. How, after having
broken all the shackles of our former oppression, can we perform the
miraculous labor of preventing the rusty vestiges of our chains from
becoming weapons destructive of our freedom? The relics of Spanish
domination will be with us for many years before we manage to obliterate them: The contagion of despotism pervades our atmosphere, and neither the ames of war nor the details of our wholesome laws have succeeded in purifying the air we breathe. Our hands are now free, but our
hearts still suer the pangs of servitude. Man, said Homer, when he loses his freedom, loses half his spirit.
A republican government has always been, still is, and must ever be
Venezuelas choice. Its bases must be the sovereignty of the people, the
division of powers, civil liberty, the proscription against slavery, the abolition of monarchy and privileged classes. There is no other way to say it:
We need equality in order to reconstitute the race of men, political opinions, and public customs. Then, casting our gaze out over the vast terrain
still left for us to traverse, let us x our attention on the dangers we must
avoid.
Let history serve as our guide in this journey. Athens is the rst to
provide us with the most brilliant example of an absolute democracy, and
simultaneously, that same Athens oers us the most melancholy example of the extreme fragility of this form of government. The wisest legislator of Greece did not see his republic endure ten years, and he suered
the humiliation of acknowledging the inadequacy of absolute democracy for ruling any kind of society, even the most sophisticated, abstemious,
and limited, because it only shines with lightning ashes of freedom. Let
us acknowledge, then, that Solon let the world see past the illusion and
taught it how dicult it is to rule men through laws alone.
The Republic of Sparta, which seemed a chimerical invention, produced more real eects than the ingenious creation of Solon. Glory,
virtue, morality, and consequently national happiness were the results of
the legislation of Lycurgus. Even though two kings in a single state are
two monsters to devour it, Sparta had little to regret from its double
throne, whereas Athens had promised itself the most splendid fortune,
with absolute sovereignty, free election of magistrates, periodically
replaced, and laws that were fair, enlightened, and politic. Pisistratus,
usurper and tyrant, was of more use to Athens than her laws, and Pericles, another usurper, was her most useful citizen. The Republic of
Thebes lasted only as long as Pelopidas and Epaminondas; sometimes it
is men, not principles, who form the essence of governments. Codes, sys-

The Major Political Statements | 41

tems, and statutes, no matter how enlightened they may be, are dead letters that have little inuence on societies. Virtuous men, patriotic men,
erudite men constitute republics!
The Roman constitution produced greater power and fortune than
that of any other nation on earth; in it, there were no provisions for an
exact distribution of powers. The consuls, the senate, and the people
served also as legislators, magistrates, judges; everyone partook of all
powers. The executive power, consisting of two consuls, had the same
aw as that of Sparta. Despite its deformed structure, the republic did
not suer the disastrous discord we might have assumed to be inevitable
from a leadership made up of two individuals equally vested with the
powers of a monarch. A government whose sole inclination was conquest
did not seem designed to secure the happiness of its nation. A monstrous
and purely warlike government lifted Rome to the most brilliant level of
virtue and glory, establishing on earth a Roman Empire to show men
how much can be accomplished by political virtue and how unimportant
institutions are.
Passing from ancient to modern times, we nd England and France
arousing the admiration of all nations and oering eloquent lessons on
every aspect of government. The accomplishment of these two great
peoples shines forth like a radiant meteor, inundating the world with
such a profusion of political lights that today every thinking person
understands the dierence between mans rights and mans responsibilities and what it is that constitutes the virtues and vices of governments.
Everyone can appreciate the intrinsic value of the speculative theories of
modern philosophers and legislators. In short, this star, in its luminous
passage, has ignited even the imagination of the apathetic Spaniards,
who have also hurled themselves into the political maelstrom where,
experimenting with the ephemeral manifestations of freedom, they
quickly discovered their incapacity for living under the gentle dominion
of laws and buried themselves once again in their age-old dungeons illumined only by autos-da-fe.
Now is the moment to repeat, Legislators, the words of the eloquent
Volney from the dedication to his Ruins of Palmyra: To the emerging
countries of the Spanish Indies, to the generous leaders who guide them
toward freedom: let the errors and misfortunes of the ancient world
instruct the new world in wisdom and happiness.19 Let us not forget the
lessons of experience; let the schools of Greece, Rome, France, England,
and America instruct us in the dicult science of creating and preserving nations with laws that are appropriate, just, legitimate, and above all

42 | The Major Political Statements

practical. Never forget that the existence of a government depends not
on its political theory, or its form, or its administrative mechanism, but
on its appropriateness to the nature and character of the nation for which
it is instituted.
Rome and Great Britain are the two outstanding nations of ancient
and modern times; both were born to rule and be free; both were formed
not with brilliant modes of freedom but on solid foundations. Therefore,
Representatives, I suggest that you study the British constitution, which
is the one that seems destined to bring the greatest good to the peoples
who adopt it. However, for all its perfection, I am far from recommending servile imitation of it. When I speak of the British government, I
refer only to its republican features. In fact, how can we use the term
monarchy to describe a system that recognizes popular sovereignty, the
division and balance of powers, civil liberty, freedom of conscience, freedom of the press, and all that is sublime in politics? Can there be greater
freedom in any other form of republic? Can we expect more of any social
order? I recommend this popular constitution to you, its division and
balance of powers, its civil liberties, as the worthiest model for anyone
aspiring to the enjoyment of the rights of man and to all the political
happiness compatible with our fragile nature.
It would require no alteration in our basic laws to adopt a legislature
similar to the British parliament. Like the North Americans, we have
divided the national congress into two chambers: the chamber of representatives and the senate. The rst is very wisely structured: it enjoys all
the powers appropriate to it and is not in need of reform, since the constitution conferred on it the origin, form, and functions demanded by the
people to ensure that their wishes would be legitimately and eectively
represented. If the senate were hereditary instead of elective, it would, I
think, be the base, the bond, and the soul of our republic. During political upheavals, this body would deect lightning away from the government and repulse the waves of popular unrest. Loyal to the government
out of a vested interest in its own preservation, it would always resist any
attempted incursions by the people against the jurisdiction and authority of their magistrates. We should acknowledge it: Most men are
unaware of their true interests and constantly strive to undermine them
in the hands of those who hold them in trust; the individual struggles
against the masses, and the masses against the authorities. Because of
this, it is necessary that in all governments there exist a neutral body to
take the side of the oended, disarming the oender. In order for this
neutral body to maintain its neutrality, it must not owe its existence to

The Major Political Statements | 43

the government or to the people, but should enjoy a complete independence that neither fears nor expects anything from these two sources of
authority. The hereditary senate, being part of the people, shares their
interests, their feelings, and their spirit. Thus it should not be presumed
that a hereditary senate will be detached from the popular will or that it
will neglect its legislative duties. The senators in Rome, the lords in London, have been the solidest of pillars supporting the edice of political
and civil liberties.
These senators will be elected originally by congress. Those who succeed them in the senate are of the highest priority to the government,
which should educate them in a school specically designed to instruct
them as leaders, as the future legislators of the nation. They would learn
the arts, the sciences, and the knowledge needed to adorn the mind of a
public servant, from childhood they would know the career to which
they are destined by Providence, and from an early age they would prepare their spirits for the dignity that awaits them.
The creation of a hereditary senate would in no way violate the principle of political equality; it is not my wish to establish a noble class: to
do that, as a famous republican has said, would be to destroy equality and
freedom simultaneously. I wish, rather, to point out that it is a profession
demanding great knowledge and the means adequate to obtain such
instruction. We should not leave everything to chance and to the results
of elections: The people are more gullible than nature perfected by art,
and although it is true that these senators would have no monopoly on
virtue, it is also true that they would have the advantage of an enlightened education. Moreover, the Liberators of Venezuela are worthy of
occupying forever an exalted rank in the republic that owes them its existence. I believe that posterity would look with regret on the obliteration
of the illustrious names of our rst benefactors. I will go even further: It
is in the public interest, it is Venezuelas debt of gratitude, it is crucial to
our national honor, to preserve with glory throughout posterity this race
of virtuous, prudent, bold men who, overcoming all obstacles, have laid
the foundation of the republic at the cost of the most heroic sacrices. If
the people of Venezuela fail to applaud this elevation of their benefactors, they are unworthy of being free and never will be.
I repeat: A hereditary senate will be the foundation of the legislative
power and therefore the basis of all government. Equally, it will serve as
counterweight for both government and the people, a mediating force to
buer the barbs these eternal rivals are forever hurling at one another. In
all struggles, the calming inuence of a third party functions as an organ

44 | The Major Political Statements

of reconciliation, so the Venezuelan senate will be the stabilizing center
of this edice that is so delicate and susceptible to violent tremors; it will
be the mediator that will calm the storms and maintain harmony
between the members and the head of this political body.
It will be impossible to corrupt a legislative body vested with the
highest honors, dependent only on itself and fearing nothing from the
people, expecting nothing from the governmenta body whose only
purpose is to restrain evil and promote good in all their manifestations
and which is intensely interested in the existence of a society whose failures and successes aect it vitally. It has been said that the British House
of Lords is invaluable to the nation because it provides a bulwark for
freedom; I would add that the Venezuelan senate would be not only a
bulwark for freedom but a nucleus to perpetuate the republic.
The British executive power is vested with all appropriate sovereign authority, but is also fenced in by a triple line of dikes, barriers, and walls. The
executive is head of government, but his ministers and subordinates are
more dependent on the laws than on his authority, because they are
charged with personal responsibility from which not even the imperatives
of royal authority exempt them. The executive is supreme commander of
the army and navy; he makes peace and declares war, but it is parliament
that determines the annual budget for paying these military forces.
Though the courts and judges depend on him, the laws emanate from the
parliament, which enacts them. For the purpose of neutralizing his power,
the person of the king is held sacred and inviolable, but while his head is
spared, his hands are bound to prevent him from taking action. The sovereign of England has three formidable rivals: his cabinet, which must answer both to parliament and to the people; the House of Lords, which
defends the interests of the people as the representative of the nobility
comprising it; and the House of Commons, which serves as organ and
tribune for the British people. Moreover, since the judges are held responsible for the enforcement of the laws, they do not depart from them, and
the administrators of the treasury, being subject to prosecution not only for
their own infractions but even for those committed by the government, are
careful not to misappropriate public funds. However much we examine
the nature of the executive power in England, we nd nothing to make us
revise our opinion that it is the most perfect model, either for a monarchy,
for an aristocracy, or for a democracy. If we apply this executive power to
Venezuela in the person of a president, chosen by the people or their representatives, we will have taken a great step toward national happiness.

The Major Political Statements | 45

Whoever is chosen to carry out these functions will nd himself

much beneted by the constitution: Authorized to do good, he will be
restrained from doing evil, because as long as he follows the laws, his
ministers will cooperate with him, whereas if he tries to get around them,
his own ministers will leave him standing alone before the republic, and
they will even bring charges against him before the senate. When ministers are held responsible for any transgressions committed, it is they who
govern, since it is they who pay the price. One of the greatest advantages
of this system is that it lays a heavy obligation on those closest to the
president to take an active and vested interest in the deliberations of the
government, and to regard their respective department as their own. It
may well be that the president will not be a man of great talent, or great
virtue, yet despite the lack of these essential qualities, he will carry out his
duties in a satisfactory manner, because in such cases the ministry functioning on its own will take responsibility for the state.
No matter how exorbitant the authority of the executive power in
England may seem, it may not be excessive in Venezuela. Here, congress
has bound the hands and even the heads of those in power. This deliberative body has assumed part of the executive functions, going against
Montesquieus maxim that discourages representative bodies from making active resolutions, limiting their role to that of enacting laws and
then waiting to see if they are enforced. Nothing is as contrary to harmony between the powers as this erosion of boundaries. Nothing is as
dangerous with respect to the people as weakness in the executive power. If in a monarchy it has been judged necessary to concede him so many
powers, in a republic these are innitely more indispensable.
If we turn our attention to this dierence, we will discover that the
balance of powers ought to be distributed quite dierently in these two
cases. In a republic, the executive should be the strongest power, because
everything conspires against him; in a monarchy, however, the legislature
should be the strongest, because everything conspires in favor of the
monarch. The veneration professed by the people for their monarch is a
prestige that works powerfully to augment the superstitious respect given to that authority. The splendor of the throne, the crown, and the purple; the formidable support provided by the nobility; the immense
wealth accumulated in a single dynasty over generations; the fraternal
protection that all kings provide to each otherthese are enormous
advantages that militate in favor of royal authority, making it almost limitless. These very advantages, consequently, conrm the necessity of giv-

46 | The Major Political Statements

ing greater authority to a republican president than to a constitutional
monarch.
A republican president is an individual isolated within society, yet
charged with restraining the impetus of the people toward rampant
license and the proclivity of judges and administrators toward abuse of
the laws. He is directly responsible to the legislative body, the senate, and
the peopleone man all alone weathering the combined force of divergent opinions, interests, and passions of society, who according to Carnot
does little more than struggle constantly against the desire to control and
the desire to resist control.20 He is, in short, a single athlete striving
against a multitude of athletes.
This weakness can only be corrected by an unyielding and strategically employed resistance to the opposition inevitably marshaled by the legislature, the judiciary, and the people of a republic. If the executive does
not command all the means properly vested in him by the constitution,
he will inevitably fall into insignicance or be tempted to abuse his power. If that happens, we have the demise of government, followed by anarchy, usurpation, and tyranny. It is natural and just to seek to curtail and
limit executive authority, but we should take care that the bonds used to
restrain be strong but not tight.
Let the entire system of government be strengthened and permanent
balance be established, lest its own fragility be the cause of its decadence.
Precisely because no other form of government is as weak as democracy,
its structure should be all the more solid and its institutions continually
tested for stability. If we fail in this, we can be sure the result will be an
experiment in government rather than a permanent system, an
ungovernable, tumultuous, and anarchic society rather than a social institution in which happiness, peace, and justice rule.
Let us be modest, not presumptuous, in our ambitions, Legislators. It
is unlikely that we can achieve what the human race never achieved,
what even the greatest, wisest nations never accomplished. Untrammeled
freedom, absolute democracy, these are the reefs on which republican
hopes have ever shattered. Take a cursory look at ancient republics, modern republics, and those newly formed; almost all sought to establish
themselves as absolute democracies, and almost all have been frustrated
in their noble aspirations. Men who desire legitimate institutions and
social perfection are certainly laudable, but who ever led them to believe
that they possess the necessary wisdom or practice the requisite virtue
needed to conjoin power with justice? Only the angels, never men, can

The Major Political Statements | 47

exist in a state of freedom, tranquility, and happiness while exercising
supreme power!
The people of Venezuela already enjoy the rights they can legitimately and easily expect to possess, so let us head o the momentum of excessive ambitions that might well lead to the formation of a government
unsuited to them. Let us abandon inappropriate federalist structures as
well as the tripartite executive power: concentrating all that power in a
president, let us entrust him with sucient authority to carry on the
struggle against the diculties inherent in our current situation, the state
of war weighing on us and the kind of external and domestic enemies
against whom we must wage a protracted struggle. Let the legislative
power relinquish the functions belonging to the executive, all the while
acquiring new coherence and new inuence in the balance of powers. Let
the courts be strengthened by the stability and independence of the
judges and by the establishment of juries and civil and criminal codes
that arent dictated by the past or by conquering kings but by the voice of
nature, the cry for justice, and the spirit of wisdom.
My desire is that all branches of government and administration
acquire the degree of vigor that alone can maintain balance, not only
between the constituent parts of government but among the dierent
factions forming our society. It would be of no importance for a political
system to lose its resilience if that weakness did not drag the social body
down with it and disaect the members. The cries of the human race on
battleelds or in angry demonstrations rail against insensitive or blind
legislators who mistakenly believed they could try out whimsical institutions with impunity. Every country on earth has sought freedom, some
by force of arms, others by laws, moving from anarchy to despotism or
from despotism to anarchy; only a few were willing to temper their
ambitions, establishing a mode of government appropriate to their
means, their spirit, and their circumstances.
Let us not aspire to the impossible, lest in reaching for the ring of
freedom we fall into the abyss of tyranny. From absolute freedom,
nations always plunge into absolute power, and the mean between these
two extremes is supreme social freedom. The pernicious idea of unlimited freedom is a product of abstract theories. Let us keep public power
within the limits prescribed by reason and interest, and conform our
national will to the possibilities allowed by the fair distribution of power. And let our civil and criminal legislation rule imperiously over the
judiciary, as stipulated in the constitution; then there will be balance, not

48 | The Major Political Statements

a series of shocks hobbling the progress of the State; society will be unied, not choked with complexity.
The formation of a stable government requires a national resolve
aimed equally and consistently at two goals: the moderation of the general will and the curtailment of public authority. The polarities xing
these two points theoretically are dicult to locate precisely, but the
rule establishing them can, I believe, be described most accurately as
mutual restriction and concentration, intended to minimize the friction
between the will of the people and legitimate authority. This science is
acquired unconsciously through practice and study: the greater the
knowledge, the greater the practical skill, and knowledge grows through
spiritual integrity.
Love of country, love of the law, love of leadersthese noble passions
must occupy the soul of a republican to the exclusion of other concerns.
Venezuelans love their country, but they do not love their laws, for the
latter have been noxious and productive of evil; neither do they love their
leaders, because those of the past have been iniquitous, while those newly elected have yet to prove themselves. If country, law, and the authorities are not held as sacred, society is a morass, an abyss, hand-to-hand
combat between individuals and groups.
To extricate our nascent republic from this chaos, not even the full
weight of our moral faculties will suce unless we can unify our country:
its governmental structure, its legislative body, and its national spirit.
Unity, unity, unitythat must be our motto. If the blood of our citizens
is diverse, let us make it one. If our constitution has divided the powers,
let us unify them. If our laws are moribund relics of every ancient and
modern despotism, let us tear down this monstrous edice and, obliterating even its ruins, build a temple of justice in whose sacred precincts we
can dictate a Venezuelan code of law. If we need to consult monuments
and models of legislation, Great Britain, France, and North America will
oer us theirs.
Popular education should be the highest concern of paternal love for
our congress. Morality and enlightenment are the poles of a republic, so
morality and enlightenment are our rst necessities. From Athens let us
borrow her Areopagus and the guardians of customs and laws; from
Rome, her censors and domestic tribunals; and, using these moral institutions to form a holy alliance, let us renew in the world the idea of a people
not content with merely being free and strong, but aspiring also to be virtuous. From Sparta, we will borrow her austere institutions, and constructing from these three vital springs a fountain of virtue, let us endow

The Major Political Statements | 49

our republic with a fourth power whose dominion is childhood and the
hearts of men, public spirit, wholesome customs, and republican morality.
Let us so constitute this Areopagus that it will keep vigil over the education of our children, over our national system of education, and purify the
corrupted aspects of our republic, denouncing ingratitude, selshness,
coldness of aection for the country, idleness and negligence on the part
of citizens, and condemn the causes of corruption and pernicious examples, correcting our customs with moral castigation, not only against those
who violate them but also those who mock them, not only against those
who attack them but also those who undermine them, not only against
whatever violates the constitution but also whatever violates public respect. The jurisdiction of this truly sacred tribunal should be absolute with
regard to education and instruction, merely advisory with regard to penalties and punishments. Its annals, however, or the registers where its acts
and deliberations, its moral judgments, and the actions of citizens are
recorded, will be our guidebooks of virtue and vice. The people will consult them for their elections, our leaders for their resolutions, and our
judges for their verdicts. An institution such as this, however chimerical it
may seem, is innitely more practicable than others which ancient and
modern legislators have established of far less utility for the human race.
Legislators! Regarding the constitutional project that I have reverently submitted for your judicious consideration, you will observe the spirit
that has dictated it. Upon proposing to you the division of citizens into
active and passive,21 it has been my intention to incite national prosperity by means of the two great levers of industry: work and knowledge. By
stimulating these two great springs of society, we achieve what is most
dicult among men, making them honorable and happy. By placing fair
and prudent restrictions on the Primary and Electoral Assemblies, we
raise the rst dam against popular license, avoiding the sort of blind,
tumultuous convention that has in all periods ratied error in elections
and consequently spread that contagion to our leaders and to the
processes of government. For this primordial act will either generate a
peoples freedom or its slavery.
In augmenting the importance of congress in the balance of powers
by increasing the number of its legislators and by making the senate
hereditary, I have tried to provide a solid base to this rst body of the
nation and to invest it with the gravity necessary to the fulllment of its
supreme functions.
In setting rm boundaries between the executive and judicial branches, it has not been my intention to divide but to bind with the harmo-

50 | The Major Political Statements

nious bonds born of independence these two supreme powers whose
prolonged collision has never failed to bring down one branch or the
other. In seeking to vest the executive with a range of attributes greater
than those it formerly enjoyed, it has not been my desire to authorize a
despot to tyrannize the republic, but to prevent congressional despotism
from being the direct cause of a circle of despotic vicissitudes in which
anarchy is replaced by oligarchy and oligarchy by monocracy. In requesting stability for the judges, the creation of juries, and a new code of laws,
I am simply asking congress to guarantee civil liberty, which is the most
precious, the most just, the most necessary, and in a word the only freedom, since in its absence all others are void. I have requested the correction of the most lamentable abuses aicting our judiciary because of its
origin in that bottomless pit of Spanish legislation, which like time itself
swallows all epochs and all men, the works of madness as well as those of
genius, projects that are sensible and those that are extravagant, monuments to brilliance as well as those to whimsy. This judiciary encyclopedia, a ten-headed monster that until now has been the scourge of the
Hispanic nations, is the most rened instrument of torture that Heavens
wrath ever allowed to be loosed against this hapless empire.
Reecting on the best way to regenerate the character and customs
imposed on us by tyranny and war, I came up with the audacious invention of a Moral Power, drawn from the darkest depths of antiquity and
from those forgotten laws that managed over long periods to preserve
virtue among the Greeks and Romans. It may well be regarded as the
product of a nave delirium, yet perhaps I atter myself that you will not
reject out of hand an idea which, improved by experience and enlightened consideration, may turn out to be very eective.
Appalled by the conict that has prevailed and must always prevail
among us because of the insidious spirit marking federalist government,
I have been persuaded against my will to beg you to adopt centralism and
the consolidation of all the states of Venezuela into a single, indivisible
republic. This measure, which is in my opinion urgent, vital, and potentially redeeming, is of such moment that without it the fruit of our
regeneration will be our death.
It is my duty, legislators, to present you with a true and detailed
account of my political, civil, and military administration, but to do so at
this moment would exhaust your important attention and deprive you of
a time of respite as precious as it is urgent. Consequently, the secretaries
of state will provide congress with separate reports of their dierent

The Major Political Statements | 51

departments, including the documents and archives needed to illustrate
a precise account of the true and positive state of the republic.
I would not burden you with an account of the most noteworthy acts
of my regime if it were not of crucial importance to most Venezuelans. It
is a matter, Sir, of the most important resolutions of this last period.
Atrocious, wicked slavery shrouded the land of Venezuela in its black
veil, and storm clouds darkened the sky, threatening a rain of re. I
implored the protection of the God of humanity, and then redemption
dissipated the storm. Slavery threw o its chains, and Venezuela found
herself regenerated with new and grateful children who converted the
instruments of their captivity into freedoms weapons. Those who were
slaves are now free; those who were previously enemies of a stepmother
are now the defenders of their country. It is unnecessary for me to persuade you of the fairness, necessity, and positive eects of this measure,
for you know the history of the helots, of Spartacus, and of Haiti; you
also know that one cannot be simultaneously free and enslaved except by
violating at one and the same time the natural law, the political laws, and
the civil laws. I leave to your supreme judgment the reform or amendment of all my statutes and decrees, but I beg the conrmation of
absolute freedom for the slaves, just as I would beg for my life and the life
of the republic.
To portray for you the military history of Venezuela would be to
remind you of the history of republican heroism among the ancients; it
would be to tell you that Venezuela has taken her place in the great mural
depicting the sacrices made on the altar of freedom. Nothing could ll
the noble hearts of our generous warriors except the sublime honors that
are reserved for the benefactors of the human race. Fighting not for power, or fortune, or even for glory, but only for liberty, the title of Liberators
of the Republic is their just reward. To this end, establishing a sacred
society comprising these illustrious men, I have instituted the order of
the Liberators of Venezuela. Legislators! As the function of granting
honors and medals falls to you, it is your obligation to carry out this
august act of national gratitude.
Men who have sacriced all the pleasures and wealth they formerly
possessed as a result of their virtues and talents; men who have experienced the depths of cruelty in a terrible war, suering the most painful
deprivations and the most bitter torments; men who deserve so much
from their country demand the attention of the government. Therefore I
have arranged for them to be compensated by the nation. If I have mer-

52 | The Major Political Statements

ited even the least degree of respect from the people, I implore their representatives to hear my appeal in consideration of my meager service. Let
the congress legally conrm the distribution of the nations property that
in the name of the republic I caused to be conferred on those who served
in the Venezuelan army.
Driven to despair at seeing us crush their armies time and time again,
the Spanish court has had the audacity to issue a vain appeal for help
from the generous sovereigns who recently eradicated usurpation and
tyranny from Europe, and who by that same token should be the protectors of the legitimacy and justice of the American cause. Unable to bring
us to our knees by force of arms, Spain reverts to this insidious policy. If
she cannot defeat us, she resorts to the tactic of fear and suspicion: Fernando has humbled himself, confessing that he needs foreign protection
to return us to his ignominious yoke, a yoke that no power on earth will
ever impose on us again! Convinced that she is strong enough to repel
our oppressors, Venezuela has used the ocial channels of government
to issue her ultimatum: She will ght to the death to defend her political
existence, not only against Spain but against all men, should it happen
that all men are suciently depraved to come to the aid of a voracious
government whose only weapons are the ames of the Inquisition and
the will to exterminatea government that no longer seeks colonies or
cities or slaves but deserts, ruins, and tombs. The Declaration of [Independence of ] the Republic of Venezuela is the most glorious, the most
heroic act, the one most worthy of a free people; I now have the honor to
oer to the congress an act already sanctioned by the unanimous expression of the people of Venezuela.
Since the second period of the republic, our army has lacked military
supplies; it has always lacked weapons; it has always lacked munitions
and been poorly equipped. Now, however, the warriors and defenders of
our Independence are armed not only with justice but also with full military strength. Our troops compare favorably with the most select forces
of Europe, since there is no longer an imbalance in destructive power.
We owe these enormous advantages to the unlimited generosity of certain magnanimous foreign citizens who have seen humanity suer and
the cause of reason languish, not as passive spectators but actively, rushing to provide us with whatever the republic needed to further its philanthropic purpose. These friends of humanity are the guardian angels of
America, and we owe them an eternal debt of gratitude, or morea religious commitment to the sacred obligations we have incurred with them.
This national debt, legislators, is the full store of good faith, honor, and

The Major Political Statements | 53

gratitude of Venezuela. Honor it as the sacred ark in which not only the
rights of our benefactors are stored, but also the glory of our loyalty. Let
us perish rather than break a pledge that brought salvation to our country and life to her sons.
The union of New Granada and Venezuela into a single great state
has been the constant wish of the peoples and governments of these
republics. The fortunes of war have authenticated this union so desired
by all Colombians; we are in fact now united. These fraternal peoples
have entrusted their interests, their rights, and their destinies to you. On
contemplating the unication of this immense region, my soul soars to
the heights demanded by such a colossal vista, such an astonishing scene.
Flying from age to age, my imagination reects on the centuries to come,
and as I look down from such a vantage point, amazed at the prosperity,
splendor, and vitality of this vast region, I feel a kind of rapture, as if this
land stood at the very heart of the universe, spread out from coast to
coast between oceans separated by nature and which it is our task to
reunite with long, broad canals. I see her as unier, center, emporium for
the human family, sending out to the entire earth the treasures of silver
and gold hidden in her mountains, extracting health and vitality from
her lush vegetation for the suering men of the old world, communicating her precious secrets to the wise men still unaware of the vast stores of
knowledge and wealth so bountifully provided by nature. I see her seated on the throne of liberty, grasping the scepter of justice, crowned by
glory, and revealing to the old world the majesty of the modern world.
Be so kind, Legislators, as to accept indulgently this profession of my
political vision, the nal wishes of my heart, and the fervent prayers that
I dare address to you in the name of the people. Grant to Venezuela an
eminently popular government, eminently just, eminently moral, that
will fetter oppression, anarchy, and rancor, a government where innocence, humanity, and peace will reign and where equality and freedom
will triumph under the rule of law.
Gentlemen, begin your work; mine is done.
Simn Bolvar

The Bolivian Constitution

i. Address to the Constituent Congress

Lima, May
Legislators! As I oer you this draft of a constitution for Bolivia, I am
overwhelmed by confusion and trepidation, knowing that I have no talent for making laws.22 When I consider that the wisdom of all the ages
is insucient to compose a fundamental code of law that is perfect, and
that the most enlightened legislator can be the direct cause of human
wretchedness and the parody, so to speak, of his own divine ministry,
what can I say of the soldier, born among slaves and entombed in the
deserts of his country, whose political experience is limited to the sight of
captives in chains and their fellow soldiers taking up arms to set them
free? I, a legislator? It would be hard to say which is more foolish, your
delusion or my acquiescence. I dont know who will suer more in this
horrible conict: you, for the harm you should fear concerning the laws
you requested of me, or I, for the opprobrium to which your trust condemns me.
I have summoned all my resources to convey to you my opinion concerning the best way to deal with free men, based on the principles
adopted among civilized peoples, though the lessons of experience
point only to long periods of disaster, interrupted by brief ashes of
good fortune. What guides shall we follow in the shadow of such
gloomy examples?
Legislators! Your duty calls you to resist the blows of two monstrous
foes that do battle with each other reciprocally, both of which will attack
you simultaneously: tyranny and anarchy form a vast ocean of oppression
surrounding a tiny island of freedom that is perpetually pounded by the
violence of the waves and hurricanes that seek unremittingly to sink her.

The Major Political Statements | 55

Behold the sea you hope to traverse in a fragile boat, its pilot utterly
unskilled.
This draft of a constitution for Bolivia proposes four Political Powers,
one having been added, without thereby complicating the classical division of all previous constitutions. The Electoral Power has been given
powers not encompassed in other governments considered among the
most liberal. These powers approach those commonly featured in a federal system. It has seemed to me to be not only convenient and practical
but also easy to grant to the immediate representatives of the people the
privileges most sought by the citizens of that particular department,
province, or canton. There is no higher priority for a citizen than the
election of his legislators, magistrates, judges, and pastors. The electoral
colleges of each province represent their specic needs and interests and
serve to expose infractions of the laws and the abuses of magistrates. I
dare say, with some conviction, that this system of representation features
the rights enjoyed by local governments in confederations. In this way,
new weight has been added to the balance against the Executive, and the
government has acquired additional guarantees, renewed popular support, and new justications for being regarded as preeminent among the
most democratic of governments.
Each ten citizens appoint an elector, so that the nation is represented
by a tenth of its citizens. All that is required is ability, nor is it necessary
to own property to exercise the august function of sovereign, but the
electors must know how to write down their votes, sign their names, and
read the laws. They must practice a trade or a craft that will guarantee an
honest living. The only disqualifying factors are crime, idleness, and total
ignorance. Knowledge and honesty, not money, are the requirements for
exercising public authority.
The Legislative Body is constituted so as to guarantee harmony
among its parts; it will not stand forever divided for lack of a judge to
provide arbitration, as happens where they are only two chambers. Since
there are three branches, conict between two is resolved by the third,
the question being argued by two contending sides, with an impartial
third side deciding the issue. In this way, no useful law will be rejected, or
at least it will have been tested once, twice, and a third time before this
happens. In all negotiations between two adversaries, a third is appointed to settle disputes. Would it not be absurd, in matters so crucial to society, to dispense with this provision dictated by imperious necessity? The
chambers will thus observe toward one another the mutual respect nec-

56 | The Major Political Statements

essary to preserve the unity of the entire body, which must conduct its
deliberations calmly, wisely, and with restrained passion. You will tell me
that in modern times congresses have been composed of two houses.
This is because in England, which has served as the model, the nobility
and the common people had to be represented in two chambers. And if
the same procedure was followed in North America, where there was no
nobility, it is likely that the habit of being under English rule inspired
that imitation. The fact is that two deliberating bodies will inevitably
lead to perpetual conict, and for this reason Sieys preferred only one.23
An absurd classicist.
The rst chamber consists of tribunes and has the power to initiate
laws related to nance, peace, and war. It will conduct direct supervision
of the departments administered by the executive, with minimal intervention by the legislature.
The senators will write the law codes and ecclesiastical regulations
and supervise the courts and the practice of religion. It will be the
responsibility of the senate to appoint the prefects, district judges, governors, corregidores, and all the lesser ocials of the Justice Department.
It will also oer in nomination to the Chamber of Censors candidates to
the Supreme Court and to the ecclesiastical oces of archbishop, bishop, prelate, and canon. Everything pertaining to religion and the laws
falls under the jurisdiction of the senate.
The censors exercise a political and moral authority similar to that of
the Areopagus of Athens and the censors of Rome. They will have prosecutorial authority over the government to ensure that the constitution
and public contracts are rigorously observed. I have placed under their
aegis the National Judicature, which is charged with determining
whether the executive is administering the laws properly.
It is the censors who protect morality, the sciences, the arts, education, and the press. Their power is both terrible and august. They condemn to eternal opprobrium those who usurp the sovereign authority or
commit other high crimes. They grant public honors for the services and
virtues of illustrious citizens. The compass of national glory has been
placed in their hands, so their integrity must be unquestioned, their conduct exemplary. If they stray, they will be prosecuted for the slightest
oense. It is to these priests of the law that I have entrusted the preservation of our sacred commandments, because it is they who must cry out
against those who profane them.
Under our constitution, the president of the republic is like the Sun,

The Major Political Statements | 57

immovable at the center of the universe, radiating life. This supreme
authority should be permanent, because in systems without hierarchies,
a xed point around which magistrates and citizens and men and events
revolve is more necessary than in other systems. Give me a xed point,
said an ancient, and I will move the earth. For Bolivia, this point is a
president for life. In him, all order originates, even though he lacks the
power to act. He has been beheaded so that no one will fear his intentions, and his hands have been tied so that he can harm no one.
The president of Bolivia is endowed with powers similar to those of
the American executive, but with restrictions benecial to the people.
His term of oce is the same as that of the presidents of Haiti. I have
chosen as the model for Bolivia the executive of the most democratic
republic in the world.
The island of Haiti (forgive my digression) found herself in a state of
constant insurrection. After having tried every type of government
known to manempire, monarchy, republicand a few never seen
before, she had to resort to the distinguished [Alexandre] Ption to save
her. The people put their trust in him, and the destiny of Haiti has not
wavered since. Once Ption had been named president for life with the
power to choose his successor, neither the death of this great man nor the
succession of the new president brought the least danger to the state:
everything went forward under the worthy [ Jean-Pierre] Boyer, as in the
tranquility of a legitimate kingdom. This is triumphant proof that a president for life, with the power to choose his successor, is the most sublime
innovation in the republican system.
The president of Bolivia will be even less a threat than the president
of Haiti, since the mode of succession oers surer prospects for the
health of the state. Moreover, the president of Bolivia is denied all inuence: he does not appoint magistrates, judges, or ecclesiastical dignitaries at any level. This reduction in executive power has never been tried
in any duly constituted government. It adds restriction after restriction to
the authority of a leader who will nd the entire state run by those who
exercise the most important functions of society. The priests will rule in
matters of conscience, the judges in questions of property, honor, and
life, and the elected ocials in all public acts. As the latter will be indebted only to the people for their titles, their glory, and their fortune, the
president cannot aspire to involve them in his ambitious designs. If we
add to this other factors that will emerge inevitably from the general
opposition that a democratic government faces in every act of its admin-

58 | The Major Political Statements

istration, it seems that we are correct in assuming that the usurpation of
public power is less likely to occur under this system of government than
under any other.
Legislators! From this day forward, freedom will be indestructible in
America. Consider the wildness of this continent, which by its very nature expels monarchical rule: the very deserts invite independence. Here
there are no grand nobles or prelates. Our wealth was insignicant in
the past, even more so in the present. Although the Church enjoys a
certain prestige, it is far from aspiring to domination, content to maintain the power it has. Without these supports, tyrants cannot survive,
and if certain ambitious men insist on establishing empires, [ JeanJacques] Dessalines, Cristbal [Henri Christophe], and [Agustn de]
Iturbide can tell them what awaits them. There is no power more dicult to maintain than that of a new prince. Bonaparte, vanquisher of
every army he encountered, was unable to transcend this principle,
which is stronger than empires. And if the great Napoleon could not
prevail against the combined forces of republicans and aristocrats, who
will ever be able to found a monarchy in America, a land on re with
the brilliant ames of freedom that devour the planks used to build
daises for kings? No, Legislators, you need not fear pretenders to
a crown that will hang over their heads like the sword of Damocles.
The edgling princes who delude themselves to the point of erecting
thrones over the rubble of freedom will be erecting tombs for their
ashes, which will proclaim to future generations how they preferred vain
ambition to freedom and glory.
The constitutional restrictions on the president of Bolivia are the
severest ever known: his meager powers only allow him to appoint the
ministers of the departments of the treasury, peace, and war, and to command the army. That is the extent of his power.
All administrative functions are performed by the Cabinet, which is
responsible to the censors and subject to the zealous vigilance of every
legislator, public ocial, judge, and citizen. The revenue ocers and soldiers, who are the only agents of this ministry, are in truth ill suited to
engage the passions of the people, so their inuence is insignicant.
There has never existed a public functionary as limited in his authority as the vice president. He is subservient to both the legislative and the
executive branches of a republican government. From the former he is
given laws, from the latter commands, and between these two sentinels
he must march down a narrow path anked by precipices. Despite so
many impediments, it is preferable to govern in this way than with

The Major Political Statements | 59

absolute power. These constitutional restrictions broaden political awareness and oer rm hope of nding the light to guide the State among
the reefs that surround it. They serve to moderate the impulses of our
passions, which are focused on selsh interests.
In the government of the United States, the practice of appointing
the secretary of state to succeed the president has been observed in recent
years. Nothing is as benecial, in a republic, as this procedure. It has the
advantage of placing at the head of government a person who is experienced in managing the state. From the moment he enters oce he is prepared, and he is endowed with the aura of popular approval and consummate experience. I have borrowed this idea and established it as law.
The president of the republic appoints the vice president to administer the state and be his successor. This provision avoids elections, which
produce the scourge of republics, anarchy. Anarchy is the instrument of
tyranny and the most immediate and terrible of dangers in popular governments. Compare the orderly succession of rulers occurring in legitimate monarchies with the terrible crises provoked by these events in a
republic.
The vice president must be the purest of men. This is crucial, because
if the president does not appoint a righteous citizen, he must fear him as
enemy incarnate and suspect even his most hidden ambitions. This vice
president must strive to win through his good services the credibility he
needs to exercise the highest functions and to merit the greatest award
given by the nationthe supreme power. The legislative body and the
people will demand high skills and abilities of this ocial, as well as
blind obedience to the laws of freedom.
Heredity being the principle perpetuating monarchical regimes, and
this is so throughout the world, how much more useful would the
method I propose be for determining the succession of the vice president? What if hereditary princes were chosen by merit, and not randomly, and instead of squandering their lives in idleness and ignorance, they
were placed at the head of the administration? They would without a
doubt be more enlightened monarchs and bring prosperity to their people. Yes, Legislators, the monarchies that govern the earth have been validated by the principle of heredity that makes them stable and by the
unity that makes them strong. Thus, even though a sovereign prince may
have been spoiled as a child, cloistered in his palace, educated by attery,
and driven by every passion, this prince, whom I would make so bold as
to call the travesty of a man, has authority over human beings because he
preserves the order of things and the subservience of his subjects through

60 | The Major Political Statements

the uninterrupted exercise of power and consistent action. Then consider, Legislators, that these great advantages are embodied in the president
for life and in the hereditary succession by the vice president.24
The Judicial Power that I propose enjoys absolute independence:
nowhere else does it enjoy as much. The people present the candidates,
and the legislature chooses the individuals who will make up the courts.
If the Judicial Power does not come into being in this manner, it cannot
possibly maintain its integrity, which is the safeguard of individual
rights. These rights, Legislators, constitute the freedom, equality, and
security that are guaranteed in the social contract. The truly liberal constitution rests in the civil and criminal codes, and the most terrible tyranny is that exercised by the courts through the all-powerful instrument of
the law. In normal times, the executive is no more than the administrator of public matters, but the courts are the arbiters of private matters
things pertaining to individuals. The Judicial Power controls the measure
of good or evil in the lives of citizens, and if there is freedom, if there is
justice in the republic, they are dispensed by this power. The political
organization is of little importance as long as the civil organization is
perfect, that is, as long as the laws are rigorously applied and thought to
be as inexorable as fate.
It was to be expected, according to the sentiments of modern times,
that we would prohibit the use of torture to attain confessions and that
we would reduce the time allowed for motions in the intricate labyrinth
of the appellate courts.
The territory of the republic is governed by prefects, governors, corregidores, justices of the peace, and alcaldes. Even though I have not
been able to examine the inner workings and powers of these jurisdictions, it is my duty to recommend to congress the rules concerning the
administration of departments and provinces. Bear in mind, Legislators,
that nations are made up of cities and villages, and that the happiness of
the state depends on their well-being. You can never give too much
attention to the ecient administration of the departments. This is a
matter of highest priority in the science of legislation, yet too often it is
neglected.
I have divided the armed forces into four parts: regular army, eet,
military police, and military reserve. The primary duty of the armed
forces is to guard the border. God forbid that they ever turn their
weapons on the citizens. The military police is sucient for the maintenance of domestic order. Bolivia has no coasts, so the navy serves no purpose.25 We should, however, aspire to have both someday. A military

The Major Political Statements | 61

reserve is preferable in all respects to a civil guard, which is not so much
superuous as it is immoral. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the
republic to secure its borders with regular army troops and to use soldiers
from the military reserve against contraband and tax evasion.
I have come to the conclusion that the constitution of Bolivia should
undergo gradual reform according to the demands of a changing moral
climate. The procedures for reform are indicated in terms I deem appropriate to the circumstances.
The responsibility of government ocials is written into the Bolivian
constitution in the most explicit language. Without responsibility, without some coercion, the state is chaos. I will be so bold as to ardently urge
the legislators to enact strong, denitive laws concerning this important
matter. Everyone speaks of responsibility, but it goes no further than the
lips. There is no responsibility, Legislators. The magistrates, judges, and
other ocials abuse their powers because there is no rigorous procedure
for controlling the agents of the administration. Meanwhile, it is the citizens who are the victims of this abuse. I would recommend a law prescribing a strict and formal annual accounting of the actions of each
ocial.
The most perfect guarantees have been written into this draft: Civil
liberty is the only true freedom; the others are nominal or of little importance insofar as they aect the citizens. The security of the individual has
been guaranteed, this being the purpose of society and the source of all
other guarantees. As for property rights, these will depend on the civil
code that in your wisdom you will compose with all dispatch for the
happiness of your fellow citizens. I have left intact the law of all laws
equality. Without this, all guarantees, all rights perish. To ensure equality, we must make every sacrice, beginning with infamous slavery, which
I have laid at her feet, covered with shame.
Legislators! Slavery is the violation of every law. The law that would
seek to preserve it would be a sacrilege. What possible justication can
there be for its perpetuation? From whatever perspective you consider
this crime, I cannot persuade myself that any Bolivian could be depraved
enough to want to legitimize this most abominable violation of human
dignity. One man owned by another! A man regarded as property! One
of Gods images hitched to the yoke like a beast! Let someone tell us,
where do these usurpers of men le their titles of ownership? They were
not sent to us by Guinea, because Africa, devastated by fratricide, can
only export crime. The remnants of those warring African tribes having
been transplanted here, what law or authority would be capable of sanc-

62 | The Major Political Statements

tioning ownership of these victims? To transmit, prolong, or perpetuate
a crime exacerbated by torture would be the most appalling outrage. To
base ownership on savage crime would be inconceivable without the total
distortion of the law and the absolute perversion of the idea of human
obligation. The sacred doctrine of equality must never be violated. Can
there be slavery where equality reigns? Such a contradiction would
demean not so much our sense of justice as our sense of reason; our notoriety would be based on insanity, not usurpation.
If there were no God to protect innocence and freedom, I would prefer the lot of the noble lion, lord of desert and jungle, to that of a slave
risking Heavens wrath by serving as partner in crime to a tyrant. But no,
God has destined man to be free; he protects him so that he can exercise
the divine faculty of free will.
Legislators! I will now make reference to a matter my conscience forbade me to include. In a political system there should be no preference
for one religion over another, because according to the wisest doctrines,
the fundamental laws are guarantees of political and civil rights. And
since religion has no relevance to these rights, it is inherently indenable
in the social order, belonging rather to the moral and intellectual order.
Religion governs man in his house, in his private space, in his heart. Religion alone has the right to examine his conscience. The laws, on the other hand, observe the surface of things; they have jurisdiction only outside
the citizens home. Applying these considerations, is there any way the
state can govern the conscience of its subjects, enforce the observation of
religious laws, and oer reward or punishment, when the courts are in
Heaven, when God is judge? Only the Inquisition could stand in for
them in this world. Do we want to see a return of the Inquisition and the
auto-da-fe?
Religion is the law of conscience. Any law imposed on it annuls it,
because when we enforce duty, we remove merit from faith, which is the
basis of religion. The precepts and sacred dogmas of religion are useful,
luminous proofs of transcendence; we should all profess them, but this
obligation is moral, not political.
On the other hand, what are mans rights on earth with regard to religion? They reside in Heaven; there, merit is rewarded by the tribunal
which metes out justice according to the code dictated by the Great Legislator. As all of this falls under divine jurisdiction, my instinct tells me it
is sacrilegious and profane to mix our laws with the commandments of
the Lord. Thus, it is not the task of the legislature to prescribe religion,
since it would have to levy penalties against infractions of the laws, lest

The Major Political Statements | 63

they be seen as mere recommendations. Without temporal punishments,
nor any judges to dispense them, the law ceases to be law.
The moral development of man is the rst intent of the legislator.
Once this development is achieved, man builds his morality on a base of
revealed truths and in fact comes to profess a religion, which is all the
more eective to the extent that he has acquired it through his own
investigation. Beyond this, parents cannot neglect the religious obligation toward their children. The spiritual pastors are obliged to teach the
science of heaven. The example of the true disciples of Jesus is the most
eloquent teacher of his divine morality, but morality cannot be imposed,
nor is the one who imposes it a teacher, nor should force be used in oering counsel. God and his ministers are the authorities on religion, which
operates exclusively through spiritual means and bodies, never through
the legislative body of the nation, which focuses public authority on
purely temporal objects.
Legislators! As you look upon the newly founded Bolivian nation, to
what generous and sublime meditations must your souls be uplifted! The
entry of a new state into the community of nations is cause for rejoicing
by the human race, because the great family of peoples is augmented.
How great, then, must be that of its founders, and mine, to see myself
compared with the most famous of the ancients, the father of the Eternal City! This glory rightly belongs to the founders of nations who, being
their original benefactors, have earned immortal rewards; but mine,
besides being immortal, has the bonus of being gratuitous because it is
undeserved. Where is the republic, where is the city that I have founded?
Your municence, in naming this nation for me, far surpasses all my
services and is innitely superior to any treasure men can oer us.
My despair grows as I behold the immensity of your prize, because
even if I had exhausted the talent, virtue, and genius of the greatest of
heroes, I would still be unworthy of the name you have chosen to take for
your own and which is mine! Why speak of gratitude, when it cannot
begin to express the emotions stirred in me by your goodness, which like
Gods surpasses all understanding? Yes, only God had the power to name
this land Bolivia. What does Bolivia mean? A love for freedom so
boundless that when it came, you were swept away on apprehending its
unequaled value. And as your rapture could nd no adequate way to
express the vehemence of your emotions, it stole away your name and
imposed mine on all your future generations. This act, unparalleled in
the history of the ages, is even more so in the history of sublime selessness. This quality will demonstrate to ages not yet imagined in the mind

64 | The Major Political Statements

of the Eternal the ardor with which you craved possession of your rights,
that is, the right to practice political virtue, to acquire luminous capacities for self-government, and to enjoy being fully human. This quality,
I repeat, will prove that you were entitled to the greatest of Heavens
blessingspopular sovereigntythe sole legitimate authority of nations.
Legislators! Happy are you who preside over the destinies of a republic that came into the world crowned with the laurels of Ayacucho, and
which is to perpetuate its happy existence under the laws dictated by
your wisdom, in the tranquility that follows the tempest of war.
Bolvar

ii. Draft of a Constitution for Bolivia

In the name of God, the General Constituent Congress of the Bolivian
Republic, named by the people to form the constitution of the state,
decrees the following:

Title
Chapter

Of the Nation
Of the Bolivian Nation

Article . The Bolivian nation is the union of all Bolivians.

Article . Bolivia is and will be forever independent of all foreign
domination and cannot be the patrimony of any person or family.
Chapter

Of the Territory

Article . The territory of the Bolivian Republic comprises the

departments of Potos, Chuquisaca, La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba,
and Oruro.
Article . It is divided into departments, provinces, and cantons.
Article . One law shall be legislated to make the division more convenient, another to establish boundaries, with the consent of adjacent
states.26

Title
Chapter

Of the Government
Form of the Government

Article . The government of Bolivia is a representative democracy.

Article . Sovereignty emanates from the people, and its exercise is
vested in the powers that this Constitution establishes.

The Major Political Statements | 65

Article . The Supreme Power is divided for its exercise into four sections: Electoral, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
Article . Each section shall exercise the powers stipulated for it in
this Constitution, without exceeding its respective limits.
Chapter

Of the Bolivians

Article . Bolivians include:

. All those born in the territory of the Republic.
. The children of a Bolivian father or mother, including those
born outside the territory if they manifest legally their wish to
reside in Bolivia.
. The liberators of the Republic, identied as such by the law of
August .27
. Foreigners who obtain a letter of naturalization or who have
three years of residence in the territory of the Republic.
. All those who have until now been slaves and who are liberated as a consequence of the publication of this Constitution; a
special law shall be enacted to determine the amount of compensation to be paid to their former owners.28
Article . All Bolivians have the following obligations:

.
.
.
.

To live according to the Constitution and the laws.

To respect and obey the constituted authorities.

To contribute to the public revenue.

To sacrice their property and even their lives, when the well
being of the Republic so requires.

. To be vigilant in the preservation of public freedoms.

Article . Bolivians who are denied the right to vote shall enjoy all
the civil rights granted to citizens.
Article . To be a citizen, it is necessary:
.
.
.
.

To be a Bolivian.

To be married, or older than twenty-one years of age.

To know how to read and write.29

To have some employment or trade, or to profess some sci

ence or art, without subjection to another person as a domestic servant.

Article . The following are citizens:

66 | The Major Political Statements

. The liberators of the Republic (Article , item ).

. Foreigners who obtain a letter of citizenship.

. Foreign men who are married to a Bolivian woman and who

satisfy the conditions of items and of Article .

. Unmarried foreign men who have four years of residence in
the Republic, subject to the same conditions.
Article . The citizens of the nations of America formerly ruled by
Spain shall enjoy the rights of citizenship in Bolivia, according to the
terms of any treaties entered into by those nations.
Article . Only those who are active citizens can obtain public
employment and oces.
Article . The exercise of citizenship is suspended:
.
.
.
.
.

For insanity.

For the crime of debt fraud.

For those under criminal indictment.

For being a notorious drunkard, gambler, or beggar.

For buying or selling votes in elections or for interfering with

the electoral process.

Article . The rights of citizenship are forfeited:

. For treason to the public cause.

. For taking citizenship in a foreign country.

. For having been convicted of an infamous or serious crime by

a court.

Title

Of the Electoral Power

Chapter

Of the Elections

Article . The Electoral Power is exercised directly by the citizens,

one elector being appointed for each ten citizens.30
Article . The exercise of Electoral Power can never be suspended,
and the civil administrators must convoke the people to vote at the exact
time specied by the law, without awaiting orders from the Executive.
Article . A special law shall stipulate election procedures.
Chapter

Of the Electoral Body

Article . The Electoral Body consists of the electors appointed by

the vote of the people.31

The Major Political Statements | 67

Article . When the electors have assembled in the provincial capital, they shall elect from the membership, by a plurality of votes, a president, two examiners, and a secretary; these shall hold these oces for the
duration of the Body.
Article . Each Electoral Body shall have a term of four years, after
which it shall be dissolved and replaced by its successor.
Article . The electors shall convene each year on the second, third,
fourth, fth, and sixth days of January to exercise the following duties:
. To qualify the citizens who present themselves to exercise their
rights and to suspend those falling under the provisions of
Articles and .
. To elect and propose a slate of candidates: rst, to the respective Chambers for membership or to ll vacancies; second, to
the Executive Power, candidates for the prefecture of their
department, for the governor of their province, and for corregidores of the cantons and towns; third, to the Department
Prefect, the alcaldes and justices of the peace to be appointed;
fourth, to the Senate, the members of the courts in the judicial
district to which they belong and the primary court judges;
fth, to the Executive Power, the priests and vicars for vacancies in their respective province.32
. To receive the results of the popular elections, to examine the
identities of those newly elected, and to certify their election
constitutionally.
. To petition the Chambers for whatever they deem favorable to
the well-being of the citizens and to forward complaints they
receive from duly constituted authorities concerning grievances and injustices.

Title 4

Of the Legislative Power

Chapter Of the Division, Attributes,

and Restrictions of This Power
Article . The Legislative Power emanates directly from the electoral
bodies appointed by the people; its exercise is vested in three Chambers:
rst, the Tribunes; second, the Senators; third, the Censors.
Article . Each Chamber shall consist of thirty members during the
rst twenty years.

68 | The Major Political Statements

Article . The ____ day of the month of ____ of each year, the
Legislative Body shall meet on its own initiative, without awaiting
convocation.
Article . The specic powers of each Chamber shall be enumerated
in the chapter dedicated to it. General powers:
. To appoint the president of the Republic on the rst occasion
and to conrm his successors.
. To approve the vice president proposed by the president.
. To choose the place of residence of the government, and to
move that residence to another place when threatening circumstances make it necessary and a two-thirds majority of the
members composing the three Chambers so resolve.
. To determine, acting as a National Tribunal, if there is cause to
impeach the members of the Chambers, the vice president, and
the secretaries of state.
. To vest, in times of war or extreme danger, the president of the
Republic with the powers deemed necessary for the survival of
the state.
. To elect from among the candidates nominated by the Electoral Bodies the members who shall ll the vacancies in each
Chamber.
. To conduct internal policies and procedures by regulations and
to punish their members for infractions of these regulations.
Article . The members of the Legislative Body can be appointed
vice presidents of the Republic or secretaries of state when they step
down from their Chamber.
Article . No individual of the Legislative Body can be incarcerated
during his term, except by order of his respective Chamber, unless he be
apprehended in agrante committing a capital crime.
Article . The members of the Legislative Body shall be immune
from prosecution for the opinions they express in their Chambers in the
exercise of their duties.
Article . Each Legislature shall have a four-year term, and each
annual session shall be two months in length. These sessions shall be
convened and adjourned simultaneously by the three Chambers.
Article . The sessions shall be called to order each year with the
president of the Republic, the vice president, and the secretaries of state
in attendance.

The Major Political Statements | 69

Article . The sessions shall be public, and only state business requiring secrecy shall be conducted in closed session.
Article . In each Chamber, business shall be resolved by an absolute
majority of votes of the members present.
Article . The employees who are appointed as deputies to the Legislative Body shall be temporarily replaced by other individuals in the
exercise of their duties.
Article . The following restrictions apply to the Legislative Body:
. No session shall be held in any of the Chambers unless half of
the members of that Chamber plus one are present, and those
who are absent should be compelled to attend to perform their
duties.
. None of the Chambers shall be permitted to initiate legislation
relative to matters that the Constitution commits to a dierent
Chamber, but a Chamber may invite the other Chambers to
give consideration to the motions it consigns to them.
. No member of the Chambers shall be allowed to obtain for
himself, during his term, any except a one-step promotion in
his career.
Article . The Chambers shall meet together:
. When their sessions are opened and adjourned.
. To examine the conduct of the Ministry when brought under
indictment by the Chamber of Censors.
. To review the laws returned by the Executive Power.
. When any of the Chambers requests it with good cause, as in
the case of Article , item .
. To conrm the transfer of power from the president to the vice
president.
Article . When the three Chambers convene together, one of their
presidents, in turn, shall preside.
Chapter

Of the Chamber of Tribunes

Article . To be a Tribune, one must:

. Be an active citizen.

. Be twenty-ve years of age.

. Never have been convicted in criminal court.

70 | The Major Political Statements

Article . The Tribuneship has the initiative:
. In the establishment of the territorial division of the Republic.
. In annual contributions and public expenses.
. In authorizing the Executive Power to negotiate loans and to
issue bonds to pay o the public debt.
. In the value, type, law, weight, and denomination of currency,
and in the establishment of weights and measures.
. In opening every type of port.
. In the construction of roads, highways, bridges, and public
buildings and in the improvement of the police force and the
branches of government.
. In the salaries of state employees.
. In reforms considered necessary in the areas of nance and
war.
. In making war or peace, on the recommendation of the government.
. In alliances.
. In granting passage to foreign troops.
. In determining the size of the navy and army for the year, on
the recommendation of the government.
. In issuing ordinances for the navy, the army, and the military
police, on the recommendation of the government.

. In foreign aairs.

. In granting letters of naturalization and citizenship.

. In granting general amnesties.

Article . Half of the Chamber of Tribunes shall be renewed every

two years, and terms shall be for four years.
Article . The Tribunes may be reelected.
Chapter

Of the Chamber of Senators

Article . To be a senator, one must:

. Have the qualications required for elector.

. Be thirty-ve years of age.

. Never have been convicted in criminal court.

Article . The attributes of the Senate are:

. To formulate the civil, criminal, procedural, and commercial
codes and the ecclesiastical regulations.

The Major Political Statements | 71

. To initiate all laws relative to reforms in judicial matters.

. To be vigilant in the prompt administration of civil and criminal justice.
. To initiate laws to discourage infractions of the Constitution
and the laws by magistrates, judges, and ecclesiastics.
. To exact responsibility of the superior tribunals of justice, the
prefects, and the subordinate magistrates and judges.
. To nominate three candidates, to the Chamber of Censors, for
each position on the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and as archbishop, bishop, dignitary, canon, and prebendary of the cathedrals.
. To approve or reject the prefects, governors, and corregidores
whom the government presents to it from the nominations
made by the electoral bodies.
. To elect, from the nominees presented by the electoral bodies,
the district judges and all the subordinate ocials of the
Department of Justice.
. To regulate the exercise of the patronage and propose laws on
all ecclesiastical matters that concern the government.
. To examine conciliar decisions, papal bulls, rescripts, and briefs
in order to approve them or not.
Article . The term of oce for members of the Senate shall be eight
years, half of the members to be replaced after four years, these being
chosen in the rst legislature by random lot.
Article . The members of the Senate may be reelected.
Chapter

Of the Chamber of Censors

Article . To be a Censor, one must:

. Have the qualications required for a senator.

. Be forty years of age.

. Never have been convicted of any crime, however slight.

Article . The attributes of the Chamber of Censors:

. To see that the government fullls and enforces the Constitution, laws, and public treaties.
. To make accusation before the Senate for any infractions committed by the Executive against the Constitution, laws, and
public treaties.

72 | The Major Political Statements

. To petition the Senate for the removal of the vice president

and secretaries of state if the health of the Republic urgently
demands it.
Article . It is the exclusive duty of the Chamber of Censors to bring
accusations against the vice president and secretaries of state before the
Senate in cases of treason, arbitrary or fraudulent seizure, or manifest
violation of the fundamental laws of the state.
Article . Should the Senate nd the accusation made by the Chamber of Censors to be justied, a National Hearing of Impeachment shall
be held, and if, on the contrary, the Senate should not so nd, it shall forward the accusation to the Chamber of Tribunes.
Article . Should two of the Chambers agree, the National Hearing
shall be initiated.
Article . Then the three Chambers shall convene together, and in
consideration of the documents presented by the Chamber of Censors, a
determination based on an absolute plurality of votes shall be made as to
whether the vice president or the secretaries of state are to stand trial.
Article . Should it be decreed in the National Hearing that the vice
president or secretaries of state are to stand trial, they shall be suspended
from their duties immediately, and the Chambers shall forward all evidentiary documents to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which shall have
exclusive jurisdiction over the proceedings, and the verdict that it pronounces shall be executed without appeal.
Article . Once the Chambers declare that there is cause to bring to
trial the vice president and secretaries of state, the president of the
Republic shall present to the combined Chambers a candidate for the
interim vice presidency and shall appoint interim secretaries of state. If
the rst candidate should be rejected by absolute plurality of the Legislative Body, the president shall present a second candidate, and should
he be rejected, he shall present a third candidate, and if he should be
rejected as well, then the Chambers shall elect by absolute plurality,
within twenty-four hours, one of the three candidates proposed by the
president.
Article . The interim vice president shall exercise his duties from the
moment of his election until a verdict has been handed down against the
incumbent.
Article . The provisions of a law to be originated in the Chamber of
Censors shall decide in which cases the vice president and the secretaries
are mutually or personally responsible.

The Major Political Statements | 73

Article . Further attributes corresponding to the Chamber of Censors are:

. To choose from among the nominees presented by the Senate
the individuals who are to form the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.
. All laws on printing, the economy, and the curriculum and
method to be used in public education.
. To protect the freedom of the press and to name the judges
who are to see press cases in nal appeal.
. To propose regulations for the encouragement of the arts and
sciences.
. To grant prizes and national rewards to those who merit them
for their services to the Republic.
. To decree public honors to the memory of great men and to
the virtues and services of citizens.
. To condemn to eternal opprobrium the usurpers of public
authority, infamous traitors, and notorious criminals.
Article . The Censors shall serve for life.
Chapter

Of the Formation and Promulgation of Laws

Article . The government may present to the Chambers proposals

for laws it deems suitable.
Article . The vice president and the secretaries of state may attend
the sessions and discuss the laws and other matters but may not vote or
be present during voting.
Article . When the Chamber of Tribunes adopts a proposal for legislation, it shall remit it to the Senate with the following formula:
The Chamber of Tribunes remits to the Chamber of Senators the attached proposal for legislation, which it deems appropriate.

Article . If the Chamber of Senators approves the proposed legislation, it shall return it to the Chamber of Tribunes with the following
formula:
The Senate returns to the Chamber of Tribunes the proposed legislation
(amended or not), and believes that it should be forwarded to the Executive for
its implementation.

Article . All the Chambers shall observe the same formula in similar cases.

74 | The Major Political Statements

Article . Should one of the Chambers decline to approve the

reforms or amendments of another, and the recommending Chamber
continues to deem the proposed legislation, exactly as proposed, to be
advantageous, it shall be permitted to suggest, by a delegation of three
members, a meeting of the two chambers to discuss the proposal, or the
reform or rejection to which it has been subjected. This meeting of
Chambers shall have no other purpose than to reach an accord, and each
Chamber shall adopt anew the deliberations it considers convenient.
Article . When the legislation has been proposed by two Chambers, two copies signed by the president and secretaries of the Chamber
under whose jurisdiction the law falls shall be forwarded to the president
of the Republic with the following formula:
The Chamber of ____ with the approval of the Chamber of ____ submits the
law on ____ to the Executive Power for its promulgation.

Article . Should the Chamber of Senators decline to adopt the legislation proposed by the Chamber of Tribunes, it shall submit it to the
Chamber of Censors with the following formula:
The Chamber of Senators remits the attached proposal to the Chamber of Censors, considering it inappropriate.

Then the decision of the Chamber of Censors shall be nal.

Article . Should the president of the Republic consider the law to
be inappropriate, he shall within ten days return it to the originating
Chamber with his observations, using the following formula:
The Executive believes that it should be considered anew.

Article . Any legislation passed during the nal ten days of the session may be held for consideration by the Executive Power until the next
session, at which time it must return it with observations.
Article . When the Executive Power returns the laws with observations to the Chambers, the latter shall meet, and what they decide by
plurality shall be carried out without further discussion.
Article . Should the Executive Power have no observations to make
regarding the laws, it shall order them published with this formula:
To be promulgated.

Article . The laws shall be promulgated with this formula:

____ , President of the Bolivian Republic. Be it known to all Bolivians: that

The Major Political Statements | 75

the Legislative Body has decreed and we do publish the following law. [Insert
here the text of the law.] We do therefore ordain to all authorities of the Republic that they shall fulll and enforce it.
The vice president shall have it printed, published, and circulated to those to
whom it pertains.

And it shall be signed by the president with the vice president and the
respective secretary of state.
Article . Any proposed legislation originating in the Senate shall be
forwarded to the Chamber of Censors, and should it be approved there,
it shall have the force of law. If the Censors should decline to approve it,
it shall be forwarded to the Chamber of Tribunes, and their decision shall
be carried out, as has been said, with respect to the Chamber of Tribunes.
Article . Proposed legislation originating in the Chamber of Censors shall be forwarded to the Senate. Approval by the Senate shall confer on it force of law. But should the Senate decline to recommend the
legislation, it shall be forwarded to the Chamber of Tribunes, which shall
sanction or decline to sanction it, as in the case of the preceding article.

Title

Of the Executive Power

Article . The exercise of the Executive Power is vested in a president who serves for life, a vice president, and three secretaries of state.
Chapter

Of the President

Article . The president of the Republic shall be named the rst time
by absolute plurality of the Legislative Body.
Article . To be named president of the Republic, one must:
.
.
.
.
.

Be an active citizen and native of Bolivia.33

Be thirty years of age.
Have rendered important services to the Republic.
Have known talents in the administration of the state.
Never have been convicted of a criminal oense, however
slight.

Article . The president of the Republic is the chief of the administration of the state, without responsibility for the acts of said administration.
Article . By resignation, death, sickness, or absence of the president
of the Republic, the vice president will succeed him immediately.

76 | The Major Political Statements

Article . In the absence of the president and vice president of the

Republic, the three secretaries of state shall assume provisional charge of
the administration, the one with seniority presiding until the Legislative
Body convenes.
Article . The attributes of the president of the Republic are:
. To open the sessions of the Chambers and present them a
message on the state of the Republic.
. To nominate the vice president to the Chambers and to name
by himself alone the cabinet secretaries.
. To remove by himself alone the vice president and the cabinet
secretaries, whenever he sees t.
. To order the laws to be published, circulated, and kept.
. To authorize regulations and orders for the better fulllment of
the Constitution, laws, and public treaties.
. To order and cause to be carried out the sentences of the tribunals of justice.
. To petition the Legislative Body to extend their ordinary sessions for as many as thirty days.
. To convoke the Legislative Body for extraordinary sessions
when it becomes absolutely necessary.
. To dispose of the permanent forces of sea and land for the
external defense of the Republic.
. To command the armies of the Republic in person, in peace
and war.34 When the president is absent from the capital, the
vice president shall be left in charge of the Republic.
. When the president directs the war in person, he shall be permitted to reside in any territory occupied by the national
forces.
. To dispose of the military police for internal security within
the limits of their departments and outside of them, with the
consent of the Legislative Body.
. To name all the employees of the army and navy.
. To establish military schools and nautical schools.
. To order the establishment of military hospitals and homes for
invalids.
. To approve leaves of absence and retirements, grant pensions
to the military and their families, and regulate all other matters
pertaining to the military, in accordance with the laws.

The Major Political Statements | 77

. To declare war in the name of the Republic, following the

decree of the Legislative Body.
. To grant patents of privateering.
. To attend to the collection and investment of taxes, in conformity with the laws.
. To name nancial employees.
. To direct diplomatic negotiations and enter into treaties of
peace, friendship, federation, alliance, truces, armed neutrality,
commerce, and of any other kind, always with the approval of
the Legislative Body.
. To name the ministers, consuls, and subordinates of the
Department of Foreign Relations.
. To receive foreign ministers.
. To grant approval to or suspend conciliar decisions, pontical
bulls, briefs, and rescripts with the consent of the power concerned.
. To nominate to the Senate, for its approval, one of the three
candidates proposed by the electoral body for prefects, governors, and corregidores.
. To nominate to the ecclesiastical authority one of the three
candidates proposed by the electoral body for priests and vicars
of the provinces.
. To suspend employees for up to three months, whenever there
is cause to do so.
. To commute capital sentences imposed on criminals by the tribunals.
. To issue the titles or appointments of all employees in the
name of the Republic.
Article . Restrictions on the President of the Republic are:
. The President may not deprive any Bolivian of his freedom,
nor impose any penalty by himself.
. When the security of the Republic demands the arrest of one
or more citizens, he must, within forty-eight hours, place the
accused at the disposal of the competent tribunal or judge.
. He may not deprive any individual of his property unless the
public interest urgently demands it, but just compensation to
the owner must rst be made.

78 | The Major Political Statements

. He may not prevent the elections or other functions that by

law correspond to the powers of the Republic.
. He may not absent himself from the territory of the Republic,
nor from the capital, without permission of the Legislative
Body.35
Chapter

Of the Vice President

Article . The vice president is named by the president of the

Republic and approved by the Legislative Body, as stipulated in Article
.
Article . The mode of succession shall be determined by a special
law, covering all the cases that might occur.
Article . To be vice president, the same qualities are required as for
president.
Article . The vice president of the Republic is the chief of the ministry.
Article . He shall be responsible, with the cabinet secretary of the
respective department, for the administration of the state.
Article . He shall dispatch and sign, in the name of the Republic
and the president, all the business of the administration, with the secretary of state of the respective department.
Article . He may not absent himself from the territory of the
Republic, nor from the capital, without permission of the Legislative
Body.
Chapter

Of the Secretaries of State

Article . There shall be three cabinet secretaries: one to administer

the Departments of Government and Foreign Relations, another for the
Department of Finance, and another for War and the Navy.
Article . These three secretaries shall serve under the direct orders
of the vice president.
Article . No tribunal or public person shall carry out orders of the
Executive that are not signed by the vice president and cabinet secretary
of the respective department.
Article . The cabinet secretaries shall be responsible with the vice
president for all the orders that they authorize against the Constitution,
laws, or public treaties.
Article . They shall form the annual budgets of expenditures that
must be made in their respective branches and will render account of
those that have been made in the previous year.

The Major Political Statements | 79

Article . To be secretary of state, one must:

. Be an active citizen.
. Be thirty years of age.
. Never have been convicted in a criminal case.

Title
Chapter

Of the Judicial Power

Attributes of This Power

Article . The tribunals and courts exercise no other functions than

that of applying existent laws.36
Article . The magistrates and judges shall remain in oce as long as
their good behavior warrants.
Article . The magistrates and judges may not be suspended from
their positions except in cases determined by the laws, which are to be
applied by the Chamber of the Senate and the district courts with regard
to magistrates, and with regard to judges, only after previous notication
of the government.
Article . Every grave fault of the magistrates and judges in the
performance of their respective oces produces popular action, which
may be undertaken within the course of one year through the electoral
body.37
Article . Justice shall be administered in the name of the nation,
and verdicts and provisions of the tribunals shall be prefaced by the same
formula.
Chapter

Of the Supreme Court

Article . The primary judicial magistracy of the state shall be vested in the Supreme Court of Justice.
Article . This shall consist of a president, six justices, and a prosecutor, assigned to the appropriate chambers.
Article . To be a member of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, one
must:
. Be thirty-ve years of age.
. Be an active citizen.
. Have been a member of one of the district courts of justice,
and until such time as these are established, attorneys who
have practiced with distinction for eight years shall be eligible.
Article . The attributes of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice are:

80 | The Major Political Statements

. To hear the criminal charges against the vice president of the

Republic, the secretaries of state, and members of the Chambers when the Legislative Body determines that there are
grounds for indictment.
. To hear all litigation against the national patronage.
. To examine the bulls, briefs, and rescripts when they aect civil matters.
. To hear litigation against ambassadors, resident ministers, consuls, and diplomatic agents.
. To hear cases of suspension of district court magistrates and
departmental prefects.
. To resolve jurisdictional disputes between Courts of Justice
and between the Courts and other authorities.
. To hear, in the nal instance, the review of conduct of all public employees.
. To hear concerns of the lower courts as to the interpretation of
a law, and to confer with the Executive in order to seek clarication from the Chambers.
. To hear appeals for annulment of verdicts given in nal
instance by the Courts of Justice.
. To examine, through means established by law, the status and
progress of civil and criminal cases pending in the district
courts.
. To exercise supreme administrative, economic, and correctional authority over the tribunals and courts of the nation.
Chapter

Of the District Courts of Justice

Article . To serve as judge in these courts, one must:

. Be thirty years of age.
. Be an active citizen.
. Have been a justice of the peace or practiced law with distinction for ve years.
Article . The attributes of the district courts of justice are:
. To hear in second and third instance all the civil cases in common jurisdiction, public nance, commerce, mining, seizures
and attachments, with an individual from one of these professions also serving as associate judge.

The Major Political Statements | 81

. To rule in jurisdictional disputes between subordinate judges

of their judicial district.
. To hear appeals from the ecclesiastical tribunals and authorities of their territory.
Chapter

Judicial Divisions

Article . Proportionately equal judicial divisions shall be established in the provinces, and in each division capital there will be a justice
of the peace assigned to the court to be determined by the laws.
Article . The powers of these judges are limited to litigation, and
they can render verdicts in civil cases up to pesos, without possibility of appeal.
Article . To be a justice of the peace, one must:

.
.
.
.

Be twenty-eight years of age.

Be an active citizen.

Be a lawyer recognized in any tribunal in the Republic.

Have practiced the profession with distinction for four years.

Article . The justices of the peace are personally responsible for

their conduct before the district courts of justice, just as the members of
these courts are personally responsible before the Supreme Tribunal of
Justice.
Chapter

Of the Administration of Justice

Article . There shall be justices of the peace in each town for conciliation of disputes, no civil or criminal petitions for damages being
allowed without rst seeking this remedy.
Article . The function of conciliators is limited to hearing petitions
from both parties, instructing them of their rights, and seeking to
achieve a prudent compromise between them.
Article . Fiscal prosecutions are not subject to conciliation.

Article . There are only three instances in legal suits.

Article . The recurso de injusticia notoria is abolished.38

Article . No Bolivian may be arrested without previous information

of the act for which he merits a corporal penalty and a written order of
the judge before whom he is to appear, with the exception of the cases
covered in Articles (restriction #), , and .
Article . In the same act, whenever possible, he shall give his declaration without oath, this being delayed in no case for longer than fortyeight hours.

82 | The Major Political Statements

Article . Every criminal may be arrested in agrante by any person

and brought to the presence of the judge.
Article . In criminal cases, judgment shall be public, the facts
determined and declared by juries (when they are established), and the
law applied by judges.
Article . Torture shall never be used, nor shall confession be
coerced.
Article . All conscation of property and any kind of cruel punishment and hereditary infamy are abolished. The criminal code shall limit,
so far as possible, the application of capital punishment.
Article . If in extraordinary circumstances the security of the
republic should demand the suspension of any of the formalities prescribed in this chapter, the Chambers may decree it. And if the latter
should not be in session, the Executive may perform this same function,
as a provisional measure, and shall provide full information of his act in
the next session of the Chambers, assuming responsibility for any abuses he may have committed.

Title

Of the Internal Organization of the Republic

Article . The superior government of each department shall be

vested in a prefect.
Article . That of each province, in a governor.
Article . That of the cantons, in a corregidor.
Article . In each town and its surrounding district with a population greater than , there shall be a justice of the peace.
Article . Where the inhabitants in the town or in its district exceed
, there shall be (in addition to one justice of the peace for every )
an alcalde; and where the number of inhabitants exceeds , there shall
be for every a justice of the peace and for every an alcalde.39
Article . The positions of alcaldes and justices of the peace are
obligatory, and no citizen, without just cause, may be excused from performing them.
Article . The prefects, governors, and corregidores shall hold their
positions for a term of four years, but they may be reelected.
Article . The alcaldes and justices of the peace shall be renewed
every two years, but they may be reelected.
Article . The attributes of the prefects, governors, corregidores, and
alcaldes shall be determined by law in order to maintain order and public security, with due subordination to the supreme government.

The Major Political Statements | 83

Article . All judicial action is forbidden to them, but if public tranquility requires the arrest of an individual and the circumstances do not
allow the respective judge to be informed of the matter, they shall be
allowed to order the arrest, provided that they notify the competent court
within forty-eight hours. Any abuse that these magistrates commit, relative to the security of an individual or his domicile, produces popular
action.

Title

Of the Armed Forces

Article . There shall be in the Republic a permanent armed force.

Article . The armed force shall be composed of an army of the line
and a squadron.
Article . There shall be, in each province, bodies of national militia
composed of the inhabitants of each one of them.
Article . There shall also be a military police, whose principal function shall be to prevent all clandestine trade.

Title

Observance of the Constitution

Chapter

Reform of the Constitution

Article . If after ____ years following its adoption it becomes

apparent that certain of the articles of the Constitution are in need of
reform, the proposed amendment shall be submitted in writing, signed
by no fewer than ten members of the Chamber of Tribunes and supported by two-thirds of the members present in the Chamber.40
Article . The proposed amendment shall be read three times with
an interval of six days between one reading and the next, and after the
third the Chamber of Tribunes shall deliberate whether the amendment
shall or shall not be introduced for debate, adhering in all other respects
to the procedures for enacting legislation.
Article . Once the proposed amendment is admitted for debate
and the Chambers are convinced of the need to reform the Constitution,
a law shall be issued instructing the electoral bodies to confer on the
deputies of the three Chambers special powers to alter or reform the
Constitution, indicating the grounds justifying such reform.
Article . In the rst session of the Legislature following that in
which the motion was made to alter or reform the Constitution, that
motion shall be proposed and debated, and whatever the Chambers
resolve shall be fullled, the Executive Power being consulted as to the
need for the reform.

84 | The Major Political Statements

Chapter

Appointment and Responsibilities of Employees

Article . Any proposed appointment of an employee shall be presented along with two alternates to the Executive Power, which shall
choose one and present it for conrmation to the appropriate Chamber.
Should that Chamber not approve it, a second shall be presented. Should
that one also be rejected, a third shall be presented, and should the
Chamber then deny approval, it must accept one of the three that have
been proposed by the Executive.
Article . Public employees are strictly responsible for the abuses
they commit in the exercise of their functions.

Title

Of Guarantees

Article . Civil liberty, individual security, property, and equality

before the law are guaranteed to the citizens by the Constitution.
Article . All may communicate their thoughts by word or in writing, and publish them by means of the press, without prior censorship,
but under the responsibility that the law determines.
Article . Every Bolivian may remain in or leave the territory of the
Republic, as he sees t, taking his property with him but observing
police regulations and provided that the right of third parties is always
respected.
Article . Every home of a Bolivian is an inviolable asylum. By night
no one may enter it, except with his consent; by day entrance shall be
allowed only in the cases and the manner that the law determines.
Article . Taxes shall be distributed proportionately without any
exception or privilege.
Article . Hereditary oces and privileges and entails are abolished,
and all properties are alienable, even though they belong to pious works,
religious communities, or other objectives.
Article . No type of work, industry, or commerce may be prohibited, unless it is opposed to public customs or to the security and health of
Bolivians.
Article . Every inventor shall have ownership of his discovery and
of his productions. The law shall ensure him a temporary exclusive privilege or indemnication for the loss he suers in case of its being made
public.

The Major Political Statements | 85

Article . The constitutional powers may not suspend the Constitution, nor the rights enjoyed by Bolivians, except in the cases and circumstances expressed in the Constitution itself, indicating without fail the
period that the suspension is to last.

Message to the Convention of Ocaa

Bogot, February
To the Representatives of the People in the National Convention
Fellow Citizens:
I congratulate you on the honor extended to you by the nation in
entrusting its high destinies to your care.41 As the representatives of
Colombian sovereignty, you are endowed with the most sublime powers.
I, too, experience the greatest good fortune as I restore to you the authority that had been deposited in my weary hands. The supreme authority,
the supreme rights, belong to those chosen by the people, to you delegates of the august, omnipotent people whom I serve as subject and soldier. To what more eminent power could I surrender the presidents sta,
the generals sword? Dispose freely of these symbols of power and glory
on behalf of the people, oblivious to personal considerations that might
hinder a perfect reform.
Required by duty to reveal to you the state of the Republic, I must
oer you, sadly, the portrait of its aictions. Dont imagine that the colors I use have been inamed by exaggeration or that they have emerged
from the gloomy mansion of mystery. I painted them by scandal-light.
The rendering may seem illusory to you, but if it were, would Colombia
be calling you?
The aictions of the country have, of course, begun to be remedied,
since those assigned to diagnose them have gathered here. Your undertaking, truly, is as dicult as it is glorious, and if the diculties have been
eased by the good fortune that you stand before a Colombia united and
eager to hear you speak, I should tell you that this invaluable advantage
comes to us only by virtue of the hopes taking wing in this convention,
hopes that reveal to you the burden of trust soon to encumber you.
It should suce you to review our history to discover the causes of our
decline. Colombia, which managed to spring to life, lies lifeless. Identi-

The Major Political Statements | 87

fying itself at rst with the will of the people, it no longer regards duty as
the sole condition of health. The very ones who during the struggle were
content with their poverty, and who had not incurred a foreign debt of
even three million, now, in order to keep the peace, have had to burden
themselves with shameful debts in consequence. Colombia, which
breathed an atmosphere of honor and virtue in the face of oppressive
forces, now gasps for air as if it were unaware of its national dishonor.
Colombia, which once thought only of painful sacrices and distinguished service, now thinks only of its rights, not its duties. The nation
would have perished if some remnant of public spirit had not driven it to
cry out for remedy and drawn it up short at the edge of the grave. Only
some horrible danger could have led us to alter the fundamental laws;
only this danger could have proven superior to the devotion we professed
for the legitimate institutions we ourselves had conceived and whose
foundations had won us the desired emancipation.
I would add nothing to this dismal outline if the position I hold did
not require me to give an account to the nation of the awed nature of
her laws. I know that I cannot do this without exposing myself to sinister interpretations and that ambitious aspirations will be read into my
words. But since I have never refused to dedicate my life and my reputation to Colombia, I feel obliged to make this last sacrice.
I have to say it: Our government is essentially poorly constituted.
Without considering that we have barely thrown o our yoke, we let
ourselves be dazzled by exaggerated aspirations that universal history
shows to be incompatible with human nature. At times, we proceed
unwisely and attribute poor outcomes to having failed to follow closely
enough the deceptive guidebook leading us astray, ignoring those who
try to proceed rationallyweighing the various parts of our constitution
one against the other, and with it the limits of our education, our customs, and our inexperienceso as not to ing ourselves into a stormy
sea. Our diverse powers are not distributed according to the needs of the
social structure and the well-being of the citizens. We have transformed
the legislature into the sovereign body, whereas it should be no more
than a constituent part. We have subjected the executive branch to the
legislative, granting the latter far more power in the general administration than legitimate interest allows. Worst of all, all power has been
inscribed in what is presumed to be the will of the people, all weakness
in the ocial proceedings of the social order.
The right to propose legislation has been left exclusively to the legislature, which by nature is purely theoretical and far from knowing the

88 | The Major Political Statements

reality of government. The power of veto conceded to the executive is all
the more ineective because the vanity of the congress views its use as a
rebu. The congress can successfully override with as little as a fth of
the vote or even less than a fth of its members, which leaves no room to
avert harmful eects.42
With free access to our chambers denied to cabinet secretaries for the
purpose of explaining or giving an account of the intentions of the
administration, not even this recourse can be adopted to enlighten the
legislature in cases where some decision needs to be vetoed. Harm could
have been avoided by requiring a specic lapse of time or a considerably
larger proportional number of votes to override executive veto.
Be it noted that our bulky code, instead of leading to felicitous outcomes, presents obstacles to any progress. Our laws seem fashioned arbitrarily; they lack consistency, method, classication, legal diction. They
contradict each other, appearing confused, often unnecessary, and even
contrary to their intent. There are cases where it has been unavoidable to
use strict measures to curb widespread destructive behavior, for the laws,
drafted for specic cases, have turned out to be far less eective than
those they replaced, indirectly encouraging the vices they were meant to
discourage.
Striving for perfection, we adopted as a base of representation a ratio
exceeding our capacity. By electing too many to this august function, it
has lost its prestige and ended up seeming, in some provinces, unimportant and scarcely honorable to represent the people. This is the source of
the discredit into which legislation has fallen, and what benet can come
from discredited laws?
In Colombia, the executive branch is not equal to the legislative, nor
even to the judicial; it has become a weak arm of the supreme power,
unable to exercise fully the powers invested in it, because congress
encroaches on its natural jurisdiction over the judiciary, the church, and
the military. The government, which ought to be the source and engine
of public power, has to seek power beyond its proper jurisdiction,
depending on others that ought to be subservient to it. In essence, it is
the role of government to be the hub and mansion of power, though its
authority comes from without. Stripped of its proper nature, it succumbs
to lethargy, doing great harm to the citizens and dragging the institutions down with it.
This does not exhaust the list of aws in the constitution with respect
to the executive power. Equally harmful is the lack of responsibility of
the cabinet. When all responsibility falls on the head of the administra-

The Major Political Statements | 89

tion, the force of the constitution is diminished, rendering impossible
any harmonious and systematic interaction between administrative
branches and diminishing equally the guarantees for observance of the
law. We will see more zeal in the application and execution of the law
when the ministers are invested with and accept the burden of moral
responsibility for upholding it. This will create powerful incentives for
them to work for the public good. If they fail, unfortunately, to meet
their responsibility, their punishment will not be the seed of greater evil,
will not lead to violent upheavals or revolutions. The responsibility of the
chosen agent of the people will always be illusory unless it is voluntarily
accepted or unless, less likely, no way can be found to get around the law.
On the other hand, such responsibility can never be eective unless we
clearly stipulate and dene its exercise and the penalties for failure to
exercise it.
We are appalled by the contrast manifested in the executive, endowed
with a superabundance of power, yet aicted with extreme weakness. It
is unable to ward o invasions from without or subversion from within
except by assuming dictatorial authority. The constitution itself, as if
convinced of its own inadequacy, goes to excess in granting powers it had
initially been loathe to provide. As a result, the government of Colombia
is a meager fountain of health or a torrent of devastation.
Nowhere have we seen the faculty of judging so enthroned as in
Colombia. Considering the way in which we have constituted the powers, it is inaccurate to say that the functions of the body politic of the
nation can be understood as determining the popular will and then carrying it out. A third supreme power was expanded, as if deciding which
laws apply to specic cases were not the primary responsibility of the
executive. To keep the judges from being too much inuenced in their
decisions, they were kept totally separated from the executive branch, of
which they are inherently an integral part; moreover, though it was the
function of the executive to monitor continuously the prompt and thorough administration of justice, that function was impaired since no
means were provided to determine when any necessary intervention
might be opportune, nor even how far such intervention might extend.
Even the executives power to choose qualied judges has been usurped.
Not satised even with this exaltation, in subsequent legislation we
have given civil courts absolute supremacy in military cases, against the
standard practice of centuries, a circumstance undercutting the authority the constitution confers on the president and harmful to the discipline
crucial to a standing militia. These new laws related to the judiciary have

90 | The Major Political Statements

extended judicial authority over the military beyond all reason. As a consequence of the law of procedure, litigation has been complicated. Everywhere, new judgeships and regional courts have been established,
prompting calls for reform by the unfortunate villages, which are forced
to conspire and sacrice to satisfy the judges. Superior courts, consisting
almost entirely of lay members, have had to rule repeatedly on the good
or bad application of the law. The executive has heard pitiful complaints
against the scheming and prevarication of the judges, but has had no
recourse to punish them. It has seen the public treasury drained by the
ignorance and malice of the courts, but could not remedy the abuse.
The accumulation of all the administrative functions by its agents in
the departments only augments the impotence of the executive; for
instance, the intendant, head of civil order and internal security, has the
additional obligation to administer the national revenues, whose care
demands the attention of many individuals, if only to prevent waste.
However convenient such accumulation may seem, it is not so, except
with respect to the military authority, which in the maritime departments ought to be merged with the civil authority, and the civil authority should be kept separate from that of revenues so that each branch can
serve the people and the government satisfactorily.
The municipalities, which could be useful in advising the governors of
the provinces, have scarcely fullled their own proper functions. Some of
them have had the audacity to claim the sovereignty belonging to the
nation, while others have fomented sedition. Almost all the new municipalities have undermined rather than improved the general welfare, the
appearance, and the health of their towns. These corporate bodies are not
serving the function they were designed to serve. They have ended up
making themselves hated because of the nes they levy and the bothersome workload imposed on those serving on them, and because in many
towns there arent even qualied persons to replace the membership. The
most harmful aspect of these bodies is the obligation they impose on the
citizens to perform a yearlong judicial function, which costs time and
money in addition to compromising their reputation as responsible, honorable persons. It often happens that individuals simply abandon their
homes and property just to avoid being forced to accept this unpleasant
obligation. If I may be so bold as to voice the common opinion, no decree would
be as popular as the one eliminating the municipalities.
Since no general law exists concerning public order, this scarcely
exists. As a result, the country is in a state of confusion or, more precisely, is a mystery for the subordinates of the executive, who must deal with

The Major Political Statements | 91

people individually. Such a situation is unmanageable without diligent
and eective policing to provide each citizen with a direct connection
with the agents of the government. This causes a number of problems for
the intendants in trying to enforce the laws and regulations in every area
of their jurisdiction.
Denied all security and peace of mind, which are a peoples primary
aspiration, it has been impossible for the agricultural sector even to
maintain the deplorable condition in which it previously operated. Its
decline has negatively aected other sectors of industry, demoralized the
rural environment, and undermined the purchasing power of people
there. Everything has sunk into a state of desolation, and in some districts the citizens have reassumed their condition of primitive independence, because once all benets and amenities are lost to them, there is
nothing to bind them to society and they even become hostile to it. Foreign trade has gone the way of domestic industry, so that you could say
that not even our basic needs are being met. To make things worse,
nancial fraud encouraged by the laws and by the judges, leading to
numerous bankruptcies, has undermined the trust of a profession entirely dependent on credit and good faith. And how can commerce thrive
without trade and prots?
Our army was once the model for all America, the glory of liberty. Its
loyalty to the law, to the legal system, and to the general recalled the
heroic times of republican virtue. Lacking uniforms, soldiers bedecked
themselves in weapons; dying of hunger, they lived o the spoils of victory over the enemy; lacking all ambition, they lived only for love of
country. These generous virtues have been eclipsed, ironically, by new
laws meant to provide the army with order and security. The soldier has
been shaken by the same ills aicting the rest of society, and he retains
only his devotion to the cause that redeemed him and a healthy respect
for his own scars. I have mentioned the sinister eect it must have had on
him to nd himself subjected to civil courts, whose doctrines and dispositions are fatal to the severe discipline, passive submission, and blind
obedience crucial to military power, which is the guarantor of the entire
social structure. The law that allows the soldier to marry without governmental permission has done considerable harm to the mobility,
strength, and morale of the army. It was reasonable to prohibit the
recruitment of heads of family; contravening this regulation, we have
turned soldiers into fathers. Scurrilous attacks on ocers by soldiers in
the press have done much to weaken discipline. When one declares corrective discipline a form of arbitrary detention, human rights are con-

92 | The Major Political Statements

verted into military ordinance, and anarchy is spread among the soldiers,
whose cruelty and savagery are limitless once they become demagogues.
Such writings and the resulting debates in congress provoke dangerous
hostilities between civilians and military ocers, who are suddenly seen
to be executioners of liberty rather than liberators of the nation. Was this
the reward reserved for our heroes? The scandal has even reached the
point of arousing hatred and rancor between soldiers from dierent
provinces, so that no trace of unity or strength can survive.
I would rather not mention the practice of granting clemency to military crimes during this ominous period. Our legislators are fully aware
of the gravity of this scandalous indulgence. How can any future army
fulll its duty of defending our sacred rights if crime is rewarded, not
punished, if glory is no longer a function of loyalty, nor valor a function
of obedience?
Since the year , when we began the reform of the treasury, the
result has been a series of failed eorts, each one leaving us more disillusioned than those preceding it. The lack of commitment by the administration, in each and every one of its sectors, the general reluctance to
pay taxes, the notorious corruption and carelessness on the part of the tax
collectors, the creation of unnecessary positions, at substandard salaries,
and even the laws themselves, have contributed to erode the treasury.
From time to time eorts have been made to overcome this pattern of
resistance by recourse to the courts, but the courts, posing as champions
of innocence, have acquitted both the reluctant taxpayer and the indicted tax collector, while the slow pace and resulting log-jam of court cases
have kept congress from passing new laws to further weaken the governments action. To date, congress has failed to reform the oces that handle the largest revenues. To date, congress has failed to examine, even
once, the investment of funds of which the government is merely the
trustee.
The extended stay in Europe of the person who by orders issued in
is responsible for the millions of pesos owed for the loan he contracted and ratied in London,43 the expulsion of our former diplomatic agent in Peru whom we had sent to negotiate the collection of debts
for aid given to that republic, and nally the distribution and consumption of our national property have forced us to enter numerous debits in
the book of national debt, debits which those individuals could have
satised. The treasury of Colombia, therefore, has succumbed to the crisis of not being able to redeem our national honor in the eyes of the generous foreigners who have loaned us their money, trusting in our good

The Major Political Statements | 93

faith. The army receives less than half the money it is owed in salaries,
and with the exception of the employees of the treasury, the rest suer
the saddest penury. I am embarrassed to tell you that the nation is bankrupt and that the republic is being besieged by a formidable assemblage
of creditors.
In describing the chaos aicting us, it has seemed to me to be almost
superuous to speak to you of our relations with the other countries of
the world. They prospered in direct proportion to the exaltation of our
military glory and the prudence of our fellow citizens, thus inspiring
condence that our civil organization and our social prosperity would
attain the heights reserved for us by Providence. Progress in foreign relations has always depended on the wisdom of the government and the
harmony of the people. No nation ever won favorable regard except
through the practice of these advantages; no nation ever won respect
without the strength that comes from unity. And Colombia, in a state of
total discord, scorning her own laws, her credit ruined, what incentives
can she oer new allies? Or what guarantees even to keep those she
already has? Moving backward, not forward, in her civil orbit, she
inspires only disdain. Recently she has found herself provoked, vilied by
an ally that would never have existed without our generosity.44 Your
deliberations will determine whether our allies, regretful of having
acknowledged our existence, will erase us from among the nations composing humankind.
Legislators! Arduous and vast is the task with which the national will
has charged you. Satisfy the obligation our fellow citizens have imposed
upon you; do so by saving Colombia. Peer deep into the secret hearts of
your constituents. There you will read the protracted anguish aicting
them. They yearn for security and peace. A rm, strong, just government
is what your country cries out for. Look how she stands over the ruins
bequeathed by despotism; look how, pale with fear, she weeps for the
, heroes who died for her,45 their blood sown in the elds, giving
birth to her rights. Yes, Legislators, both the living and the dead, sepulchers and ruins, cry out for guarantees. Now, as I take my seat by my
hearth as a simple citizen, one among many, I reclaim my voice and my
right, being the last to insist on the true purpose of society. As one who
has consecrated a veritable religious cult to my country and to freedom,
I must not be silent on such a solemn occasion. Give us a government
where the law is obeyed, where the judge is respected, where the people
are free, a government that forbids any transgression against the popular
will, against the mandate of the people.

94 | The Major Political Statements

Consider, Legislators, that strength in the forces of order is the safeguard for the weakness of the individual, the threat that makes aggressors tremble, and the hope of society. Consider that the corruption of a
nation is born of the indulgence of the courts and impunity for crimes.
Consider, without strength there is no virtue, and without virtue the
republic perishes. Consider, nally, that anarchy destroys freedom, and
that unity preserves order.
Legislators! In the name of Colombia I beg you with a thousand
prayers that you give us, in the image of the Providence you represent, as
arbiters of our destiny, for the people, for the army, for the judge, and for
the president, . . . inexorable laws!
Simn Bolvar

A Glance at Spanish America

()

We shall begin this outline with the Argentine Republic, not because it
stands in the vanguard of our revolution, as her own citizens have
claimed in their excess of vanity, but because it is the farthest south while
at the same time presenting the clearest perspectives regarding every
kind of anarchic revolution.46
On May ,47 the city of Buenos Aires began her political career.
Her example did not spread to the rest of the provinces, so it became
necessary to use force to oblige them to embrace the revolutionary cause.
In their march through the provinces, the troops from Buenos Aires took
the rst step in what was to become a harsh and merciless campaign by
shooting down Viceroy [Santiago] Liniers, who had previously liberated
that country from the English forces.48 At the same time the persecution
of the pastors of the Church was initiated in the person of a bishop
whose only crime was his faithfulness to his vows.
Continuing their operations, within six months the troops commanded by the peoples representative, a man named [ Juan Jos] Castelli, reached the Desaguadero River. Such auspicious beginnings seemed to
herald most prosperous fortune for the Argentine Republic. However,
due either to the inexperience of that revolutionary commander or to the
absolute ignorance of military and political tactics on the part of the people and the army, what did happen is that very quickly the expeditionary
philosopher was routed with all his troops near the Desaguadero River
and the stragglers were pursued all the way to Crdoba. That rout initiated a gradual and uninterrupted series of disasters.49
The Ro de la Plata has produced only one man capable of serving his
country with integrity and genius. [Cornelio] Saavedra demonstrated
from the beginning his worthiness to preside over the destiny of that
Republic, but very soon death robbed his country of its only hope. 50
From that day forward, there has been no order, no harmony, in Argen-

96 | The Major Political Statements

tine aairs. The federal government took control of the land, which was
to become its victim. All the provinces recovered the local sovereignty
God gives each man over his own fate, but that sovereignty was then tacitly relinquished to society, which then undertook to guarantee the safety of the individual. Nothing is as dangerous as the incompatibility
between natural law and a political system. Each province ruled itself,
and every military expedition suered humiliating defeat. The towns
took up arms against each other as if they were enemies. Blood, death,
and every crime were the patrimony resulting from a federation combined with the rampant appetite of a people who have broken their
chains and have no understanding of the notions of duty and law and
who cannot cease being slaves except to become tyrants.
Every election is plagued with confusion and intrigue. Frequently,
armed soldiers show up to vote in formation, something unheard of even
in primitive Rome, even on the island of Haiti. Everything is decided by
force, faction, or bribery. And to what end? To rule for a moment amid
alarming confusion, ghting in the streets, and sacrice. Public ocials
are routinely replaced by blood-stained conquerors and suer the most
horrendous of fates, being forced into exile or prison or assassinated. It is
rare for an election to proceed without some frightful calamity, even rarer for an incumbent to leave his post at the end of his lawful term,
replaced by a constitutionally elected successor.
We scarcely remember [Martn] Rodrguez, the governor of Buenos
Aires who preceded [Bernardino] Rivadavia.51 And how did the former
come to power? By force of arms, plunder, assassination. Rivadavia was
unable to remain in his post for even half the legal term. He resigned,
almost forced to do so by the discredit into which his administration had
fallen and by the opposition party. Despite this, his intrigues have hardly allowed his successor, [Manuel] Dorrego, to breathe, following
[Vicente] Lpezs brief term as president.
When all the provinces, and even Buenos Aires, were clamoring for
Dorrego to accept the general directorship of the Republic, he was in the
midst of conducting a brilliant and tenacious war against the emperor of
Brazil. When he accepted the presidency, the public cause was in a state
of neglect, as the government lacked resources, men qualied for public
oce, and military forces. These were the circumstances that led Rivadavia to renounce his post, and not content with committing this cowardly act, he provoked new disputes when the time came for peace with
Brazil. Then he had the audacity to summon General [ Juan] Lavalle, a

The Major Political Statements | 97

reckless, immoral man, a soldier worthy of Catiline, whose career has followed the steps that lead a criminal to the gallows.52
As a soldier, he was insubordinate; as an ocer, rebellious. Later he
became an assassin and a sacker of villages, as Ica sadly attests. Finally, he
emerged as the treasonous assassin of the leader of his country. He
usurped the supreme authority, doubtless in the hope that his action
would be spuriously legitimized by the corrupt delegates of the people,
who might well be capable of consecrating the abominable conduct of
such a depraved man, as happened in Mexico.
However, let us be fair regarding the Ro de la Plata. What we have
just related is not peculiar to this country; its history is the history of
Spanish America. We will observe the same principles at work, the same
processes, the same consequences in all the republics, with no dierence
from one country to another except in details altered by circumstances,
events, and geography.
We will observe throughout America a single impetus in public
aairs, identical stages of development according to the times and circumstances, analogous to other stages and circumstances in each newly
emerging state.
Nowhere do we nd legal elections. Nowhere do we see a normal
transfer of elective power based on law. If Buenos Aires manages to abort
a Lavalle, the rest of America nds itself overrun by Lavalles. If Dorrego
is assassinated, assassinations are rife in Mexico, Bolivia, and Colombia:
September is all too recent for us to forget. If [ Juan Martn de]
Pueyrredn53 robs the public treasury, there is always someone in
Colombia ready to do the same. If Crdoba and Paraguay are oppressed
by bloodthirsty hypocrites, Peru has its General [ Jos] La Mar decked
out in a donkey skin, sporting tiger claws instead of ngers, licking his
lips in anticipation of American blood. If anarchist movements spring up
in every Argentine province, Chile and Guatemala are in such a state of
tumult that there is scarcely any hope of peace. There [i.e., in Argentina,
Manuel de] Sarratea, Rodrguez, and [Carlos Mara de] Alvear oblige
their country to welcome bandits into the capital under the name of Liberators. In Chile, the Carrera regime and its thugs commit acts that are
in every way similar.54 [Ramn] Freire, serving as director, destroys his
own administration and, lacking the capacity to govern, constitutes anarchy, and to bring this about, he collaborates with the congress in acts of
extreme violence. [Pedro Alcntara] Urriola takes over the legislature,
having rst defeated the government troops along with the director who

98 | The Major Political Statements

had led them with such distinction. And is there any coup that
Guatemala hasnt attempted? The legitimate authorities are overthrown,
the provinces rebel against the capital, brothers wage war on brothers (an
atrocity that even the Spaniards had not inicted), and its war to the
death. Towns attack towns, cities attack cities, each one claiming its own
government, each street declaring itself a nation. In Central America,
nothing but bloodshed and terror!
Although it is true that in Buenos Aires public ocials seldom last
three days, it is also true that Bolivia has recently chosen to follow this
atrocious example. The illustrious Sucre had scarcely departed from that
unfortunate country when the perdious [Pedro] Blanco hatched a plot
to seize power, which by right should have gone to General [Andrs]
Santa Cruz. After only ve days of rule, Blanco was captured and killed
by a faction, only to be succeeded by a legitimate leader, [ Jos Miguel de]
Velasco, who was succeeded once again by Santa Cruz. So in less than
two weeks, poor Bolivia was ruled by four leaders. Only the Inferno
could oer such a monstrous spectacle, to the shame of the human race.
We note with amazement the almost innite subdivision of the
Argentine territory, which up to a certain point reminds us of the regime
of the ancient barons, this federation standing in the same relation to a
free society as the feudal system under the monarchy. Those feudal lords
imposed taxes, built castles, and governed as they pleased, in total disregard of the sovereign, even waging war against him. Buenos Aires, Chile,
and Guatemala imitate and surpass the practices and doctrines of those
feudal lords, driven to the same extremes by the same motives of personal ambition.
But what just happened in Mexico seems to us far worse than everything we have related so sorrowfully with regard to Ro de la Plata and
the rest of America. Buenos Aires, then, must cede to opulent Mexico, a
city now aicted with leprosy. Yes, the most criminal atrocities inundate that beautiful land. A new class of barefoot poor, or rather shirtless
poor, now occupies the seat of power and possesses everything in sight.
The casual law of usurpation and pillage has been enthroned in the capital as king and in the provinces of the federation as well. A barbarian
from the southern coasts, the vile miscarriage of a savage Indian woman
and a ferocious African,55 has climbed to power on the backs of
corpses and at the cost of twenty million pesos of stolen property. This
new Dessalines [Vicente Guerrero] spares no one. He violates everything; he strips the country of its freedom, the citizen of his, the innocent of his life, and the women of their honor. All the wickedness

The Major Political Statements | 99

committed there is by his command or in his cause. Unable to ascend to
power by way of the laws and public surage, he collaborates with General Santana [meaning Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna], that most corrupt of all mortals. First, they destroy the empire and put the emperor
to death, since they were unable to occupy the throne.56 Then they establish the federation in collaboration with other demagogues who are
as immoral as they themselves, in order to take over the provinces and
even the capital. They join the Masons with an eye to winning converts
to their cause. The latter harass General [Nicols] Bravo, a rival worthy
of competing with honorable men, and because his virtue makes them
look bad, they exile him from his country along with hundreds of competent ocials, alleging discord which they themselves provoked in order to destroy him.
A erce soldier [Guerrero], illiterate like Pizarro, is rejected in the
general elections. With Bravo out of the way, the vast majority of the
people cast their vote for General [Manuel Gmez] Pedraza, in accordance with the constitution and the hopes of all the people. The ambitious Guerrero has no compunction about resorting to crime. In collaboration with [Guadalupe] Victoria, a president who brings shame to his
oce,57 he steeps the capital in blood and, unleashing the rabble on the
landowners, inundates the most beautiful city in America in everything
loathsome. These nauseating lepers,58 led by generals of the same ilk
Guerrero, [ Jos Mara] Lobato, and Santanatake over the country, and
like the soldiers of Attila in Rome, they ravage and annihilate their own
freedom, their own government, their own wealth. What kind of men, or
devils, are they? From one end to the other, the New World is a vast
abyss of abomination, and if anything were lacking to round out this
frightful chaos, Peru would ll it to the brim. In collusion with her
tyrants during the war of independence, scarcely has she won her freedom when she begins to savage her own bosom during the rst days of
her existence. The splendid General San Martn, leading the Chileans
and the Argentines, drives out the Spaniards from Trujillo to Ica. For
Lima, Peru cannot exist without freedom, and almost immediately some
soldiers break ranks with San Martn, whose services they need more
than ever. This act of ingratitude destroys Perus political career, and from
there things go downhill as far as Girn, where the most despicable event
takes place.59. . . But let us continue with our survey.
[Francisco Javier] Luna Pizarro (appropriately named on both
counts), despising [ Jos de la] Riva-Agero and [the marquis of ] TorreTagle, conspires with both of them to force San Martn out. This accom-

100 | The Major Political Statements

plished, the Triumvirate is not content with dividing up the empire of
the Incas among themselves; rather, each of them wants to possess it
entirely, but without ghting for it or doing anything to deserve it. Luna
Pizarro sets La Mar on the others, easily vanquishing two rivals less
treacherous than he, but more immoral, more discredited. Under the
sway of his puppet-master, La Mar loses San Martns army in Torata
and Moquegua because of his reliance on Alvarado.60 This opens the
gates of the country to the Spaniards. Then General Santa Cruz, colluding with Riva-Agero, deposes the traitor La Mar, driving him into
exile. These new leaders ask Colombia to send them the auxiliary forces
that La Mar had maliciously sent back to their own country to prevent
them from interfering with his treasonous designs. So the Colombians
return to Peru to liberate the country from its enemies. Then President
Riva-Agero, deposed and impeached by the Congress, oers to sell his
country to the Spaniards. The Congress names Torre-Tagle president,
and would you believe it? He, too, sends for the Spaniards: he gives them
Lima and El Callao!61 Behold, the most treasonous Triumvirate the
world has ever known! Never, absolutely never before in history, have
three successive leaders of a single nation been known to deliver up their
country to the most brutal enemies of their own independence and political existence.
The Liberator returns to Colombia, leaving Peru headless. Almost
immediately he learns of the insurrection of the auxiliary forces in Lima.
And what does the government of Peru do in these circumstances? It
decides, without hesitation, to send these traitors back to their country so
they can seize a large part of its territory and sell it for a price oered by
the infamous [ Jos] Bustamante.62 General La Mar, a subject of Peru,
lends powerful support to this revolutionary movement, and before long
he manages to take possession of Guayaquil and have himself named
chief of that department by his friends and relatives.
To reward this unimaginable perdy, the Peruvian congressin
other words, Luna Pizarronames him president of the republic. This
wretched Colombian63 wastes no time. Marshalling all his forces, he
invades Bolivia without provocation and engages in atrocious political
machinations enabling him to wage even greater war against his own
country. Finally he declares war, desolating the soil where he was born,
and orders the sacking of the city where he rst saw the light of day. He
carries hostilities to levels never conceived by the most savage barbarians.
But his assaults are no less ruinous to Peru.

The Major Political Statements | 101

As cowardly as he is treacherous, he ees Guayaquil in frenzied stupefaction; he ees from a boy leading a handful of soldiers; in Saraguro
he and his entire reserve army ee from twenty men from Yaguachi; in
Portete he ees in panic from this same batallion, terried of its commander, [ Juan Eligio] Alzuru. He reaches Girn, realizes he is lost, and
signs a treaty which he then violates once it has served the purpose of
saving him from Colombian vengeance. Then, to reward our generosity,
he renews his war to the death against us.
In America there is no good faith, not even between nations. Our
treaties are scraps of paper, our constitutions empty texts, our elections
pitched battles, our freedom mere anarchy, and our lives pure torture.
Such, Americans, is our deplorable condition. If we cannot change it,
we would be better o dead. Nothing is worse than this endless conict,
whose indignity seems to grow in violence with each new faction and
with the passage of time. Let us not be deluded: The evil proliferates
moment by moment, threatening us with total destruction. Popular
unrest, armed uprisingsthese will ultimately oblige us to detest the
very principles constituting our political life. We have lost all guarantees
of individual freedom and security, which were the very goals for which
we had sacriced our blood, and the possessions we treasured most
before the war. And if we look back on those times, who can deny that
our rights were more respected then? Never before have we been as
unfortunate as we are at this moment. Then, we possessed certain positive benets, tangible benets, whereas now our hopes are sustained only
by fantasies of a better future. The bitter reality of the present leaves us
in a state of constant torment, constant disillusionment. Let us have
done, then, with twenty agonizing, painful, fatal years. We long for a stable government, reective of our current situation, worthy of the character of our people, a government that will rescue us from the ferocious
hydra of discordant anarchy, a bloodthirsty monster that feeds on the
most exquisite marrow of the Republic, and whose inconceivable nature
reduces men to such a state of frenzy that it simultaneously lls everyone
with an insatiable lust for absolute power and an implacable hatred of
legal process.
The true portrait of this chimera is the revolution from which we
have just emerged but which still lies in wait if we fail to support with all
our vigor the social body tottering on the edge of the abyss. The country
is waiting for congress to convene so it can impose on us the task of saving her. Then she will say:

102 | The Major Political Statements

Colombians! You have suered greatly, sacriced greatly and in vain,

because you strayed from the healing path. You became infatuated with
freedom, dazzled by her powerful allure; but because freedom is as dangerous as beauty in women, whom all seek to seduce out of love, or vanity, you failed to preserve her in her natural innocence and purity, just as
she descended from heaven. Power, the visceral enemy of our rights, has
stirred the private ambitions of each sector of our state. The second magistrate of our republic assassinated the rst; the third division invaded the
South.64 Pasto rebelled against the republic, Peru laid waste the territory
of her benefactors, and there is scarcely a province anywhere that has not
abused its power or its privileges. This entire period has been rife with
misfortune, blood, confusion, and ruin. Now your only hope is to bring
all your moral energy to the task of constituting a government that can
prevail over ambition and protect freedom. Otherwise, you will be the
laughing-stock of the world and the victim of your own devices.
Public ocials, citizens, provinces, armiesheed the cries of your
country, so that by creating a social body impervious to factional violence, we can gird our national representatives with the virtue, the
strength, and the natural enlightenment of Colombia.

Address to the Congreso Admirable:

Message to the Constituent Congress of

the Republic of Colombia

Bogot, January
Fellow Citizens!
Allow me to congratulate you for this meeting of Congress, which
now undertakes the sublime duties of lawgiver for the nation.65
This is a grand and arduous project, to constitute as a nation a people
recently emerged from oppression via anarchy and civil war, and who are
ill prepared to receive the healthy reforms to which they have aspired.
But the lessons of history, the examples of both the old and the new
world, and the experience of twenty years of revolution must serve you as
so many beacons placed to guide you through the darkness of the future.
I atter myself that your wisdom will rise to the task of controlling with
a rm hand the passions of the few and the ignorance of the multitudes,
consulting when need be the enlightened judgment of sensible men
whose good wishes are a precious resource for resolving questions of high
policy. Beyond this, you will also discover important guides to action in
the very nature of our country, which includes the lofty regions of the
Andes and the burning shores of the Orinoco. Study them closely, and
you will learn there, in that infallible teacher of men, what Congress
should decree for the happiness of the people of Colombia. Our history
will teach you much, our needs will teach you more; but you will nd
even more persuasive the clamor of our sorrow over the lack of tranquility and secure freedom.
Members of Congress, if you can proer to Colombia the enjoyment
of these supreme benets, you will be most fortunate, deserving of our
heartfelt blessing!

104 | The Major Political Statements

Congress having convened to create the fundamental code that will

rule the republic and to appoint the high ocials who will administer it,
it is now the obligation of the government to provide the information
available to the various ministries regarding the current state of the
union, so that you can legislate statutes in keeping with the circumstances. It is the duty of the presidents of the Council of State and
Council of Ministries to give you an account of their labors during the
last eighteen months; if they have not lived up to our highest hopes, they
will at least have overcome the two obstacles blocking the progress of the
administration, the turbulent circumstances of wars abroad and domestic discord, ills which, thanks to Divine Providence, have receded as
clemency and peace gained ground.
Fix your full attention on the origin and evolution of these disturbances.
The troubles that occurred so unfortunately in necessitated my
return from Peru, even though I was determined not to accept the position as rst constitutional magistrate, to which I had been reelected during my absence. Urgently entreated to restore order and avoid civil war, I
could not deny my services to my country which had oered me that
new honor and that unequivocal demonstration of trust.
The representatives of the nation launched an investigation into the
causes of the discord plaguing peoples spirits, and convinced that they
were substantial, and that radical measures had to be adopted, they
resigned themselves to the need to move up the timetable for the meeting of the Great Convention. This body convened at the height of partisan animosity, which led to its adjournment with no agreement among
the members as to the reforms under consideration. Seeing the republic
threatened with total disarray, I was forced to step forward again at this
critical juncture. Had there not been a sudden resurgence of the national will to self-preservation, the republic would have been torn apart by
the hands of its own citizens. It chose to honor me with its trust, a trust
I was obliged to respect as the most sacred law. With the country on the
verge of perishing, could I hesitate?
Repeatedly violated by armed conicts and public uprisings, the laws
could not be enforced. Acknowledging the crisis, the legislature had
already decreed that there should be a meeting of the assembly for constitutional reform, and the convention had at last made a unanimous
declaration of the urgent need for such reform. This solemn declaration,
and the events leading up to it, constituted a formal verdict annulling

The Major Political Statements | 105

Colombias political pact. In the view of public opinion, and in fact, the
constitution of year eleven ceased to exist.
The plight of the country was appalling, and mine even worse,
because it subjected me to judgment and suspicion. I was not deterred,
however, by the assault on a reputation acquired through a long series
of public services during which such sacrices had been frequently
required.
The organic decree that I issued on August 66 should have convinced everyone that my most ardent desire was to lay down the unbearable burden of an unlimited authority and that the republic should
reconstitute itself through its representatives. But scarcely had I begun to
exercise the functions of supreme leader when the opposing forces
responded with violent passion and criminal ferocity. An attempt was
made against my life; civil war broke out; the government of Peru,
encouraged by these events, invaded our southern provinces, seeking to
conquer and usurp. Citizens, I am not speaking from conjecture. The
facts and the documents verifying them are authentic. War became
inevitable. In Tarqui our forces won a most glorious and splendid victory against the army of General La Mar; their lives were spared by the
generosity of the victors. Despite the magnanimity of the Colombians,
General La Mar started up a new war in violation of the treaties, opening hostilities to which I responded by inviting him to make peace once
again, but he slandered us with outrageous insolence. The department of
Guayaquil was the victim of his wild ambition.
Having no navy, beset by winter oods and other obstacles, we had to
wait for good weather to retake the plaza. During this interval, a national verdict, in the words of the Supreme Chief of Peru, vindicated our
conduct and rid our enemies of General La Mar.67
This transformation in the political scene of the Republic of Peru
facilitated negotiations, and we recovered Guayaquil through an
armistice. Finally, on September, the peace treaty was concluded, ending a war in which Colombia defended her rights and her dignity.
I congratulate myself before Congress and the nation for the satisfactory results of the negotiations in the South, both for concluding the war
and for the unequivocal demonstrations of goodwill we have received
from the Peruvian government, nobly admitting that we were provoked
into that war by depraved intentions. Never did a government so thoroughly satisfy another as the Peruvian government did ours, for which
generosity it has earned our fullest respect.

106 | The Major Political Statements

Fellow citizens! If we have achieved this peace with the moderation

one expects between brother nations, which should never open re on
one another with weapons devoted to freedom and mutual preservation,
we have also been merciful with the unfortunate peoples of the South
who allowed themselves to be dragged into civil war or to be seduced by
our enemies. I am delighted to inform you that in bringing domestic dissension to an end, not a single drop of blood has stained the vindication
of our laws, and though a brave general and his followers have fallen on
the eld of battle, their punishment came to them from the hand of the
Almighty, whereas from our hand they would have received the clemency with which we have treated the survivors.68 They all enjoy their freedom despite their depraved actions.
The country has suered too much from these upheavals, which we
will always remember with sorrow. If anything can assuage our aiction,
it is our consolation in knowing that we were blameless in these events
and that we behaved with generosity toward our adversaries when they
were at our mercy. We are of course saddened by the sacrice of a few
delinquents on the altar of justice, and even though patricide deserves no
mercy, I spared many of them, perhaps the most cruel.
Let us learn from this grim picture, which it has been my misfortune
to paint for you. May it be a lesson for the future, like those formidable
blows Providence sometimes deals us in the course of life for our instruction. It is Congress that must pluck sweet fruit from this bitter tree, or at
least draw back from its venomous shadow.
Had I not been the one honored to summon you to represent the
rights of the people so that you could create or improve our institutions
according to their wishes, this would be the moment for me to oer you
advice based on twenty years devoted to the service of the country. But I
must refrain from asking what all citizens have the right to ask of you.
All can, all are obligated to submit their opinions, their fears, their
desires to those whom we have appointed to cure a society sick with dissension and weakness. I alone am forbidden to exercise this civic duty.
Because it was I who called you together and designated your powers, I
am not permitted to inuence your deliberations in any way. Besides, it
would be presumptuous of me to repeat to those chosen by the people
what Colombia has written in characters of blood. My single duty consists of subjecting myself without reservation to the law and the leaders
you give us, and my single hope is that the will of the people be echoed,
respected, and carried out by their delegates.

The Major Political Statements | 107

With this intent, I made provision that all the people should have the
right to express their opinions with absolute freedom and safety, the only
restrictions being those needed to guarantee order and moderation. This
has been done, and you will nd in the petitions that will be submitted
for your consideration the pure expression of popular desire. All of the
provinces await your resolutions; everywhere, the meetings held for this
purpose have been ruled by civility and respect for the authority of the
government and the constituent congress. Only in Caracas do the
excesses of the junta give us cause for regret.69 Your prudence and wisdom must render a judgment there.
I have good reason to fear that my sincerity will be called into question when I express my opinion concerning the magistrate who is to preside over the republic. But the Congress must understand that its honor
militates against my being considered for this post, as does mine against
accepting it. Would you be so unwise as to return the mantle of this precious authority to the one who renounced it? Could you concede your
votes to me without tarnishing your reputation? Would this not mean
I had appointed myself? Far be it from you or me to commit such an
ignoble act.
Obligated as you are to constitute the government of the republic, you
will nd distinguished citizens both within and without this chamber
fully capable of carrying out the duties of the presidency of the state with
glory and skill. All, all of my fellow citizens enjoy the invaluable fortune
of appearing to be above suspicion, while I alone am considered tainted
with aspirations to tyranny.
Spare me, I beg you, the aront that awaits me if I continue to live out
a destiny that can never be free of the vituperation of ambition. Believe
me: A new leader is indispensable to the republic at this time. The people
want to know if I will ever cease to rule them. The American states regard
me with a certain anxiety that may one day bring to Colombia new miseries like the war with Peru. Even in Europe there are those who fear my
conduct may discredit the beautiful cause of freedom. Ah, think how
many conspiracies and wars we have endured whose only purpose was to
undermine my authority and my person! Those assaults have brought
suering to the people, a sacrice that could have been avoided if from
the beginning the legislators of Colombia had not forced me to shoulder
a burden of responsibility harder than war with all its whiplashes.
Fellow citizens, show that you are worthy of representing a free people, casting aside any notion that I am indispensable to the republic. If a

108 | The Major Political Statements

single man were necessary to sustain a state, that state should not exist,
and in the end would not.
The leader you choose will undoubtedly be a harbinger of domestic
harmony, a bond between brothers, a consolation for the defeated factions. All Colombians will come together around this lucky mortal. He
will embrace them in friendship, turning them into a family of citizens.
I will obey this legitimate ruler with the most cordial respect, follow him
as if he were the angel of peace, and support him with my sword and all
my energies. Everything will add power, respect, and obedience to the
man you select. I swear it, Legislators. I promise this in the name of the
people and the Colombian army. The republic will be happy if when you
accept my resignation you appoint as president a citizen beloved of the
nation; it will fall if you insist that I rule it. Hear my pleas. Save the
republic. Save my glory, which belongs to Colombia.
Dispose of the presidency that I respectfully abdicate into your hands.
From this day forth, I am but a citizen armed to defend the country and
obey the government. My public functions have ceased forever. In all
solemnity and formality, I hand over to you the supreme power conferred
on me in the national elections.
You belong to every province; you are their most distinguished citizens; you have served in every public oce; you know the needs of your
province and the nation; you will lack nothing to regenerate this languishing Republic in all branches of administration.
Let my nal act be to urge you to protect the holy faith we profess,
which is the abundant source of heavens blessings. The national treasury
demands your attention, especially in the matter of revenue collection.
The public debt, which is Colombias cancer, cries out for you to honor
its sacred obligations. The army, entitled to the gratitude of the nation a
thousand times over, is in need of radical reorganization. Justice demands
laws capable of defending the rights and the innocence of free men.
Everything must be created anew, and you must lay the foundation for
our prosperity by establishing the basis for our political organization.
Fellow citizens! I blush to say this: Independence is the only benet
we have acquired, to the detriment of all the rest. But independence
opens the door for us to win back the others under your sovereign
authority, in all the splendor of glory and freedom.
Simn Bolvar

II

Lesser Bolivarian Texts

This page intentionally left blank

1. Political and Military

This page intentionally left blank

Oath Taken in Rome

August
So then, this is the nation of Romulus and Numa, of the Gracchi and the
Horaces, of Augustus and Nero, of Caesar and Brutus, of Tiberius and
Trajan?1 Here every manner of grandeur has had its type, all miseries
their cradle. Octavian masks himself in the cloak of public piety to conceal his untrusting character and his bloody outbursts; Brutus thrusts his
dagger into the heart of his patron so as to replace Caesars tyranny with
his own; Antony renounces his claim to glory to set sail on the galleys of
a whore; with no projects of reform, Sulla beheads his fellow countrymen, and Tiberius, dark as night and depraved as crime itself, divides his
time between lust and slaughter. For every Cincinnatus there were a
hundred Caracallas, a hundred Caligulas for every Trajan, a hundred
Claudiuses for every Vespasian. This nation has examples for everything:
severity for former times, austerity for republics, depravity for emperors,
catacombs for Christians, courage for conquering the entire world, ambition for turning every nation on earth into a fertile eld for tribute;
women capable of driving the sacrilegious wheels of their carriages over
the decapitated bodies of their parents; orators, like Cicero capable of
stirring crowds to action; poets, like Vergil, for seducing with their song;
satirists, like Juvenal and Lucretius; weak-minded philosophers, like
Seneca; complete citizens, like Cato. This nation has examples for everything, except for the cause of humanity: corrupt Messalinas, gutless
Agrippas, great historians, distinguished naturalists, heroic warriors,
rapacious consuls, unrestrained sybarites, golden virtues, and foul crimes;
but for the emancipation of the spirit, the elimination of cares, the exaltation of man, and the nal perfectibility of reason, little or nothing. The
civilization blowing in from the East has shown all its faces here, all its
parts. But the resolution of the great problem of man set free seems to
have been something inconceivable, a mystery that would only be made
clear in the New World.

114 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

I swear before you, I swear by the God of my fathers, I swear on their
graves, I swear by my Country that I will not rest body or soul until I
have broken the chains binding us to the will of Spanish might!
Simn Bolvar

Decree of War to the Death

Trujillo General Headquarters, June

Simn Bolvar, Brigadier General of the Union, Commander-in-Chief
of the Army of the North, Liberator of Venezuela
Venezuelans:
An army of brothers, sent by the Supreme Congress of New Granada, has come to liberate you, and it now stands among you, after having
expelled the oppressors from the provinces of Mrida and Trujillo.2
We are sent to destroy the Spaniards, to protect Americans, and to
reestablish the republican governments that formed the Federation of
Venezuela. The states protected by our arms are once again ruled by their
former constitutions and leaders, in the full enjoyment of their freedom
and independence, because our sole mission is to break the chains of
servitude that still oppress some of our people, not to make laws or seize
power, as the rules of war might authorize us to do.
Moved by your misfortunes, we could not witness with indierence
the aictions visited upon you by the savage Spaniards, who have annihilated and destroyed you with pillage and death, who have violated the
sanctity of human rights, rendered null the most solemn articles of surrender and treaty, and committed every imaginable crime, reducing
Venezuela to the most horric desolation. Thus, justice demands retribution, and necessity obliges us to take it. Let the monsters who have
infested Colombian soil, covering it with blood, vanish forever; let their
punishment be equal to the enormity of their perdy, thus washing away
the stain of our ignominy and demonstrating to the nations of the world
that one cannot oend the sons of America with impunity.
Despite our just resentment against the foul Spaniards, our generous
hearts still see t one last time to open the way to reconciliation and
friendship; we invite them once again to live peacefully among us under
the condition that, renouncing their crimes and acting henceforth in

116 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

good faith, they cooperate with us in the destruction of the Spanish government of occupation and in the reestablishment of the Venezuelan
Republic.
Any Spaniard who does not join our ght against tyranny to further
this just cause, actively and eectively, will be regarded as an enemy and
punished as a traitor to the country and consequently put to death without appeal. On the other hand, a general and absolute pardon is hereby
granted to those who come over to our armies, with or without their
weapons, and who lend their support to the good citizens who are struggling to shake o the yoke of tyranny. Military ocers and civil leaders
who join us in proclaiming the government of Venezuela will keep their
rank and oces; in a word, Spaniards who render distinguished service
to the state will be regarded and treated as Americans.
And you Americans who have been led from the path of justice by
error or perdy, be sure that your brothers forgive you and sincerely
lament your oenses, convinced in our hearts that you cannot be to
blame, and that only the blindness and ignorance in which you have been
held hitherto by the instigators of your crimes could have led you to
commit them. Do not fear the sword that comes to avenge you and to
sever the ignominious bonds that bind you to the fate of your executioners. You may count on absolute immunity regarding your honor, your
lives, and your property: the mere title of Americans will be your guarantee and your safeguard. Our weapons are here to protect you and will
never be turned against a single one of our brothers.
This amnesty extends even to the traitors who have most recently
committed acts of felony, and it will be so religiously fullled that no reason, cause, or pretext will be sucient to cause us to break our promise,
no matter how grievous and extraordinary the motives you give us to
arouse our loathing.
Spaniards and Canarians, even if you profess neutrality, know that
you will die unless you work actively to bring about the freedom of
America. Americans, know that you will live, even if you are guilty.
Simn Bolvar

Manifesto to the Nations of the World

General Headquarters of Valencia, September

Simn Bolvar, Brigadier General of the Union, and Commander-inChief of the Army of the North, Liberator of Venezuela, etc.
To the Nations of the World:
The people of these provinces, after having proclaimed their independence and freedom, were subjugated by an adventurer whoseizing
power through usurpation and taking advantage of the consternation
caused by an earthquake rendered frightening more through the ignorance and superstition of its victims than through the devastation it producedinvaded the territory, shedding American blood, robbing its
inhabitants, and committing horric atrocities that will appall and move
you to sympathy once they have been suciently documented and presented for your consideration.3
Meanwhile, for the purpose of avoiding calumny by our enemies, it is
urgent and obligatory to provide you with a preliminary account, succinctly expressed since there is no other way of proceeding given the current situation to explain our present conduct, in the expectation that it
will persuade you to condemn and abhor the conduct of our oppressors
and to turn on them as enemies of the human species, authors of the
most vicious crimes against justice and human rights, perpetrated
shamelessly, and whose wickedness has yet to be punished by the nation
in whose name they have shed our blood, savaged our citizens, and desolated our state.
Entering the province against the express orders of his superior,
[Captain-General Fernando] Miyares, [Domingo de] Monteverde
reached the outskirts of the city of Caracas, which had recently been
destroyed by the terrible earthquake of March , subjugating a people confused and uncertain of his intentions. The only troops opposing

118 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

him were unfortunately led by an ocer who, motivated by ambition and
violent passions, either failed to understand the risks or chose to sacrice the freedom of his country to those personal motives, conducting
himself arbitrarily and despotically to the extreme, upsetting not only his
troops but also the personnel in the oces of public administration, and
rendering the province or what was left of it null and void.4
Monteverde, aided by several ignorant and corrupt clergymen who
saw in our independence and freedom the destruction of their own empire, spared no resource in his eort to complete the seduction of the
majority and to render the minority defenseless, the city destroyed, its
population dispersed in the countryside, the people dying of hunger and
misery, all of them terrorized by the assassinations carried out by [Eusebio] Antoanzas, [ Jos Toms] Boves, and other subordinates whom he
had stationed throughout the province, murdering ruthlessly, in cold
blood and without due process, anyone considered a patriot, leaving the
soldiers without direction or leaders, and the people uncertain as to
their fate . . . .
Such was the hapless condition of Caracas when the revolt of blacks,
both slaves and freed, erupted in the eastern valleys and seacoast, incited,
abetted, and sustained by the emissaries of Monteverde. This inhuman
and savage mob, thirsty for blood and for the property of the patriots
that had been mapped out and detailed in lists for them in Curiepe and
Caucagua, marched against the population of Caracas, perpetrating in
those valleys, and especially in the town of Guatire, the most horric acts
of murder, plunder, violence, and devastation. Those conqueredpeaceful farmers, distinguished citizens, the innocentwere cut down with
pistols and swords or were whipped barbarously after the armistice had
been signed. Blood ran everywhere, and corpses were hung as ornaments
in the streets and public squares of Guatire, Calabozo, San Juan de los
Morros, and other towns inhabited by peaceful working people who, far
from taking up arms, ed to the woods as the soldiers approached and
who were rounded up, tied, and executed without any more formality,
hearing, or trial than being forced to kneel down. Any ocer or soldier
was authorized to put to death anyone regarded as a patriot or whom
they wanted to rob.
In this conict Caracasassaulted from the east by the blacks incited by the European Spaniards occupying the town of Guarenas, thirty
miles from the city, and from the west by Monteverde, who was encouraged by his victory in Puerto Cabello, the only troops opposing him
being those quartered in the town of La Victoria, weakened and demor-

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 119

alized by the arbitrary and violent actions of a hated leadermade an
eort to surrender and in fact, after several attempts at negotiation, did
sign articles of capitulation, by virtue of which her citizens surrendered
their arms, supplies, and munitions to Monteverde, who marched unopposed into the city and took control.
The main article of capitulation, signed in San Mateo on July ,
stipulated that the lives and properties of the citizens would not be taken, that no one would be tried for political opinions expressed prior to
the surrender, that no one would be harassed, and that there would be a
general amnesty concerning past events. This treaty, entered into with a
leader of the forces of a civilized European nation ever boastful of acting
in good faith, eased the fears of even the most untrusting and timid, and
everyone was resting from their recent exhaustion, not exactly content
with the fate Providence had assigned them, but at least at peace and
trusting in the guarantees oered in the armistice. They had fought
enthusiastically to maintain their freedom, and even if they had failed in
that eort, they took some consolation and satisfaction in having used all
the means available to them.
On July Monteverde entered Caracas at night and met with the
Europeans and with distinguished groups and individuals, proering to
all of them the assurances which the surrender must have inspired,
knowing full well that the perturbation, nervousness, and uncertainty
manifested by the province were a consequence of desperation occasioned by acts of injustice and excess committed by the government of
Spain and by the atrocious conduct of the ocials Spain had assigned to
administer and govern it. He must surely have known that people are
never unhappy when treated fairly and governed equitably, and that the
way to heal wounds is to follow the letter of the law. Violating these
principles and the terms of the surrender, Monteverde set about arresting the most respected citizens, humiliating them publicly by placing
them in stocks and, in order to mask his violation of law, spreading the
word that those arrests and abuses were in retaliation for acts committed
subsequent to the armistice. To make these charges seem credible, he
issued a proclamation dated August in which he swore that his promises were sacred, that his word was inviolable, and that these public proceedings were punishment for later infractions.
So the people, not daring to doubt this or even to conceive that Monteverde could be so hypocritical, malicious, and shameless, responded
with uncertainty and timidity when, on August, bands of Canary
Islanders, Catalans, and other Europeans stationed throughout the city

120 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

and countryside, issuing orders to subordinates in the interior of the
province, began rounding up and arresting the Americans. The most
decorated men from the period of the Republic were torn from the arms
of their wives, children, and families in the dead of night; tied to the tails
of the horses of shopkeepers, wine merchants, and other low-brow people; dragged o ignominiously to jail, some shoved along on foot, others
trussed hand and foot to a yoke for oxen, hauled o to the dungeons of
La Guaira and Puerto Cabello; locked up there in arm and leg irons; and
subjected to the inhuman vigilance of savage men, some of whom had
been themselves persecuted during the time of the revolution; and worst
of all, this was all done under the pretext that these wretched captives
were the instigators of a revolutionary conspiracy against the terms of the
surrender. In this way uncertainty was perpetuated, and everyone held
back, until the slanderous felony was accepted as fact; then they ed into
the woods to seek safety among the wild animals, leaving the cities and
towns deserted, so that the only people to be seen in their streets and
public roads were the Europeans and Canary Islanders armed with pistols, swords, and blunderbusses, menacing everyone and spewing forth
acts of revenge, perpetrating atrocities against women as well as men,
and committing the most shameless acts of plunder, so that there was not
a single one of Monteverdes ocers not wearing a shirt, or a cassock, or
the trousers of some American whom he had stripped. Even some ocers who served as garrison commanders participated in such abuse, as for
instance in the public square of La Guaira, where the atrocious [Francisco Javier] Cervriz burst into the dungeons of that port to heap insults
on the very victims in whose garments he was dressed from head to foot.
These men took possession of everything. They camped in the
haciendas and homes of the villagers, and they destroyed or rendered
useless whatever they couldnt take. Given the brevity demanded by the
circumstances, it is impossible to depict the condition of that province.
The most honorable men, heads of families, fourteen-year-old boys,
priests who modeled their lives on the Gospels and true maxims of Jesus
Christ, eighty-year-old men, innumerable men who had no part, who
could not have had a part in the revolution, were locked in dark, hot,
humid dungeons, burdened with chains and leg irons, utterly miserable.
Some suocated right in their cells. Others could not endure the grief
and martyrdom and gave up their lives without medical or spiritual aid,
which were ruthlessly denied them, or provided only when the dying
man was too weak to move or speak. In the streets the only sounds were
the cries of unhappy women calling to their husbands, mothers crying

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 121

for their sons, brothers for their brothers, relatives for relatives. The
house of the Tyrant echoed with the howls and weeping of countless
wretched women, and he took pleasure in this homage which grew in
proportion to the smoke rising from the victims, while his subordinates,
especially his countrymen from the Canaries, far from being moved to
pity, insulted the women with barbarous expressions and leers whereby
they demonstrated how much pleasure they derived from the humiliation of the people of that land.
Amid the confusion of the widespread imprisonment, only ve or six
persons managed to secure passports from Monteverde allowing them to
leave the province. In his stupidity the tyrant, whose decrees were purely arbitrary or issued to please some favorite, made the mistake of issuing
me one. Passport in hand and wasting no time, I accompanied my compatriots to the island of Curaao and from there to Cartagena where,
relating what was happening in Caracas, I aroused the just indignation of
that generous people. Its leaders took upon themselves the grievances of
the Caracans, supported our claims before the Congress of New Granada and in the city of Santaf, and then we were witness to the concern
Americans take for other Americans. The public response of the
Granadans was unanimous in its expression of righteous indignation
toward our oppressors, and the representatives of the provinces communicated their outrage to their delegates, urging them to furnish every
possible aid to their oppressed brothers. The general enthusiasm
matched the re that burned inside me to liberate my country, and by
virtue of my urging and my praiseworthy and holy fervor I found myself
in command of a contingent of troops small in number but inspired by
the virtuous desire to liberate their brothers from the unbearable yoke of
tyranny, injustice, and violence. I entered the province, defeating the
tyrants armies wherever they showed their faces. They could not stand
up against the might of free men, generous, brave, and determined, who
had vowed to exterminate the enemies of the freedom to which the people of America so rightfully aspire. This enthusiasm grew and was kindled to even greater intensity by the discovery, upon our entry into the
province, of the horrible ravages caused by the Spaniards and Canarians.
Then we saw with our own eyes the devastation of the haciendas, the
destruction of property, the atrocities against some and the murder of
others. We wept over the ruins, and joining our tears to those of so many
widows and orphans standing beside the remains of their husbands,
fathers, and brothers, whose bodies were still tied to the posts where they
were shot or scattered about the elds, we repeated our vow to liberate

122 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

our brothers from the cells, dungeons, and jails where they lay as if
buried, and from the cruel, infamous yoke of such endish oppressors.
Until that moment, our state of mind and our conduct in the waging
of war had been concordant with the practice of civilized nations, but on
discovering that the enemy routinely took the lives of prisoners whose
only crime was the defense of liberty, falsely branding them as insurgents, as happened to those executed by Don Antonio Tzcar, commander of Monteverdes troops in Barinas, the prisoners being found
guilty by a jury composed of judges without jurisdiction and in violation
of the most basic formalities demanded by nature and by the universal
code of law, civilized or not, the sentence being ordered and then carried
out by a person lacking all legal authority, we resolved to wage a war to
the death, sparing only the Americans, for otherwise our enemies advantage was insuperable, they being in the habit of killing our prisoners
under the pretext that they were rebels, while we treated ours with the
decency proper to our character and with every consideration demanded
by humanity.
The results have validated and demonstrated the justice and necessity of our conduct, because once the Spaniards and Canarians were
deprived of the advantage with which they had previously fought and
now realized that their lot was equal to ours, they ceased to regard themselves as our masters and began to fear us as men. Then it became palpably clear what great cowards evil men are and how unwarranted our fear
of tyrants is; all one need do is stand up to despots to send them running
shamelessly away. We have seen how these brave men, who earlier
behaved like wild beasts as they assaulted defenseless citizens, running
them through and hacking them to pieces with their swords, turned and
ed from a handful of our soldiers who charged their ranks, though they
greatly outnumbered us. Between Ccuta and Caracas they only showed
their faces seven times, each time being routed immediately, and their
terror was so great that the famous Monteverde, who had formerly swaggered around Caracas in imitation of the despots of Asia in manner, style
and conduct, abandoned Valencia, leaving behind an enormous battery
of artillery, to take hasty refuge in Puerto Cabello, with no recourse but
to surrender. Even so, as we approached Caracas several emissaries from
the governor came to us, oering to surrender, and although they were
utterly defenseless and had no means to oppose us, we granted them
their lives and property and a total amnesty. But you should know that
this mission was a scheme to gain time so they could embark at La

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 123

Guaira, taking their weapons and ammunition with them and jamming
the artillery. These scoundrels left with as many men as they could prior
to the formal surrender, leaving the Spaniards and Canarians to face our
just wrath.
It is not possible to convey the pusillanimity of the coward [Manuel
del] Fierro, or the state of chaos and anarchy in which he left the city of
Caracas when he so shamelessly escaped. That we did not encounter a
bloodbath on our entry into the capital is evidence of an enormous generosity of spirit, a quality ever manifest among the Americans. We did
discover shops and stores broken into and looted by the very people who
had previously been robbed by Monteverde and his henchmen, but even
though the Europeans and Canarians were at the mercy of an angry population, they were treated with moderation. The wives of the Spaniards
and many of their husbands who were trying to escape carrying their
possessions in bundles were treated with respect in their misfortune.
Their ight toward the nearby port was so disorderly and confused that
many dropped their weapons, others threw o their clothing in order to
run faster, believing the enemy was pursuing them, and others nally
abandoned themselves to their fate cursing the cowardly and inhuman
leader who had put them in this situation. Such is the picture of Caracas
I saw as I approached the capital.
This is not the time to present to the world a manifesto detailing the
excesses of our enemies or describing our military operations. Those will
emerge from the trial that must be held and for which the necessary
instructions are being issued, based on the report I have given and will
convey to the honorable Congress of New Granada for her own glory
and the satisfaction of America. As stated at the beginning, our intention
is merely to resist slander and convey succinctly the justice of our complaints against Spain. The Cortes and the Regency of Cdiz not only
viewed with unconcern Monteverdes insubordination to his general,
Miyares, but they applauded his usurpation of the latters authority, promoting him to Captain-general of Caracas. Not only did they look with
indierence on the scandalous violation of the surrender at San Mateo,
on the arrests and maltreatment of the citizens, the destruction of their
jobs, the acts of plunder, the assassinations, and the atrocities which
Monteverde, his ocers, and soldiers committed and have continued to
commit since they took refuge in Puerto Cabello, but even today the
newspapers and journals report that the question of whether the surrender ought or ought not to be honored is still being argued in the Cortes.

124 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

Eight of the men involved in the violation remain free on the Peninsula,
and in the interim Monteverde has continued to act capriciously and
willfully, without restraint or fear of disciplinary action.
But there is one further fact that proves better than any other the
criminality and complicity of the government of Cdiz. The Cortes
established the constitution of the kingdom, which is clearly a product of
the enlightenment, knowledge, and experience of its members. Monteverde regarded this constitution as something irrelevant, or as something opposed to his ideas and those of his advisors. Finally he decides to
publish it in Caracas. He does so, and for what purpose? Not only to
mock it but to insult it and contradict it by deeds wholly contrary to it.
He invites everyone to assemble, urging calm and suggesting that the ark
of peace is at hand; the nave citizens assemble, many of them crawling
out of the caves in which they were hiding; they believe he is speaking in
good faith. His intent was to entrap those who had escaped, so he publishes a copy of the Spanish constitution, a document based on the holy
principles of freedom, property, and security, while simultaneously sending out bands of Spaniards and Canarians to arrest and carry o ignominiously those unwary enough to have assembled to witness and celebrate its publication.
This is a truth as notorious as all of those that have been described in
this paper, and it will be further explicated in the manifesto being drawn
up. In the province of Caracas, the Spanish constitution has no validity;
the Spaniards themselves mock it, insult it. Following its publication
they make arrests without probable cause, shackle prisoners with chains
and handcus at the whim of the commanders and judges; and put prisoners to death without legal formalities or trials, as Tzcar did in Barinas
in May of this year, as [Antonio] Zuazola did in Aragua, and Boves in
Espino, sending o groups of prisoners indiscriminately to jails, dungeons, and prisons, while the territorial Audiencia, following Monteverdes advice, establishes a procedure and a conduct diametrically
opposed to the spirit and letter of the constitution. In view of all this, and
the indierence or tacit consent of the Spanish government, can America hope to improve its lot as a dependent of that peninsula? Can America be considered criminal and insurgent in its eorts to recover its freedom? And with regard to Caracas, can anyone call into question the
resolve and conduct of General Simn Bolvar and his compatriots and
fellow soldiers for trying to rescue brothers, friends, and relatives from
the cells, jails, dungeons, and pens where they lay oppressed, humiliated,
and abused? Here we put aside the principles on which Venezuela pro-

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 125

claimed her freedom and independence, observing instead the long list
of reasons we had for undertaking to break the yoke of her oppressors,
justifying our conduct by a minimal and approximate sketch of the
insults, atrocities, and crimes of Monteverde and his accomplices, especially his fellow Canarians. Those can be reduced to a few articles: the
scandalous infraction of the surrender at San Mateo; the murders perpetrated throughout the province, the killing of prisoners of war, people
who had surrendered, who were unarmed, simple farmers, peaceful citizens, and even people already imprisoned; the inhuman, ignominious,
cruel, and brutal treatment of distinguished, decorated citizens; the occupation of haciendas and other properties; acts of plunder tolerated and
authorized; the senseless, unwarranted destruction of places of employment where Americans worked; the suering of so many devastated
families; the homelessness, sadness, and weeping of the most respected
women in the towns, who wandered through the streets exposed to lewd
insolence and the savage behavior of the Canarians, city thugs, sailors,
and soldiers.
This then, Nations of the World, is the most succinct idea I can give
you at this time of my conduct in the project which I conceived to liberate Caracas from the tyrant Monteverde, under the auspices of the virtuous, humane, and generous people of New Granada. I stand before you
with my weapons still at the ready, and I will not put them down until I
eradicate every last Spaniard from the provinces of Venezuela that have
most recently experienced the excess of their tyranny, their injustice, their
perdy, and their atrocities. I will ll with glory the campaign I have
undertaken for the health of my country and the happiness of my fellow
citizens, or I will die in the eort, demonstrating to the entire world that
the Americans are not to be scorned or slandered with impunity.
Nations of the World: Venezuela owes you the consideration of not
letting you concern yourselves with the false and misleading accounts
which those scoundrels will contrive to discredit our conduct. In short
order, the precise and documented manifesto of everything that happened in the year and up to the present time in these provinces will
be published. Suspend your judgment for the moment, and if you wish to
seek out the truth on your own, Caracas not only welcomes you but
eagerly awaits the arrival in its ports of all able men who come seeking
refuge among us and who can help us with their skill and knowledge,
without concern for their place of origin.
Simn Bolvar

Manifesto of Carpano

Carpano, September
Simn Bolvar
Liberator of Venezuela, and Commanding General of her armies.
Citizens:
Unhappy is the leader who, responsible for the calamities or crimes
occurring in his country, is called before the tribunal of the people to
defend himself against accusations concerning his conduct; but happy is
he who, having steered a true course among the reefs of war, politics, and
public misfortune, preserves his honor intact and stands innocent before
his companions in misfortune to demand a fair decision concerning his
righteous actions.5
I was chosen by the fortunes of war to break your chains, but it must
also be said that I was the instrument used by Providence to gauge the
extent of your aictions. Yes, I brought you peace and freedom, but in
the wake of these priceless boons, war and slavery also accompanied me.
Victory tempered by justice was our constant guide as we marched on
the ruins of our illustrious capital of Caracas to wrest it from the hands
of its oppressors. The warriors of New Granada preserved their laurels
fresh and bright as they fought against the conquerors of Venezuela, and
the soldiers of Caracas were crowned with equal fortune against the
erce Spaniards who tried to subjugate us once again. If ckle destiny
caused victory to alternate between us and our enemies, it was only
because an appalling dementia led the American peoples to take up arms
to destroy their liberators and restore the scepter to their tyrants.
Thus, it would seem that heaven, to bring us humiliation and then
glory, allowed our conquerors to be our brothers and our brothers, no one
else, to triumph over us. The Army of Liberators exterminated the enemy armies, but has not been able, nor should it be able, to exterminate
the people for whom it fought in hundreds of battles. It is not right

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 127

to destroy men who do not want to be free, nor do we give the name
of freedom to what we impose against the will of fanatical creatures
whose spiritual depravity makes them love their chains as if they were
social bonds.
So grieve not for yourselves but for your compatriots who, driven by
the fury of discord, have immersed you in that swamp of calamities
whose very aspect makes Nature tremble, an image so horric no one
could paint it for you. It was your brothers, not the Spaniards, who
ripped out your hearts, shed your blood, set re to your homes, and
forced you into exile. Your cries should be directed against those blind
slaves who seek to bind you with the very chains they drag behind them;
do not vent your wrath on the martyrs who in the passionate defense of
your freedom spilled their blood on every battleeld and confronted
every danger heedless of their own safety in order to save you from death
or ignominy. Be as just in your sorrow as the cause from which it stems.
Do not let your torments alienate you, citizens, to the point of regarding your protectors and friends as accomplices of imaginary crimes,
either of intention or of omission. Those who govern your destiny, no
less than those who work with them, had no other intention than to provide perpetual happiness for you, an achievement which for them would
represent immortal glory. But if things did not turn out according to that
intention, and if unparalleled disasters have frustrated this admirable
undertaking, it was not because of ineptitude or cowardice; it was, rather,
the inevitable consequence of an enormous project, beyond all human
capacity. The destruction of a government whose origins are lost in the
darkness of the ages; the subversion of established principles; the mutation of customs; the upheaval in public opinion; and nally, the establishment of freedom in a nation of slavesthese are goals impossible to
achieve overnight, truly beyond the reach of any human eort. So our
excuse for not having obtained what we desired is inherent in the cause
we follow, because in the same way that justice justies the audacity of
having sought to implement it, the impossibility of attaining it excuses
the inadequacy of the means. It is praiseworthy, it is noble, it is sublime
to seek to vindicate Nature violated by tyranny; nothing is comparable to
the grandeur of this action, and even when desolation and death are the
reward for such a glorious attempt, there is no reason to condemn it,
because we are obliged to undertake not the easily attainable but rather
that which is morally authorized.
In vain have our extraordinary eorts achieved victory after victory,
purchased dearly by the blood of our heroic soldiers. Then a few minor

128 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

successes by our enemies suced to bring down the edice of our glory,
the masses being carried away by religious fanaticism and seduced by the
lure of voracious anarchy. In opposition to the torch of freedom, which
we presented to America as the guide and object of our struggle, our
enemies have oered the incendiary torch of discord and devastation and
the motivation of honor and fortune as spoils of war, powerful lures to
men corrupted by the yoke of servitude and bestialized by the doctrine of
superstition. How could the simple theory of political philosophy, based
only on truth and nature, prevail over vice, vice armed with unfettered
license limited only by ones appetite and suddenly transformed by the
prestigious veneer of religion into a political virtue and a form of Christian charity? No, it is impossible for ordinary men to appreciate the high
value of the realm of freedom or to choose it over blind ambition and vile
greed. In this crucial matter our fate depended on the choice of our compatriots, who in their corrupted condition chose against us; the rest was
a consequence of a decision that was more dishonorable than fatal and
more to be lamented for its essence than for its results.
It is stupidity provoked by malice to hold public men responsible for
the vicissitudes naturally occurring in a state, since in times of turbulence, catastrophe, or social turmoil it is beyond the capacity of a general or a magistrate to stem the tide of human passions stirred up by the
momentum of revolutions and growing in intensity in direct proportion
to the forces seeking to resist them. Even when serious errors or the violent passions of leaders frequently weaken the Republic, the harm must
nonetheless be viewed objectively and its origin sought in the primitive
causes of all misfortune: the frailty of the human race and the power of
chance to determine events. Man is the plaything of fortune, the eects
of which can often be anticipated, though never with certainty, because
our realm is so remote from the higher order of things. To expect politics
and war to move to the rhythm of plans we formulate in darkness guided only by the purity of our intentions and aided by the limited means at
our disposal is to strive for the eects of a divine power through merely
human agency.
Far from the mad presumption of considering myself guiltless in the
catastrophe of my country, I suer the opposite burden, the deep sorrow
of believing myself to be the wretched instrument of her appalling miseries. Yet I am innocent, because my conscience never engaged in deliberate or malicious error, although on the other hand it may have contributed unintentionally to the harm. It is my heart that persuades me of
my innocence, and this testimony is for me the most authentic, though it

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 129

may seem to others to be the delirium of pride. This is why, not deigning
to reply to each one of the accusations that may be alleged against me in
good or bad faith, I reserve this act of reckoning, which my own vindication requires, until it can be carried out before a tribunal of wise men
who will judge my conduct during my mission in Venezuela with rectitude and reason. I refer to the Supreme Congress of New Granada, the
august body that commissioned me with armies to come to your aid, as
they did heroically to the last man on the eld of honor. It is proper and
necessary that my public life be examined with care and judged impartially. It is proper and necessary that I give satisfaction to anyone I may
have oended and that I be cleared of erroneous accusations of which I
am innocent. This high judgment must be pronounced by the sovereign
I served. I assure you that the occasion will be as solemn as possible and
that my actions will be irrefutably documented. Then you will know
whether I have been unworthy of your trust or whether I deserve the
name of Liberator.
I swear to you, beloved compatriots, that this august title your gratitude bestowed on me when I came to take away your chains was not given in vain. I swear to you that whether I be Liberator or dead, I will
always be worthy of the honor you have done me and that no human
power on earth can deect me from the course I have pledged to follow
until I free you a second time, marching from the west along the route
nourished with so much blood and adorned with so many laurels. Have
every expectation, compatriots, that the noble and virtuous people of
New Granada will y forth eager to win new trophies, to come once
again to your aid and bring you freedom, unless your own valor wins it
rst. Indeed, your own virtues are capable of waging successful war
against that frenzied multitude who are oblivious to their own interests
and honor, for freedom has never been subjugated by tyranny. Do not
measure your physical forces against those of the enemy, as there is no
comparison between spirit and matter. You are men, they are beasts; you
are free, they are slaves. Fight, and you will win. God grants victory to
those who persevere.
Bolvar

Manifesto on the Execution of

General Manuel Piar

General Headquarters in Angostura, October

Simn Bolvar
Supreme Commander of the Republic of Venezuela, etc., etc.
To the Soldiers of the Liberating Army:
Soldiers! Yesterday was a day of sorrow for my heart.6 General Piar
was executed for his crimes against the country, for conspiracy and desertion. A just and legal tribunal has pronounced the sentence against that
unfortunate citizen who, intoxicated by the favors of fortune and to satisfy his ambition, tried to bury the country amid her ruins. General Piar
truly had rendered important service to the Republic, and though the
course of his conduct had always been factious, his services had been
rewarded generously by the government of Venezuela.
For a leader who had obtained the highest military rank, there was
nothing left to aspire to. Prior to his rebellion, the second highest
authority of the republic, which had been vacated due to the dissidence
of General [Santiago] Mario,7 was about to be conferred on him; but
this general, who aspired only to the supreme command, contrived the
most atrocious plot a perverse soul can conceive. Piar sought not only
civil war but anarchy and the most inhuman sacrice of his fellow soldiers and brothers.
Soldiers! You know this. Equality, liberty, and independence are our
motto. Has not humankind regained its rights through our laws? Have
our arms not destroyed the chains of slaves? Have not the odious dierences between classes and colors been abolished forever? Has it not been
ordered that the wealth of the nation be fairly distributed among you?8
Do not fortune, knowledge, and glory await you? Are your merits not
richly, or at least fairly, rewarded? What then could General Piar have

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 131

wanted on your behalf? Are you not equal, free, independent, happy, and
honored? Could Piar have secured greater good for you? No, no, no! Piar
was digging the grave of the republic with his own hands and was about
to bury in it the lives, properties, and honor of the brave defenders of
Venezuelas freedom, of her sons, wives, and fathers.
Heaven looked with horror on this cruel patricide. Heaven delivered
him to the rigors of the law. Heaven ordained that a man who had
oended divinity and the human race should no longer profane the earth
or be further tolerated after his infamous crime.
Soldiers! Heaven keeps vigil over your welfare, and the government
that is your father watches over you. Your general, who is your companion in arms, and who has always marched at your head and shared your
dangers and hardships as well as your triumphs, puts his trust in you.
Therefore, put your trust in him, condent that he loves you more than
if he were your father or your son.

Declaration of Angostura

Angostura, November
Simn Bolvar
Supreme Commander of the Republic of Venezuela, etc.
Considering that when the Spanish government requests the mediation
of the major powers in its eort to reconcile and reestablish its authority
over the free and independent people of America, it is urgent that we
convey to the world Venezuelas feelings and decision.9
That even though these feelings and that decision were embodied in
the establishment of the Republic on July and more specically
since the very rst announcements of the proposition of the government
of Madrid, it is the obligation of those representing the national government to reiterate them, giving them formal expression in solemn and
legal terms.
That we are obliged to make this frank and clear declaration not only
out of respect and consideration for the major powers but even more
urgently to calm the spirits of the citizens of Venezuela.
Having convened a national meeting of all the civil and military
authorities, including the Council of State, the Supreme Court of Justice, the governor, the vicar general of this vacant diocese, and the general sta of the armed forces, and having examined with great care the conduct of the Spanish government, we have borne in mind:
. that the idea of cordial reconciliation was never a consideration
of the Spanish government.
. that though Great Britain twice proposed such a reconciliation
from the rst days of our disagreements, Spain, in deance of
all parties, rejected it.
. that even while eorts at reconciliation were being negotiated,
she blocked our ports, sent armies against us, and conspired to
destroy us.

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 133

. that having subjected Venezuela to terms of solemn capitulation, no sooner had we put down our arms than she violated
every article of that armistice, sacricing thousands of citizens
whose rights had been guaranteed.
. that waging against us a war to the death without respect for
sex, age, or condition, she broke every social bond and aroused
our just and implacable hatred.
. that this hatred has been exacerbated by the atrocities she has
committed and by the bad faith she has shown us at every
juncture.
. that all America, and very particularly Venezuela, is thoroughly convinced of the absolute impossibility that Spain could ever
recover her authority on this continent.
. that all America is now satised of her power and her
resources: she is fully aware of her natural advantages and
means of defense and secure in her conviction that no power
on earth can ever bind her to Spain again.
. that even if there were such a power, she is resolved to perish
rather than be subjected again to a government of blood, re,
and devastation.
. that having found ourselves in possession of the freedom and
independence for which nature destined us, and which even
the laws of Spain and the examples of her history authorized
us to seize by force of arms, as we have in fact done, it would be
an act of deranged stupidity to bow down to the Spanish government no matter what the conditions.
Due to all these considerations, the government of Venezuela, interpreter of the national will and purpose, has seen t to proclaim to the
world the following declaration:
. that the Republic of Venezuela, by divine and human right, is
emancipated from the Spanish nation and constituted as an
independent, free, and sovereign state.
. that Spain has no right to reclaim dominion over her, nor does
Europe have the right to attempt to subject her to the Spanish
government.
. that Venezuela has not requested, nor will she ever request,
incorporation into the Spanish nation.
. that she has not requested the mediation of the major powers
to seek reconciliation with Spain.

134 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

. that she will never deal with Spain, in peace or war, except on
terms of equality, as is the mutual practice of all nations.
. that she only desires the mediation of foreign powers to exert
their good oces on behalf of humanity, inviting Spain to
draft and sign a treaty of peace and friendship with the
Venezuelan nation, recognizing and dealing with her as a free,
independent, and sovereign state.
. and that, nally, the Republic of Venezuela declares that she
has been engaged in a struggle for her rights since April
, shedding the blood of most of her sons, sacricing her
wealth, her pleasures, and everything that men hold dear and
sacred, in her eort to recover her sovereign rights, and that to
retain her integrity, as Divine Providence has ordained, the
people of Venezuela are resolved to bury themselves alive amid
the ruins if Spain, or Europe, or the world seeks to subject her
to the Spanish yoke.
Presented, signed by my hand, sealed with the provisional seal of the
Republic, and countersigned by the secretary of state in the Palace of
Government in Angostura on November , the eighth year of
independence.
Simn Bolvar
For His Excellency the Supreme Commander,
the Secretary of State, Pedro Briceo Mndez

My Delirium on Chimborazo

()

I was coming along, cloaked in the mantle of Iris, from the place where
the torrential Orinoco pays tribute to the God of waters.10 I had visited
the enchanted springs of Amazonia, straining to climb up to the watchtower of the universe. I sought the tracks of La Condamine and Humboldt,11 following them boldly. Nothing could stop me. I reached the
glacial heights, and the atmosphere took my breath away. No human foot
had ever blemished the diamond crown placed by Eternitys hands on
the sublime temples of this lofty Andean peak. I said to myself: Iriss
rainbow cloak has served as my banner. Ive carried it through the infernal regions. It has ploughed rivers and seas and risen to the gigantic
shoulders of the Andes. The terrain had leveled o at the feet of Colombia, and not even time could hold back freedoms march. The war goddess Belona has been humbled by the brilliance of Iris. So why should I
hesitate to tread on the ice-white hair of this giant of the earth? Indeed
I shall! And caught up in a spiritual tremor I had never before experienced, and which seemed to me a kind of divine frenzy, I left Humboldts
tracks behind and began to leave my own marks on the eternal crystals
girding Chimborazo. I climb as if driven by this frenzy, faltering only
when my head grazes the summit of the rmament. At my feet the
threshold of the abyss beckons.
A feverish delirium suspends my mental faculties. I feel as if I were
aame with a strange, higher re. It was the God of Colombia taking
possession of me.
Suddenly, Time appears to me as an ancient gure weighed down by
the clutter of the ages: scowling, bent over, bald, his skin lined, scythe in
hand . . .
I am the father of the centuries, the arcanum of fame and secret
knowledge. My mother was Eternity. Innity sets the limits of my
empire. There is no tomb for me, because I am more powerful than

136 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

Death. I behold the past, I see the future, and the present passes through
my hands. Oh, child, man, ancient, hero, why such vanity? Do you think
your Universe matters? That you exalt yourself merely by scaling one of
the atoms of creation? Do you imagine that the instants you call centuries are enough to fathom my mysteries? Do you believe you have seen
the Holy Truth? Are you mad enough to presume that your actions have
value in my eyes? Compared to my brother, Innity, everything is less
than the tiniest point.
Overcome by a sacred awe, I answered: Oh, Time, how can a
wretched mortal who has climbed so high not simply vanish in thin air?
I have surpassed all men in fortune, because I have risen to be the head
of them all. I stand high above the earth with my feet; I grasp the eternal
with my hands; I feel the infernal prisons boiling beneath my footsteps;
I stand gazing at the glittering stars beside me, the innite suns; I measure without astonishment the space that encloses all matter, and in your
face I read the History of the past and the thoughts of Destiny.
Observe, he said to me, learn, hold in your mind what you have
seen. Draw for the eyes of those like you the image of the physical Universe, the moral Universe. Do not conceal the secrets heaven has revealed
to you. Tell men the truth.
The apparition disappeared.
Absorbed, frozen in time, so to speak, I lay lifeless for a long time,
stretched out on that immense diamond serving as my bed. Finally, the
tremendous voice of Colombia cries out to me. I come back to life, sit up,
open my heavy eyelids with my own hands. I become a man again, and
write down my delirium.
Simn Bolvar

Letter to Jos Antonio Pez:

Nor Am I Napoleon

Magdalena, March
My Dear General and Friend:
I have received your very important letter of the rst of October of
last year, which you sent to me by way of Mr. [Antonio Leocadio]
Guzmn, whom I met and listened to with some surprise, since his is an
extraordinary mission.12 You tell me that the situation in Colombia is
much like that in France when Napoleon found himself in Egypt and
that I should say, with him, The conspirators are going to lose the country. I am going to save it. In truth, your entire letter is inscribed by the
chisel of truth, but the truth alone is not sucient for a plan to achieve
its purpose. It seems to me that you have not judged matters and men
with sucient objectivity. Colombia is not France, nor am I Napoleon.
People in France think a lot, and they know even more, the population is
homogeneous, and moreover, war had the country on the edge of the
precipice. France was the only country in Europe with a great republic,
and France had always been a monarchy. The republican government
had been discredited and reduced to a point of abyssal execration. The
monsters who ran France were cruel and inept to an equal degree.
Napoleon was a great and unique man, in addition to being extremely
ambitious. None of that applies here. I am not Napoleon, nor do I wish
to be. Neither do I wish to imitate Caesar, even less Iturbide. Such models seem unworthy of my glory. The title of Liberator is superior to any
ever granted to human pride. Therefore, it is impossible to degrade it.
On the other hand, our population is not French by any stretch of the
imagination. The republic has uplifted the country to glory and prosperity, given it laws and freedom. The leaders of Colombia are not Robespierre or Marat. The danger ended when hope began, so there is no
urgent need for such measures. Colombia is surrounded by republics, and

138 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

Colombia has never been a monarchy. A throne would be frightening as
much for its height as for its brilliance. Equality would be destroyed, and
the people of color would see all their rights stripped away by a new aristocracy. In short, friend, I cannot persuade myself that the project communicated to me by Guzmn makes any sense, and I also believe that
those who have suggested it are men like those who exalted Napoleon
and Iturbide so they could enjoy their prosperity and then abandon them
when it became risky. If it should turn out that they were acting in good
faith, then you should know that they are deluded, either that or partisans of extreme ideas of one kind or another.
I will tell you in all candor that this project is not good for you or for
me or for the country. I do, however, believe that in the upcoming period set aside for the reform of the constitution, it may well undergo signicant changes in favor of good conservative principles, and this without violating a single republican rule. I will send you a rough draft for a
constitution that I have drawn up for the republic of Bolivia; in it are
included every guarantee of permanence and freedom, equality and
order. If you and your friends saw t to support this project, it would be
very useful if you could write in support of it and recommend it to the
opinion of the people. This is the service we can proer to the country, a
service that can be admired by every one of the parties that are not
extremist, or, to put it another way, those who desire real freedom accompanied by real stability. Beyond this, I do not advise you to do for yourself what I do not wish for myself, but if the people wish it, and you
accept the national will, my sword and my authority will be employed
with innite pleasure to sustain and defend the decrees of popular sovereignty. This protest is as sincere as the heart of your true friend.
Bolvar

A Soldiers Death Penalty Commuted

Bogot, January
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President, etc.
Having witnessed in Government Council the accord issued on the th
of this month by the Superior Military Court of the Department of
Cundinamarca, in which on advice of the Executive Power a commutation was granted regarding the death penalty to which artillery soldier
Antonio Len was condemned during the regular meeting of the Council of War in this capital on August for the crimes of climbing
over the barracks wall, abandoning guard duty, and aiding in the escape
of the prisoner Casimiro Solanilla, this sentence having been conrmed
by the same court on appeal, after examining the original trial record, the
following circumstances have been considered:13
. that although the crimes for which Len has been convicted
are punishable by the death penalty according to army ordinances, they did not cause serious harm to society.
. that far from displaying any depravity of heart in the commission of these crimes, the prisoner has exhibited a spirit of compassion and gives indications of being capable of rehabilitation
in the future.
. that the abandonment of guard duty did not occur before the
enemy, nor during a campaign, but in the jail of one of the military barracks that have been used for incarcerating prisoners
under the jurisdiction of the civil tribunals and courts due to
the circumstances in which this city found itself following the
earthquakes.
. Finally, that the prisoner whose escape Len aided was not
convicted of a capital crime. For all these reasons and using the

140 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

power conceded to the Executive Power by Article of the

Constitution, I have determined the following:
The death penalty to which artillery soldier Antonio Len has been
condemned shall be commuted to the same sentence imposed on the
prisoner Casimiro Solanilla, on nal appeal, by the Superior Court of
Justice of Cundinamarca, to which in its military jurisdiction this decree
will be communicated for appropriate action.
The Secretary of State of the War Department is charged with the
execution of this decree.
Given, signed by my hand, and countersigned by the Secretary whose
signature appears below, in the Palace of Government, in Bogot, on
January , the eighteenth year of independence.
Simn Bolvar
C. Soublette

Manifesto Justifying the Dictatorship

Bogot August
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia, etc.
Colombians! The will of the people was given energetic expression in the
political reforms of the nation. The legislative body deferred to your
desires, ordering the convocation of the Great Convention so that the
representatives of the people could carry out their wishes, constituting
the Republic according to our beliefs, our inclinations, and our needs.14
The people asked for nothing except what was theirs by right. However,
the hopes of all the people were betrayed in the Great Convention,
which at last had to be dissolved, because while some heeded the petitions of the majority, others insisted on making laws dictated by their
conscience or personal opinion. The constitution of the Republic no
longer had the force of law for the majority, because the convention itself
had annulled it, pressing unanimously for its reform. Then the people,
realizing the seriousness of the ills besetting them, reassumed that portion of their rights which they had delegated and, exercising immediately their full sovereignty, took steps to ensure their own future. This sovereign entity chose to honor me with the title of minister and authorized
me, further, to be the executor of their decrees. My position as supreme
leader imposed on me the obligation to obey and serve my sovereign
even beyond my own capacities. It has been utterly impossible for me on
such a solemn occasion to refuse to comply with the trust of the nation,
a trust that weighs upon me with an immense glory, while simultaneously humbling me, making me aware of my own inadequacy.
Colombians! I accept the obligation to obey rigorously your legitimate desires. I will protect your sacred religion as the faith of all
Colombians and the ethical code of good people. I will ensure that you
are treated justly, that being the rst law of nature and the universal

142 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

guarantee for citizens. The careful management of the national treasury
will be the rst priority of your servants; we will take great pains to pay
Colombias debt to our generous foreign creditors. Finally, I will only
retain the supreme power until such time as you order me to return it to
you, and I will convene the national assembly within a year, unless you
see t to do so earlier.
Colombians! I will not speak to you of freedom, because if I keep my
promises, you will be more than free, you will be respected. Besides, in a
dictatorship, who can speak of freedom? Let us sympathize mutually
with the people who obey and with the man who rules alone!
Bolvar

Manifesto Concerning the Installation

of the Constituent Congress, the End

of the Dictatorship, and Announcing

the End of His Political Career

Bogot, January
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President of Colombia, etc.
Colombians!15 Today I cease to govern you. I have served you for twenty years as soldier and leader. During this long period we have taken back
our country, liberated three republics, fomented many civil wars, and four
times I have returned to the people their omnipotence, convening personally four constitutional congresses. These services were inspired by
your virtues, your courage, and your patriotism; mine is the great privilege of having governed you.
The constitutional congress convened on this day is charged by Providence with the task of giving the nation the institutions she desires, following the course of circumstances and the nature of things.
Fearing that I may be regarded as an obstacle to establishing the
Republic on the true base of its happiness, I personally have cast myself
down from the supreme position of leadership to which your generosity
had elevated me.
Colombians! I have been the victim of ignominious suspicions, with
no possible way to defend the purity of my principles. The same persons
who aspire to the supreme command have conspired to tear your hearts
from me, attributing to me their own motives, making me seem to be the
instigator of projects they themselves have conceived, representing me,
nally, as aspiring to a crown which they themselves have oered me on

144 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

more than one occasion and which I have rejected with the indignation
of the ercest republican. Never, never, I swear to you, has it crossed my
mind to aspire to a kingship that my enemies have fabricated in order to
ruin me in your regard.
Do not be deceived, Colombians! My only desire has been to contribute to your freedom and to the preservation of your peace of mind. If
for this I am held guilty, I deserve your censure more than any other
man. Do not listen, I beg you, to the vile slander and the tawdry envy
stirring up discord on all sides. Will you allow yourselves to be deceived
by the false accusations of my detractors? Please dont be so foolish!
Colombians! Gather around the constitutional congress. It represents
the wisdom of the nation, the legitimate hope of the people, and the nal
point of reunion of the patriots. Its sovereign decrees will determine our
lives, the happiness of the Republic, and the glory of Colombia. If dire
circumstances should cause you to abandon it, there will be no health for
the country, and you will drown in the ocean of anarchy, leaving as your
childrens legacy nothing but crime, blood, and death.
Fellow Countrymen! Hear my nal plea as I end my political career;
in the name of Colombia I ask you, beg you, to remain united, lest you
become the assassins of the country and your own executioners.
Bolvar

Letter to General Juan Jos Flores:

Ploughing the Sea

Barranquilla, November
My dear General:
I have received your ne letter from Guayaquil, of September
placed in my hands by your emissary, [ Jos Mara] Urbina.16 You cannot
imagine my surprise to see that you took the trouble to send a special
envoy to deliver your reply and to inform me of what is happening in the
South and with your situation. I never expected that a personal letter
could be the object of so much concern and benevolence. By so doing,
you have surpassed the usual standard of extraordinary kindness in your
dealings with me. Your friendship leaves nothing to be desired. With
regard to the country, you conduct yourself like a statesman, always
behaving in accordance with the ideas and desires of the people who
have entrusted their destiny to you. In this case you fulll your obligation
as a leader and citizen.
I will not respond to the letter in question, because the important letter was the message delivered in person by Mr. Urbina: this procedure is
diplomatic, prudent, and consistent with the nature of the revolution, for
we never know in what moment and with whom we live our lives; and a
voice is most exible and lends itself to all the alterations one chooses to
give it; this is politics. Urbina assures me that the desire of the South,
according to the information he has brought, is nal with respect to the
independence of that country. Let the will of the South be carried out;
keep your promises. Those people are in possession of their own sovereignty and will make of it a sack or a smock, depending on their whim.
In this, nothing is determined so far, because nations are like children,
who soon throw away what they have wept to attain. Neither you nor I
nor anyone else knows the will of the people. Tomorrow they may kill
each other, split into factions, and let themselves fall into the most pow-

146 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

erful or the most ferocious hands. Be sure, my dear General, that you and
those generals from the North17 are going to be ejected from that country, unless you transform yourselves into France, and even that will not
suce, because you know that all the revolutionaries of France died
slaughtering their enemies, and that there are very few monsters of that
ilk who have escaped the knife or the gallows. I will speak to you in passing and with clear intent. This young man has told me, because I asked
him, that the grand destiny of the South is in the hands of the northern
generals. This struck me as despicable even before the last revolution.
With how much more justication will they not now call this tyranny?
Even at this distance I have been hearing that they are still colonists,
creatures of foreigners; foreigners from Venezuela, others from New
Granada, others English, others Peruvians, and who knows from how
many other countries they originate. And then, what manner of men!
Some arrogant, some despotic, no doubt others simply thieves; all of
them ignorant, with absolutely no talent for administration. Yes, my dear
sir, I say this to you because I love you and do not want you to be a victim of this prejudice. I must warn you that [Vicente] Rocafuerte18 must
already be en route to that country and that he is a man who harbors the
most sinister intentions against you and against all my friends. He is
capable of anything and has the means to carry out his designs. He is full
of the most conicting ideas; he was one of my best friends in our tender
youth, one of my admirers until I entered Guayaquil, but then he became
my ercest enemy for the same oenses you have committed, i.e., for
attacking La Mar and for not being from Guayaquil, and for other petty
matters and opinions. He is the most rabid federalist the world has ever
known, the antimilitarist incarnate, and something of a bully. If that gentleman lays his hands on Guayaquil, you will have much to suer, and
beyond this, God only knows. La Mar will join him. [ Jos Joaqun]
Olmedo idolizes him, loves only him. Use the past to predict the future.
You know that I have ruled for twenty years, and I have derived from
these only a few sure conclusions: () America is ungovernable, for us; ()
Those who serve revolution plough the sea; () The only thing one can
do in America is emigrate; () This country will fall inevitably into the
hands of the unrestrained multitudes and then into the hands of tyrants
so insignicant they will be almost imperceptible, of all colors and races;
() Once weve been eaten alive by every crime and extinguished by
ferocity, the Europeans wont even bother to conquer us; () If it were
possible for any part of the world to revert to primitive chaos, it would be
America in her last hour.

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 147

The rst French Revolution cut the throat of the Antilles, and the
second19 will produce the same eect on this vast continent. The sudden
reaction of extremist ideology is going to provide us with all the evils we
were lacking or, rather, ll out our allotment. And you will see how the
whole world will succumb to the ood of demagoguery, and then, alas for
the people, alas for the governments.
My advice to you as a friend is that as soon as you sense your fortune
waning, step down yourself and leave your post with honor and on your
own: No one dies of hunger on land.
I will speak to you of Colombia in more specic terms. This country
has suered a Great Revolution, and marches forward on volcanic terrain. Because a single revolution engenders a thousand others, and the
rst have not yet been extinguished, the history of La Ladera20 is still
being written. Of course, the southern section of the Department of
Cauca is at war with all the furies from hell. There was an uprising in Ro
Hacha, the government troops took the city, but the bandits, led by
[Pedro] Carujo,21 are infesting the country and causing great damage.
[ Juan Nepomuceno] Moreno, Carvajals murderer, has not yet acknowledged the legitimacy of the government and is using certain governmental documents to stir up trouble.22 In the province of Socorro there was
conict between the city of Vlez and the capital, producing much mayhem and injury. The entire population, as well as the Church and the
army, are supporters of the new order, but there are still some assassins,
traitors, partisans of factions, and malcontents, perhaps several hundred.
Unfortunately, among us, the masses are incapable of independent
action, so a few powerful individuals do everything, and the multitude
follows their audacity without examining the righteousness or criminality of the leaders, but then they abandon them as soon as others even
more treacherous stage a surprise attack. This is the essence of public
opinion and national power in our America.
The administration in Bogot, presided over by [General Rafael]
Urdaneta, goes about its business with good energy and much activity.
There are those who would like to see more of the former, but theres the
constitution to consider, responds Urdaneta. Still, he takes his hits now
and then, but theyre meted out with style, as [ Juan Bautista] Arismendi
said. The new general, [Florencio] Jimnez, has already marched south
with fteen hundred men to protect Cauca against the assassins of the
most famous victim.23 Let me add, like Cato the Elder: This is how I see
it, and Carthage must be destroyed. When I say Carthage, you should
understand that lair of monsters in Cauca. Let us avenge Sucre, and you

148 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

should avenge those who [a large stain, probably ink, blots out the next thirty or thirty-ve letters]; and nally, avenge Colombia that had its Sucre,
avenge the world that admired him, avenge the glory of the army and the
saintly humanity so wickedly savaged in this most innocent of men. If
you are insensible to this clamor of everything visible and everything
invisible, you must have suered a drastic change of character.
The most famous liberal thinkers of Europe have published and written that the death of Sucre is the blackest and most indelible stain on the history of the New World and that in the Old World nothing comparable had
happened for many centuries. It is up to you, then, to wash away this execrable stain, because in Pasto24 you will nd Colombias absolution, and
Jimnez with his fteen hundred men cannot penetrate that far. This is
the only sacrice that the friends of the North demand of their friends in
the South, or rather they urge them to rise to the occasion.
Finally, I will speak to you of myself: I have been appointed president
by all of New Granada,25 but not by that den of assassins in Casanare
and Popayn; meanwhile, Urdaneta is exercising the executive power
with the ministers elected with him. I have not accepted this revolutionary responsibility, because the election is not legitimate. Then I fell ill,
which prevents me from serving, even as a subordinate. While all this is
going on here, the elections are being veried according to the law,
although in some places the deadline has passed. They assure me that I
will receive many votes, perhaps more than anyone else, and then we will
see what happens. And you can ask yourself whether a man who has
drawn the previous conclusions as his only prot from his experience
with revolutions is going to want to drown himself again after having
emerged from the belly of the whale. The answer should be obvious.
My letter is quite long in comparison with yours, so it is time to close,
and I do so by imploring you to tear up this letter as soon as you have
read it, because I only wrote it out of consideration for your health,
always fearing that it might fall into the hands of our enemies and that
they might publish it with atrocious commentaries.
Meanwhile, accept my assurances of friendship and even more my
gratitude for your former acts of kindness and loyalty toward me, and
lastly, receive my heart.
Bolvar
Postscript: I have learned of [ Jos Domingo] Espinars insane action
with the ship Istmea.26 I beg you to bear this with patience, because this

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 149

brazen dictator is ill advised by his sudden promotion and by the spirit of
[ Juan Eligio] Alzuru.27 Finally, one should not bicker over tries among
friends who lose their minds. I repeat that I ask this favor so that the
scandals do not grow.
Bolvars ourish

Final Proclamation of the Liberator

Santa Marta, December

Simn Bolvar
Liberator of Colombia, etc.
Colombians! You have been witness to my eorts to establish freedom
where tyranny previously reigned.28 I have worked without thought of
personal gain, sacricing my fortune and even my peace of mind. I relinquished my power when I became convinced that you mistrusted my
detachment. My enemies took advantage of your credulity and undermined what is most sacred to me: my reputation and my love of freedom.
I have been the victim of my persecutors, who have driven me to the very
threshold of my grave. I forgive them.
As I disappear from among you, my aection tells me that I must
make clear my nal wishes. I aspire to no other glory than the consolidation of Colombia. You must all work for the inestimable good of the
Union: the people oering their obedience to the current government in
order to save themselves from anarchy; the ministers of the sanctuary
directing their prayers to heaven; and the military ocers using their
swords to defend social guarantees.
Colombians! My nal wishes are for the happiness of the country. If
my death contributes to the cessation of factions and the consolidation
of the Union, I will step peacefully into the grave.
Hacienda of San Pedro [Alejandrino], in Santa Marta, December
, in the twentieth year of independence.
Simn Bolvar

2. International Affairs

This page intentionally left blank

Letter to Sir Richard Wellesley:

An Appeal for Support

Kingston, May
My dear sir:
When I had the honor of making your acquaintance in that capital
[London], I vowed to satisfy the request you kindly made, to write to you
about what I believed worthy of communicating to you.1 At rst I did
not wish to abuse your indulgence, and I only took the liberty of intruding on your attention when I judged that the time had come to share
with you the most important of the terrible and glorious events that had
befallen us. After many victories had been won by the forces under my
command, I made so bold as to enter into condential communication
with you. I did that then, but have not presumed a second time to take
advantage of a privilege so attering to me.
Now, for the second time, I take the liberty of addressing my thoughts
to you, not to recount fortuitous events but to draw forth the sublime
sentiments characteristic of an enlightened and liberal man. I write to
you, esteemed friend and gentleman, in the hope that you will use your
inuence on behalf of a world as worthy of compassion for its innocence
as it is cruelly persecuted by its enemies. Yes, dear sir, the fortunes of
America are urgently in need of the support of every generous soul who
knows the value of freedom and who prides himself on his defense of
justice. In you, these heroic virtues shine bright. Because of this, you will
listen with tenderness to the anguished cries of twenty million victims.
Please deign to hear what I have to say.
The philosophy of this century, English politics, French ambition,
and Spanish stupidity suddenly combined to leave America utterly
orphaned and indirectly to reduce her to a state of passive anarchy. Some
thinkers were inspired to recommend independence, reasonably anticipating the support of the British nation, the cause being just. Most of the

154 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

people in these nations were docile and followed the path of good. But
once Spain had recovered from her initial shock, because England gave
her cause to hope,2 she directed her attention not to recovering her former possessions and conquering in order to possess; instead, with re
and sword in hand, her purpose is to reduce this half of the world to desolation a second time, since she is too impotent to hold onto it. The balance of world power and the interests of Great Britain are perfectly in
accord with the salvation of America! My land oers vast opportunities
to her defenders and friends! Sciences, arts, industry, culture, everything
that currently constitutes the glory of the European continent and arouses the admiration of its people will nd swift passage to America. England, almost exclusively, will see prosperity ow back to her shores from
this hemisphere which must depend, almost exclusively, on her as benefactress.
This is the nal period of our existence unless a powerful nation lends
us support of every kind. What a sadness! We have an enormous power
that must collapse on its own unless strong, skillful craftsmen help construct the edice of our freedom. Vast regions furrowed by mighty rivers,
inexhaustible springs of agricultural and mercantile riches, these will all
be rendered null by Spanish malice. Entire provinces are transformed to
deserts; others are become frightful arenas of bloody anarchy. Passions
have been aroused by every stimulus, fanaticism has turned peoples
minds into volcanoes, and extermination will be the result of these
chaotic elements.
I was witness, dear friend, to the devouring ame that is swiftly consuming my unfortunate land. Unable to extinguish it despite innumerable and unheard of eorts, I have come out to sound the alarm to the
world, to beg for help, and to announce to Great Britain and to all
humanity that a large part of the human race is going to perish and that
the most beautiful half of the earth is going to be reduced to a state of
desolation.
Please view with indulgence these emotional transports, which must
seem like the exaggerations of a madman rather than expressions of hard
truth and reasonable predictions of what is to come. But no, it is no more
than a faithful representation of what I have seen and what is inevitable,
unless Great Britain, the liberator of Europe, friend of Asia, and protector of Africa, consents to be the savior of America.
If I still had a shred of hope that America could triumph on her own,
no one would have been more eager than I to serve my country, rather
than humiliate it by seeking protection from a foreign power. This is the

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 155

cause of my departure from the mainland. I come to seek aid. I will seek
it in your proud capital; I will march all the way to the North Pole, if
need be; and if everyone is deaf to the voice of humanity, I will have fullled my duty, although in vain, and I will return to die ghting in my
country.
I atter myself that the glory that has brought such brilliance through
military and political exploits to your distinguished family will also have
extended its well-deserved favors to you, as I ardently hope, and as one
might reasonably expect due to the eminent qualities shining in your
person. Please forgive, sir, these testimonies of my respectful aection
and of the high regard that makes me your most attentive and obedient
servant, who kisses your hands.3
Simn Bolvar

Letter to Baptis Irvine, Agent of the

United States of America to Venezuela:

Debating Neutral Rights

Angostura, August
Dear Agent:
Although your note dated August, which I had the honor of receiving yesterday, can only be regarded as a preliminary outline or preparation for the response you oer to my letter of August, I believe it is wise
to formulate in advance certain reections that spring from the very
principles you acknowledged in that note.4
You consider my indignation with respect to the supporters or allies
of our erce enemies to be just, but you add that it is unfair to expect
neutral merchants to abandon their profession in order to take sides
politically. Without arguing this point, I insist that I see no need for a
neutral to embrace this or that faction just to keep from abandoning his
profession, nor do I think it possible to apply this principle to ports
under blockade without destroying the rights of the warring nations. If
the usefulness of neutral nations is the origin and basis for allowing them
to continue trading with powers at war, the latter not only can advance
the same rationale against the common practice of trading with ports
under blockade but can also point out the harm that results from the
prolongation of a campaign or a war that could otherwise be ended
through surrender or through the imposition of a limited siege. Impartiality, which is the essential ingredient of neutrality, vanishes in the act
of aiding one party against the clearly expressed will of the other, which
justly opposes such action and which moreover has not asked for help.
The conduct of France and England in the nal years of their famous
struggle is quite apropos in support of this opinion. But I do not seek to

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 157

justify my opinion, because I do not believe that our current situation ts
that category, nor do I need further arguments beyond the very ones you
oer. The doctrine cited by Vattel,5 which is without doubt the most liberal for neutral parties, not only oers powerful support to the justice of
Venezuelas conduct in the condemnation of the sailing ships Tigre and
Libertad.6 It also prompts me to recall events I would prefer to forget so
as not to have to lament them. I refer to the conduct of the United States
of North America with respect to the independents of South America
and to the strict laws promulgated for the purpose of preventing any kind
of aid that we might have sought there. Contrary to the leniency of
American laws, we have seen imposed a penalty of ten years in prison
and a ne of , pesos, which is the equivalent of a death penalty,
against the virtuous citizens who wished to abet our cause, the cause of
justice and freedom, the cause of America.
If free trade for the neutrals consists of supplying both sides with the
means to wage war, why is this prohibited in the North? Why, in addition to this prohibition, is there the additional imposition of severity to
the penalty, without precedent in the annals of North America? Do you
not declare yourselves against the independents when you deny them
what the law of neutrality permits them to request? This prohibition can
only be understood as directed against us, who were the only ones in
need of protection. The Spaniards had everything they needed, or there
were other sources they could turn to. We alone were forced to turn to
the North, rst because you were our neighbors and brothers, and second
because we lacked the means and connections to negotiate with other
powers. Mr. Cobbett7 has thoroughly demonstrated in his weekly the
partiality of the United States toward Spain in this conict. To deny one
side the supplies it lacks and without which it cannot pursue its aims
when its enemy has abundant supplies is the same as condemning it to
surrender, and in our war with Spain that is the same as sending us to the
gallows, to order our execution. The result of the prohibition against
securing arms and supplies makes that partiality clear. The Spaniards
who did not need them acquired them with ease while those heading for
Venezuela were blocked.
The extreme repugnance and sorrow with which I recall these actions
prevent me from further describing them. Only the need to justify the
government of Venezuela could have forced me to give expression to
complaints I have sought to stie up to now and which I would have
buried in silence and oblivion if they had not been needed at this time in

158 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

order to negate the arguments with which you have tried to prove the
illegitimacy of the chains used to immobilize the sailing ships Tigre and
Libertad.
For the moment, however, I wish to assume hypothetically that
impartiality has been maintained. What could we deduce from this?
Either it is necessary to deny us the right to blockade and lay siege, or it
is necessary to say that neutral ships can enter and leave the ports that
have been temporarily excluded from commerce by a decree of blockade
now in eect. In the rst case, it would be necessary to deny us the rights
others claim, thus placing no obligation on others to respect them. And
it would be no less atrocious to uphold the second opinion, which goes
against all the practices and laws of nations.
I could elaborate endlessly on the observations I have made, but since
it is not my intention to respond denitively until such time as I have
read and considered your reply, which has just arrived, I will wait until
then to expound these same points and add others that I omit now so as
not to burden your attention.
With all due respect I remain your attentive and obedient servant,
Bolvar

Invitation to the Governments of

Colombia, Mexico, Ro de la Plata,
Chile, and Guatemala to Hold a
Congress in Panama

Lima, December
My great, good friend:
After fteen years of sacrices dedicated to the freedom of America,
in order to achieve a system of guarantees that can serve both in peace
and war as shield for our new destiny, it is now time for the bonds of
interest uniting the American republics, formerly Spanish colonies, to be
provided with a foundation to perpetuate, if possible, the duration of
these governments.8
To establish that system and consolidate the power of this grand
political body will require a sublime authority that will give direction to
the policies of our governments, whose inuence will ensure uniformity
of principles, and whose name alone will calm troubled waters. An
authority so august can only exist in an assembly of plenipotentiary representatives appointed by each one of our republics and convened under
the auspices of the victory won by our arms against Spanish power.
Profoundly persuaded of the urgency of these ideas, in , as president of the Republic of Colombia, I invited the governments of Mexico,
Peru, Chile, and Buenos Aires to form a confederation and to convene in
the Isthmus of Panama or some other site acceptable to a plurality of
these governments a congress of plenipotentiaries of each state to serve
as advisors in moments of great conict, as facilitators of communication
in the face of common dangers, as faithful interpreters in public negotiations during dicult times, and lastly as mediators of our dierences.

160 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

On July of that year, the government of Peru entered into a treaty of

alliance and confederation with the plenipotentiary of Colombia, whereby both parties pledged to oer their good oces to the governments of
America formerly under Spanish control so that when all had signed the
same pact a meeting of the general assembly of the confederated states
could be held. A similar treaty was signed in Mexico on October
by Colombias special ambassador to that state, and there are good reasons to expect that the other governments will bow to the wisdom of
their own best interests.
To further postpone the general assembly of plenipotentiaries of the
republics who are already members of the confederation, until such time
as the others see t to join, will be to deprive ourselves of the advantages
that such an assembly will produce from the moment of its installation.
These advantages increase extraordinarily in light of the support that will
come from the political world and especially from the European continent.
The meeting of the plenipotentiaries from Mexico, Colombia, and
Peru will be delayed indenitely unless action is taken by one of the parties to the treaty, or unless we convene a new and special convention to
set the time and place suitable to this grand purpose. In light of the diculties and delays entailed by the physical distance between us, in addition to solemn motives springing from our common interests, I am
resolved to take this step for the purpose of encouraging without further
delay this meeting of our plenipotentiaries, while the remaining governments are engaged in preliminary matters concerning the appointment
and brieng of their representatives, steps that we have already taken.
With respect to the timetable for the inauguration of the Congress, I
will be so bold as to suggest that there can be no reason not to hold it
within six months of this date; and I will also atter myself to presume
that the burning desire inspiring all Americans to exalt the power of the
world of Columbus will alleviate the diculties and delays needed for
the ocial preparations and lessen the distance separating the capitals of
each country from the site of the Congress.
It seems to me that if the world had to choose its capital, the Isthmus
of Panama would be ideal for this august purpose, situated as it is in the
center of the globe, looking toward Asia on one side and toward Africa
and Europe on the other. The Isthmus of Panama has been oered for
this purpose9 in the existing treaties by the government of Colombia.
The Isthmus is equidistant from the farthest reaches of the continent

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 161

and could thus be the provisional site for the rst Congress of the confederated states.
Deferring, for my part, to these considerations, I feel greatly inclined
to send the delegates of this Republic to Panama as soon as I have the
honor of receiving the desired response to this circular. Nothing could so
truly satisfy my hearts desire as the willing agreement by the confederated governments to participate in this most solemn of all American acts.
Should Your Excellency decline to participate in it, I foresee enormous delays and diculties at a time when the momentum of world
events is accelerating everything, with the potential to swiftly exacerbate
any adverse consequences to our detriment.
Once the initial discussions of the plenipotentiaries have been held,
the permanent site of the Congress, as well as its range of authority, can
be determined in a solemn manner by the majority; at that time, everything will have been accomplished.
The day on which our plenipotentiaries exchange credentials will
mark the beginning of an immortal period in the diplomatic history of
America. A hundred centuries from now, when posterity seeks the origin
of our public law, and they recall the treaties that consolidated their destiny, they will look with awe on the protocols of the Isthmus. There, they
will nd the outline of our rst alliances, which will trace the progress of
our relations with the rest of the world. Then the Isthmus of Corinth
will pale in comparison with that of Panama!
God keep Your Excellency!
Your great and good friend,
Bolvar
Minister of Foreign Relations, Jos Snchez Carrin

Letter to General Francisco de Paula

Santander: The Brazilian Empire,
Upper Peru, North Americans,
and Other Problems

Arequipa, May
My dear General:
I have instructed my secretary general to inform you of the Portuguese invasion of Chiquitos in Upper Peru and to forward to you a
copy of the barbaric and insolent demands of the Portuguese commander.10 General Sucre has replied to him in similar terms, no doubt overcome by the feeling of outrage such an abominable atrocity must have
caused him. However, I do not approve of the use of such language,
because a new outbreak of war cannot be in anyones interest and will
destroy the remnants of our meager fortunes. I presume that the commander may have acted without consulting his government, and if the
emperor has indeed ordered him to do such a thing, that may be just
another in the long list of mad things he does from day to day. This event
needs to be considered from a number of perspectives.
The emperor may, of course, have taken this action on his own, in
which case there may be no consequences. But if the emperor has been
in consultation with the Holy Alliance, then the matter is far more serious, because the allies are too strong and have a vital interest in the
destruction of the new American republics. This kind of aggression
against our republics is opposed by England and by all the liberal governments of the New World. This being so, it must be understood that
only through a major war can our destruction be achieved. Consequently, extensive preparations would alert us to plans for waging such a war,
yet we have not observed any such preparations in Europe. Public funds

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 163

are rising. England, France, and Russia are busy protecting the emancipation of the Greeks. This is a matter of the greatest interest to Russia,
whereas France is immersed in the problem of the indemnication of her
emigrs, which is also of interest to all the aristocrats, who favor peace so
they can be reimbursed for the property conscated during the revolution. As these circumstances are apparently so favorable to us, if the
emperor should continue to harass or even invade us, such an absurd
action would inevitably prove counterproductive. Under no circumstances, therefore, would the Holy Alliance have advised him to take
these hostile measures, because that would destroy his commerce, his
cause, and risk his removal from the throne. For these reasons I believe
that the invasion of Chiquitos must have been a thoughtless action initiated by commander [Manoel Jos] Arajo [e Silva]. If it was the emperor who initiated it, without consulting the Holy Alliance, it was an
impulsive, foolish act of no consequence. However, if it happened on
advice of the Holy Alliance, then it is a matter of great seriousness and
dire transcendence. We must in that case prepare ourselves for a protracted conict with most of Europe. I believe that the rst step we
should take, if the Holy Alliance is meddling in our aairs, is to have
Peru and Buenos Aires immediately occupy Brazil. Then Chile should
occupy Chilo,11 while Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico prepare to
defend themselves, and all of America should form a solid front to
deploy their combined forces to any area that is attacked or threatened.
For the formation of this league and this pact, the meeting of the
confederated states in the Isthmus is more urgent than ever, in order to
take the appropriate anticipatory measures dictated by the circumstances. Even if this congress were no more than a general headquarters
for the sacred league, its utility and importance would be immense.
Therefore, we must work swiftly to bring it about. There is one further
consideration: England will make every eort to prevent any sort of
conict among us, or between us and the Europeans, because England
is primarily interested in America as a lucrative commercial zone, which
can only be exploited if peace is maintained. For this reason I am of the
opinion that we should consult the English representatives and perhaps
even the government concerning their assessment of the nature, origin,
and consequences of this incident. I also believe that no hostile action
should be taken against Brazil until after the incident has been thoroughly analyzed.
I have written to the Peruvian Council of Government urging that
they contact the Brazilian government asking for an explanation of this

164 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

invasion by their troops, and that they ask the English ministers and
agents for advice in the matter. I also believe it would be helpful for you
to make the same request of our representatives in Europe, for we need to
be very cautious in a matter of such transcendence. I have written also to
the Council of Government pointing out how useful it would be to persuade the Chilean government to move up its occupation of Chilo, with
the understanding that island might otherwise be occupied by some foreign power harboring hostile intentions against us. Not even England
would object, since it is the port of call for ships rounding the cape and its
occupation would oer invaluable advantages to her trade in the Pacic.
I have begun this letter even though the post from your city will not
come until tomorrow and return the next day. For now the only thing
that occurs to me is the matter of Brazil, and the peaceful state of things
in Peru, where everything proceeds as circumstances allow, until such
time as the new constituent congress and constitutional government are
denitively established.
On June, I leave for Cuzco to have a look at that country and to
arrange matters on a provisional basis, as is urgently needed. In July I will
go to Upper Peru to establish a provisional government for that country
in keeping with the resolution of the congress in Lima.
The provinces of Upper Peru were formerly under the Presidency and
Audiencia of Charcas; it has a population of over a million and almost
two million pesos of public revenue for the government. It is divided into
six provinces, situated at approximately leagues from Buenos Aires,
which is its only port and its only capital as of this date.12 Public opinion
favors the creation of a state like those in Chile and Guatemala (which
are in all respects similar to Upper Peru): they want an independent state
subject only to the American federation. I believe this is reasonable and
even necessary for the prosperity of those provinces. Otherwise, this
region will sink into a state of anarchy like that in Buenos Aires. There,
the province of Buenos Aires is occupied by the Portuguese on the Banda Oriental,13 the Indians from the Pampa infest the countryside surrounding the city, and a small town named Santa Fe has declared itself
independent of its capital. Thus, Buenos Aires is little more than a
Hanseatic city without a league or province. The provinces of Salta and
Mendoza are the only ones that have sent their delegates to the congress
in Buenos Aires. But these two provinces are subdivided into four or six
parts, so the entire state of Ro de la Plata consists truly of only two
provinces and the city of Buenos Aires. The province of Paraguay is

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 165

occupied by a certain [ Jos Gaspar Rodrguez de] Francia, who has kept
it in a virtual state of quarantine for the last fourteen years. It doesnt
belong to anyone, and it has no government, except for a tyrant who is
enemy to the entire world, dealing with no one, persecuting everyone;
anyone who enters there never returns. So Humboldts companion, the
unfortunate Bonpland,14 is still held prisoner there. Paraguay is closer to
Charcas than to Buenos Aires, so it would be easier to launch an attack
with troops from Upper Peru than with those from Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires is a city that wants war with no one and operates on the
principle that each province should run itself as it sees t, this according
to General [ Jos Ildefonso] Alvarez [de Arenales], the representative
from Buenos Aires in Peru, and General [ Juan Antonio Alvarez de]
Arenales, a dependent of the same government who rules in Salta.15 The
government of Buenos Aires has no desire to control the provinces of
Upper Peru, knowing it lacks the means to do so, as well as men capable
of governing a large state. The government of Ro de la Plata will be content to rule the provinces already represented in the congress of Buenos
Aires, aware that they are much easier to govern without the vexing
problem of Upper Peru, which will always resist annexation into a political union oering no benets.
All of this means that we can anticipate a new state in the American
federation, one that will favor us because it will owe us its existence and
its freedom, whereas the Ro de la Plata will become our enemy out of
envy rather than rivalry, since there can be no rivalry between entities so
unequal. Peru will be satised with the provinces already under her control. This republic is possessed of extensive territory and wealth, with
more than enough resources to ensure prosperity. God willing, she will
nd the men she needs to govern her.
The congress will meet on February; then I will be free of all further obligations in this country and will be able to dispose of myself as I
see t.
It is now June. This letter was interrupted until today, as I waited to
nish until after the post had arrived.
Today I had the pleasure of receiving your most pleasant and attering communication. First, the article from La Estrella on the independence of Colombia and Mexico with the editorial from the same paper
about the condence with which England can proceed without any fear
of reaction from Europe. Second, I am pleased at your assurance that
France, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark will soon recognize us. I was

166 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

already quite condent in this regard as you must have seen in my note,
and this is now conrmed for me by Hollands recognition of all our
states.
I was also quite pleased by your permission to oer promotions to our
poor companions in Ayacucho. They all need encouragement, and many
have received no recognition at all because there was truly nothing to oer.
The assurances you oer concerning peace and security in Colombia
are what interest me most in your letters, for it is undoubtedly a great
consolation to know that, in the midst of everything, the republic is
going to survive after so many disasters. However, amid all these fair
winds I perceive a frightful precipice. You speak of retiring from public
service because of stomach problems. No, friend, you must not, you cannot retire. You are the one man crucial to the prosperity of the republic.
You must die in oce, as I must die on the battleeld. Without you,
what will become of Colombia? What will become of our army and my
glory? I will tell you frankly that if you had not been there to support me
with your skill and energy, my project would have been run aground long
ago. Moreover, I believe that, on my own, without you, it would never
have turned out so well. I am no administrator, nor could I have endured
the sedentary demands of an oce. By the same token, I would have
destroyed the work of my companions in arms without your strong character and your capacity for administering public business. So I repeat:
You are the indispensable man of Colombia.
The assignment you oer to General Sucre16 seems admirable to me,
but at the same time I believe that this must not be, because I need him for
everything, so I cannot do without him under the current circumstances.
The business of boundaries and payment to Colombia will be fully
arranged before my departure, no matter who is assigned to represent our
rights. If you can persuade him to return, [ Joaqun] Mosquera17 is the
ideal man for the job; if not, someone else will do. General Sucre has
been appointed to assume command in Upper Peru, which consists of
ve magnicent departments, and I still need him in Lima as president
of the Council of Government, because General La Mar is unwilling to
accept the position. For this reason, General Sucre cannot be used at this
time for diplomatic matters. [ Jos Gabriel] Prez is also qualied to take
on the assignment you are oering to Sucre, but only after he nishes his
work as my secretary general of Peru. The payment and the boundaries
will be arranged as you wish, as I know that Colombias claims are just.
If you cannot use the three thousand men I have oered you, communicate this to the minister of state in Lima so that he doesnt send

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 167

them to you in August, as I have ordered. In this country Colombian
troops are not resented, at least for the time being; later, who knows? We
have thirty-ve hundred men in Upper Peru, where they love us because
we defend them against the designs of their neighbors. In this city there
are three thousand men and another fteen hundred in Lima, although
a quarter of those are Peruvian prisoners from Ayacucho. Thus, fewer
than ve or six thousand true Colombians are still quartered here, and
the country loves them because they regard them as well-disciplined soldiers. If you need two or three thousand Peruvians to quiet the black factions, put in a request for them to the Council of Government, as I said
previously. But if you do not want them, write immediately, for at the
end of August they are scheduled to set out, as I said earlier.
I have seen the plan for a general federation extending from the United States to Haiti. I found it unwise in its membership but admirable in
its ideas and concept. Haiti, Buenos Aires, and the United States are ill
chosen, each of them for powerful reasons. Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Upper Peru have the potential to form a superb federation. Guatemala, Chile, and Upper Peru will concur with our wishes.
Peru and Colombia are of a single mind, and only Mexico is isolated
physically from the rest of the federation, which has the advantage of
being homogeneous, compact, and solid. The Americans from the North
and those from Haiti, simply because they are foreigners, are too heterogeneous in character to t in. Therefore, I will never agree to invite them
to take part in our American system. While thinking about this, I have
read the January issue of the Caracas paper, El Colombiano, proling
the candidates to the presidency, and I was outraged to see the ingratitude with which those gentlemen treat you, after the miracle you have
worked to create laws in a country of slaves and establish freedom in the
midst of war, revolution, and chains. We will see if another can do as
well. As for me, my mind is quite made up, rst of all, to reject the presidency under any circumstances; even more so should they appoint anyone other than you vice president; because I know that no matter how
much ability, talent, and virtue another citizen might have, what is, is,
and what is not, is not. That is, you are an excellent vice president, the
only one I have known. Accordingly, however much I respect Briceo,18
and as you know I idolize him, I dont want to switch horses in the middle of the Orinoco, when you have braved its waters well enough to rescue me from its waves. Those people seem determined to sink in sight of
shore, so to speak. Good luck to them if that happens. For my part, I
have met my obligations as best I could, and if they choose not to stay on

168 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

course, I will wash my hands with Pilate. My mind is made up, and you
can be sure I will not waver.
It is my hope that in New Granada they will treat you as you deserve,
unless it turns out that the envious proliferate there as well.
I am telling [ Juan Paz del] Castillo to reduce his battalions in the
South to cadres. I will do the same here with the troops from Peru in
order to reduce expenses and still maintain security and the morale of the
troops. I recommend this system to you, should you wish to adopt it.
Yours with all my heart,
Bolvar
P.S. In Chile, anarchy is rampant. Freire has gone to Concepcin and
Pinto to Coquimbo.19 The province of Santiago is governed by its intendant. They say that the congress of Chile is going to send a delegation to
draft OHiggins again; they say that in that country there is a large faction supporting me, and another, much smaller faction against me.
On rereading your letter, I see that you are appointing Father [Manuel
Benito] Rebollo to the great American Congress. I know him and know
that he is very talented. But what will the delegates from the other
nations say on seeing a man of the cloth? Theyll say we have no real
statesmen.

Thoughts on the Congress to Be Held

in Panama

()

The Panama Congress will assemble all the representatives of America

and a diplomatic agent of the government of His Britannic Majesty.20
This Congress seems destined to form the largest, most extraordinary,
and most powerful league ever seen on the face of the earth. The Holy
Alliance will be inferior in power to this confederation, provided Great
Britain chooses to take part in it. The well-being of the human race
would benet immensely from such an alliance, and America and Great
Britain would reap extraordinary benets. Relationships between political entities would be given a code of public law to govern international
conduct.
. The New World would be made up of independent nations
bound by a common law that would regulate foreign relations
and provide guarantees for their survival through a general and
permanent congress.
. The existence of these new states would be given new guarantees.
. Spain would make peace out of respect for England, and the
Holy Alliance would grant recognition to these emerging
nations.
. Domestic order would be preserved intact between the dierent states and within each one of them.
. None would be weaker or stronger than any other.
. A perfect balance would be established in this new and
authentic order of things.
. The power of all would come to the aid of any member nation
under attack from a foreign enemy or from anarchist factions.

170 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

. Dierences in origin and color would lose their importance

and eect.
. America would no longer fear that horric monster which has
devoured the island of Santo Domingo, nor would she fear the
numerical preponderance of the native populations.
. Social reform, in eect, would be achieved under the holy auspices of freedom and peace, but England would necessarily
have to take responsibility for holding steady the fulcrum of
this equilibrium.
Great Britain would undoubtedly derive considerable advantage from
this arrangement.
. Her inuence in Europe would increase progressively, and her
decisions would come to coincide with those of destiny.
. America would serve her as an opulent commercial domain.
. America would be the center of her relations with Asia and
Europe.
. The English would be considered as equal in status to American citizens.
. Mutual relations between the two countries would in time
come to coincide entirely.
. The character and customs of the British would become models for Americans to strive for in the future.
. With the passage of centuries, it might be possible that a single federated nation would dominate the globe.
Such thoughts are on the minds of some of the most distinguished
Americans, who await impatiently the beginning of this project at the
Congress of Panama, which could well be the occasion to consolidate the
union of the new states with the British Empire.
Simn Bolvar

Letter to General Lafayette:

On George Washington

Lima, March
Dear General:
I have been honored to look for the rst time on the noble features of
[George Washington] the man who did so much good on behalf of the
New World.21 I owe this honor to Colonel Mercier, who delivered to me
your precious letter of October of last year. I experienced a mysterious
exhilaration on learning in the newspapers that you have had the generosity of heart to honor me with one of the treasures from Mount Vernon. The portrait of Washington, some mementos, and one of the monuments to his glory are to be presented to me by your hands in the name
of the brothers of that great citizen, rst son of the New World. There
are no words to tell you how my heart treasures this gift and how much
glory your high regard instills in me. Washingtons family honors me
beyond any aspirations my imagination could conceive, because Washington presented by Lafayette is the crown of all human rewards. He was
the noble protector of social reforms, and you were the citizen-hero, the
champion of freedom, who with one hand served America, and with the
other, the Old World. Ah, what mortal could ever be worthy of the honors that you and Mount Vernon see t to lavish on me! My consternation
is equal to the immensity of the gratitude I oer you, conjoined to the
respect and veneration all men owe to the Nestor of human freedom.
With highest regard, I remain your respectful admirer,
Bolvar

Letter to Colonel Patrick Campbell,

British Charg d Aaires:

Plague America with Miseries

Guayaquil, August
My dear Colonel and friend:
I have the honor of acknowledging receipt of your kind letter of
May, posted from Bogot.22
I must begin by thanking you for the many kind sentiments you have
expressed toward Colombia and toward me throughout your letter. Is
there any limit to the debt of gratitude we owe you? I am overwhelmed
by all that you have thought and done to sustain the country and the glory of her leader since your arrival among us.
The British minister resident in the United States23 honors me excessively when he says that he has hope only for Colombia, because only in
Colombia is there a Bolvar. What he does not know is that his physical
existence and health are much debilitated and that Bolvar is at deaths
door.
What you have seen t to tell me regarding the new plan to name a
European prince as successor to my authority does not catch me entirely by surprise, because some inkling of this had been communicated to
me, though quite mysteriously and somewhat timidly, since my way of
thinking is well known.
I am not sure how to respond to you concerning this idea, which is
objectionable for many reasons. You must know that, for my part, I have
no objection, resolved as I am to step down during the next session of
Congress, but who could possibly temper the overweening ambition of
our leaders and the fear of inequality among the common people? Does
it not seem likely to you that England would be resentful were a Bourbon to be chosen?24 Can you imagine the opposition that would come

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 173

from the new American states, and from the United States, which seems
destined by Providence to plague America with miseries in the name of
Freedom?25 I can almost foresee a general conspiracy against poor
Colombia, already the target of excessive envy by all the American
republics. Every newspaper would join the crusade against the accomplices of this betrayal of freedom, against the addicts of the Bourbon
cause and the violators of the American way. The ames of discord
would be ignited in the south by the Peruvians, in the Isthmus by the
Guatemalans and the Mexicans, and in the Antilles by the Americans,
and by the liberals everywhere. Santo Domingo26 would not respond
passively but would call on her brothers to make common cause against
a prince from France. Everyone would turn against us, but Europe would
do nothing to support us, because the New World is not considered
worth the expense of a Holy Alliance. At the very least, we have good
reason to believe this, judging by the indierence with which Europe
looked on as we struggled to emancipate half of the known world, soon
to become the most productive source of European prosperity.
Finally, I am far from opposing the reorganization of Colombia in
accordance with the institutions proven by Europe in her wisdom and
experience. On the contrary, it would bring me great delight and renew
my will to assist in a task that might well lead to our salvation and that
would succeed if we had the support of England and France. With these
powerful allies we would be capable of anything; without them, no. For
this reason, I will wait to oer my opinion until we know how the governments of England and France feel about the proposed change of system and our choice of a dynasty.
I assure you in all sincerity, dear friend, that I have expressed all my
thoughts on this matter, holding nothing back. Please make use of them
as bets your duty and the welfare of Colombia. These are my only conditions. Meanwhile, receive the deep aection of your most attentive and
obedient servant,
Bolvar

This page intentionally left blank

3. Social and Economic Affairs

This page intentionally left blank

Decree for the Emancipation

of the Slaves

Carpano, June
Simn Bolvar
Commander in Chief and Captain General of the Armies of Venezuela
and New Granada, etc.
To the Inhabitants of Ro Caribe, Carpano, and Cariaco
Greetings:
Considering that justice, policy, and the country imperiously demand
the inalienable rights of nature, I have decided to formally decree
absolute freedom for the slaves who have groaned under the Spanish
yoke during the three previous centuries.1 Considering that the Republic needs the services of all her children, we must impose on these new
citizens the following conditions:
Article Every healthy man between the ages of fourteen and sixty
shall appear in the parish church of his district to enlist under the ag of
Venezuela, within twenty-four hours of the publication of this decree.
Article Old men, women, children, and invalids shall be exempt
from this day forth from military service and exempt as well from any
domestic or eld service in which they were previously employed for the
benet of their masters.
Article The new citizen who refuses to bear arms in fulllment of
the sacred duty to defend his freedom shall be subject to servitude, not
only for himself but also for his children under the age of fourteen, his
wife, and his aged parents.
Article The relatives of the military occupied in the army of liberation shall enjoy the rights of citizens and the absolute freedom granted
to them by this decree in the name of the Republic of Venezuela.

178 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

The present regulation shall have the force of law and be faithfully
executed by the Republican Authorities of Ro Caribe, Carpano, and
Cariaco.
Signed into law in the General Headquarters of Carpano on June
.
Bolvar

Redistribution of Properties as

Compensation for Ocers and Soldiers

October
Simn Bolvar
Commander in Chief of the Republic, and Captain General of the
Armies of Venezuela and New Granada
Considering that the rst obligation of the government is to reward the
services of the virtuous defenders of the Republic who, selessly sacricing their lives and property for the freedom and happiness of the country, have fought and continue to ght the disastrous war for independence, while neither they nor their families have the means to support
themselves; and considering that in the territory occupied by the forces
of the Republic, and in the territory still to be liberated, now in possession of the enemy, there are substantial properties owned by Spaniards
and royalists, which according to the decree and ordinance published on
the third of September of the current year should be seized and conscated, I have decided to decree and do hereby decree the following:2
Article . All real estate and property that in accordance with the
decree and ordinance cited above has been seized and conscated, or
which is scheduled for seizure and conscation, and which has not been
diverted or cannot be diverted into the national treasury, shall be redistributed and awarded in bonuses to the generals, commanders, ocers,
and soldiers of the Republic, according to the terms stipulated below.
Article . As the ranks obtained in battle are an indisputable proof of
the level of service performed by each one of the individuals in the army,
the redistribution of property referred to in the preceding article shall be
awarded in proportion to that service, as follows:
General-in-chief
Divisional general

$ ,

$ ,

180 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

Brigadier general
Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Second lieutenant
First and second sergeant
First and second corporal
Private

$ ,
$ ,
$ ,
$ ,
$ ,
$ ,
$ ,
$ ,
$
$

Article . The ocers, sergeants, corporals, and privates who are promoted after the redistribution shall have the right to claim the dierence
between the amount they received when they held the previous rank and
that to which they are entitled by the last rank conferred on them and
which they held at the time of the nal redistribution.
Article . If the value of the property available for redistribution has
been estimated to be insucient to cover these bonuses, the government
oers to make up the dierence from any other national property found
to be available and particularly from uncultivated public lands.
Article . If before or after the property has been redistributed, the
government sees t to reward the distinguished or exceptional valor,
service, or act of a soldier, it shall be empowered to do so by conceding
any of the aforementioned properties, regardless of the rank of the recipient or the amount stipulated in the table in Article .
Article . In the event that a soldier has merited or been granted the
reward referred to in the preceding article, he shall not have the right to
claim the share assigned to him in Article if the value of the property
awarded to him is greater than that stipulated for his rank.
Article . When the value of the properties available for redistribution
exceeds the amount stipulated for the dierent ranks, the government
shall ensure that this property is distributed according to the best interests of all, for which purpose several or many individuals may join
together and petition that such property be shared among them.
Article . The redistribution shall be carried out by a special committee, which shall be appointed in due course and which shall adhere to the
regulations published for this purpose.
Article . The government reserves to itself the immediate direction
of this committee.

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 181

To be published, communicated to the appropriate parties, and forwarded to the general sta in order that it be inserted in the order of the
day, which shall be circulated throughout the divisions and battalions of
the army of the Republic for their satisfaction.
Issued, signed by my hand, sealed with the ocial seal of the Republic, and countersigned by the undersigned secretary of the supreme government in the general headquarters of Santo Toms de la Nueva
Guyana on October , the seventh year of the Republic.
Simn Bolvar
J. G. Prez, Secretary

Letter to General Francisco de Paula

Santander: On Slave Recruitment

San Cristbal, April

Most Excellent Sir:
I am honored to respond to Your Excellencys query of April regarding the renting of the salt mines and the instructions of General
[Manuel] Valds, in which he speaks, according to Your Excellency, of
announcing the liberation of the slaves in Cauca province.3
The article reads as follows: All slaves t for military service shall be
recruited into the army. If I am not mistaken, this has nothing to do
with liberating the slaves, but rather with the power given to us by the
law as stipulated in Article : However, those called up into military
service by the president of the Republic, or who perform some distinguished service, shall immediately be given their freedom.4
I respond to all your observations with this reference to the law. But,
as is my custom, I shall explain my orders.
I have ordered that slaves t for military service be recruited. It should
be understood that this means only those needed for military service, as
an excessive number of them would be more harmful than useful.
The military and political reasons for ordering the recruitment of
slaves are quite obvious. We need strong, hardy men who are accustomed
to inclement weather and fatigue, men who will embrace the cause and
the career of arms with enthusiasm, men who identify their own cause
with the public interest and who value their lives only slightly more than
their deaths.
The political reasons are even more powerful. The liberation of the
slaves has been instituted by law and by fact. The congress has considered the words of Montesquieu: In moderate governments political freedom
makes civil freedom precious, and anyone deprived of the latter still lacks the
former: he sees a happy society in which he has no part; he nds security guar-

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 183

anteed for others but not for him. Nothing so lowers us to the condition of
beasts as seeing free men but not being one. Such people are enemies of society,
and they become dangerous in numbers. It is not surprising that in moderate
governments the state has been brought into turmoil by the rebellion of slaves
or that this rarely happens in despotic states.
It is, then, clearly demonstrated by political maxims based on historical example that a free government that commits the absurdity of maintaining slaves shall be punished by rebellion and in some cases by extermination, as in Haiti.
In eect, the law passed by Congress is in all aspects wise. What could
be more suitable or more legitimate than to obtain freedom by ghting
for it? Can it be just that only free men should die for the emancipation
of the slaves? Would it not be better that the latter win their rights on the
eld of battle and that their dangerous numbers be reduced through a
powerful and legitimate action?
In Venezuela we have seen the free population die and the slaves survive. I dont know if this is politic, but I know that if in Cundinamarca
we fail to utilize the slaves, the result will be the same.
Thus, availing myself of the powers granted me by the law of emancipation of the slaves, I repeat my previous orders: Let the army of the
South recruit as many slaves t for military service as it needs, and let
, unmarried young men be sent to the army of the North. Regarding the latter, I strongly insist.
Bolvar

Decrees on Indian Rights, Lands,

and Tribute

i. Decree Abolishing Personal Service

Imposed on the Native Peoples:

New Statute Governing Their Work

Rosario de Ccuta, May

Simn Bolvar
Liberator President, etc.
Wishing to correct the abuses practiced in Cundinamarca in most of
the native villages, against their persons as well as their communal lands
and their freedom, and considering that this segment of the population
of the republic deserves the most paternal attention from the government because they were the most aggrieved, oppressed, and humiliated
during the period of Spanish despotism, in view of the provisions of
canonical and civil laws, I have decided to decree and do hereby decree:5
Article . All the lands whose titles identify them as part of the
communal reserves [resguardos] shall be returned to the Indians as the
legitimate owners, despite any legal claims alleged by the current landholders.
Article . The liens against these reserves, having no approval from
the authority empowered to grant it, now or in the past, shall be declared
null and void even if they have subsisted since time immemorial.
Article . Once the usurped land has been restored to the reserves, the
Jueces polticos 5 shall allot to each family as much land as it can reasonably
farm, taking into consideration the number of people that make up the
family and the total extent of the reserves.
Article . Should there be surplus acreage after the reserve lands
have been parceled to the families as specied above, it shall be leased at
auction by these same jueces polticos to the highest bidder with the best

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 185

collateral, giving preference in case of equal bids to those currently in
possession.
Article . The families, or family members, shall not be permitted to
lease the allotment they own without rst informing the juez poltico, so
as to avoid any damage and fraud that might ensue.
Article . The income from the lands leased according to the provisions of Article above shall be applied in part to the payment of tribute
and in part to the payment of the salaries of teachers in the schools to be
established in each town. Each teacher shall earn an annual salary of
pesos if the rental income equals or exceeds this amount; if it amounts to
less, the entire sum shall be for the teacher.
Article . The juez poltico, in consultation with the priest of each
town, shall appoint these teachers and notify the provincial governors
of these appointments so that they can notify the governor of the
department.
Article . The political governors of the provinces shall establish the
regulations to be observed in the schools of their respective provinces,
detailing the methods to be used in teaching and education.
Article . All children between the ages of four and fourteen shall
attend the schools, where they shall be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, the principles of religion, and the rights and obligations of men
and citizens in Colombia according to the laws.
Article . When the money for teachers salaries has been deducted,
the remaining income from land rental shall be applied to the payment
of tribute, deducting this sum from the general total owed by the town so
beneted on a pro rata basis.
Article . In order that these operations shall be carried out with all
the method, order, and precision required for the general benet of the
towns, the jueces polticos shall be obliged to keep a running account of
the rent monies and shall present this along with the account of the tributes to the respective administrators of the public treasury.
Article . Neither the priests, nor the jueces polticos, nor any other
person, employed by the government or not, shall be allowed to exploit
native peoples in any manner at any time without paying them a wage
previously stipulated in a formal contract witnessed and approved by the
juez poltico. Anyone violating this article shall pay double the value of
the service performed, and the jueces polticos shall exact this ne without
exception in favor of the aggrieved person for any complaint, however
slight; when the jueces polticos themselves are the violators, the political
governors shall be responsible for exacting said nes.

186 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

Article . The same provisions of Article apply to religious confraternities whose cattle shall not be pastured on reserve lands unless they
pay rent, nor shall they be herded by Indians except under the terms laid
down in Article .
Article . As of this moment, certain scandalous practices that are
contrary to the spirit of religion, to the discipline of the church, and to all
law shall be terminated without exception, including the practice of
denying the sacraments to parishioners who have not paid dues for guild
membership or for maintenance of the priest, as well as the practices of
obliging them to pay for festivals in honor of the saints and demanding
parish fees from which Indians are exempted in consideration of the
stipend given to the priests by the state. Any priest found to be violating
the provisions of this article by continuing these abuses shall suer the
full rigor of the law, and the jueces polticos shall monitor the conduct of
the priests, notifying the government of the slightest infraction observed
in this regard so that appropriate action can be taken.
Article . The Indians, like all other free men in the Republic, can
come and go with their passports, sell their fruit and other products, take
them to the market or fair of their choice, and practice their craft and talents freely as they choose to do so and without impediment.
Article . Not only shall the present decree be publicized in the usual manner but the jueces polticos shall instruct the Indians as to its content, urging them to demand their rights even though it be against the
judges themselves and to initiate action against any infraction committed.
Article . The vice president of Cundinamarca is charged with the
observation and execution of this decree.
Issued in the General Headquarters of Rosario de Ccuta, on May
, tenth year of the Republic.
Simn Bolvar

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 187

ii. Proclamation of the Civil Rights of Indians

and Prohibition of Their Exploitation
by Ocials, Priests, Local Authorities,
and Landowners
Cuzco, July
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia, Liberator and
Supreme Commander of Peru, etc.
Considering:
i. That equality among all citizens is the basis of the constitution of
the Republic;7
ii. That this equality is incompatible with the personal service that
has been imposed on native peoples, and equally incompatible with the
hardships they have endured due to the miserable conditions in which
they live and the ill treatment they have suered at the hands of ocials,
priests, local authorities, and even landowners;
iii. That in the assignment of certain public works and services the
Indians have been unfairly burdened;
iv. That they have been denied wages on fraudulent grounds for the
work in which they have been traditionally involved, either willingly or
by force, whether it be the working of mines or farm labor or crafts;
v. That one of the burdens most harmful to their existence is the
payment of excessive and arbitrary fees that are commonly assessed them
for the administration of the sacraments, I have decided to decree and do
hereby decree:
. That no person in the state shall demand personal service of
the Peruvian Indians, either directly or indirectly, without rst
negotiating a free contract stipulating the wage for the work.
. That the department prefects, intendants, governors and
judges, ecclesiastical prelates, priests and their subordinates,
landowners, and owners of mines and workshops are prohibited from working the Indians against their will in faenas, sptimas, mitas, pongueajes, and other types of domestic and common labor.

188 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

. That when public works are ordered by the government for the
general benet of the community, this burden should not fall
on Indians alone but all citizens should be drafted proportionally according to their numbers and abilities.
. That the political authorities, through the mayors or municipalities, shall arrange for distribution of supplies, provisions,
and other materials for the troops or any other purpose without burdening the Indians more than other citizens.
. That the labor of workers in the mines, workshops, and
haciendas should be paid in cash according to the wage specied in the contract, without forcing them to accept other
forms of pay against their will and at levels below that commonly paid for such work.
. That the scrupulous observance of the preceding article shall
depend on the vigilance and zeal of the intendants, governors,
and the territorial deputies for mining.
. That the Indians shall not be forced to pay higher parochial
fees than those stipulated in existing regulations or those legislated in the future.
. That the parish priests and their assistants cannot negotiate
these fees with the Indians without the mediation of the intendant or governor of the town.
. Any neglect or omission in the observance of the preceding
articles shall be cause for popular complaint and shall result in
specic charges being brought before the courts.
. The provisional secretary general is responsible for the execution and observance of this decree.
To be printed, published, and circulated.

Issued in Cuzco on July , the sixth and fourth years8 of the

republic.
Simn Bolvar
By order of His Excellency, Felipe Santiago Estens

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 189

iii. Resolution on the Redistribution

of Communal Lands
Cuzco, July
Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia, vested with Supreme
Authority, etc., considering:
i. That despite the stipulations of previous laws the distribution of
lands has not been carried out adequately;9
ii. That the majority of Indians have had no opportunity to enjoy land
ownership;
iii. That large tracts of these lands, which ought to be owned by the
Indians, have been usurped under various pretexts by the caciques and
collectors of tribute;
iv. That the provisional use granted them under the Spanish government has been extremely prejudicial to the development of agriculture
and the prosperity of the state;
v. That the constitution of the republic does not acknowledge the
authority of the caciques but rather that of the intendants of provinces
and governors of their respective districts, I have decided to decree, and
do hereby decree:
. That the provisions of articles , , and of the decree issued in
Trujillo on April ,10 concerning the redistribution of
communal lands be carried out forthwith.
. Included in the land to be redistributed shall be those sections
appropriated by the caciques and tribute collectors by virtue of
their oce, those lands being clearly identied by those commissioned to sell and distribute them.
. The extent, redistribution, and sale of lands in each province
shall be carried out by persons of integrity and intelligence
whose names shall be presented as candidates to the prefect by
the departmental junta holding jurisdiction, the junta to determine the fees and authority granted to those carrying out this
commission.
. Article above does not refer to caciques who have inherited
or who have legitimate claims and who have been granted
absolute ownership of lands assigned to them during redistribution.
. The caciques who do not own any land of their own shall
receive through their wives and each of their children ve

190 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

.
.
.

topos11 of land or an equal area in places where the term topo is

unfamiliar.
Each native citizen, regardless of sex or age, shall receive one
topo of land in fertile places with adequate water.
In barren regions without adequate water, they shall receive
two topos.
The Indians whose lands were taken from them under the
Spanish government in order to pay the so-called paciers of
the revolution of year ,12 shall be compensated in the redistribution to be made of communal lands by one-third more
land than that to be assigned to others who have not suered
such a loss.
That the absolute ownership granted to the Indians designated in article of the aforementioned decree be understood to
be inalienable until year , and never taken by mortmain,
under penalty of nullity.
The provisional secretary general is charged with the responsibility to carry out and fulll this decree.

To be printed, published, and circulated.

Executed in Cuzco on July .the sixth and the fourth years of
the republic.
Simn Bolvar
By order of His Excellency, Felipe Santiago Estens
Note: Article of this decree was amended as follows:13
His Excellency the Liberator has ordered that the ve topos of land,
which Article of the decree executed in Cuzco on July of last year
allots to the wife and each of the children of the caciques, also be allotted to the cacique himself, as if the article referred to reads as follows: The
caciques will receive, for themselves, for their wife, and for each of their children, and so on.
By order of His Excellency, I have the honor of communicating this
to you so that it shall be brought to the attention of the Council of Government for its proper fulllment.
I am, Minister, your most attentive and obedient servant.
Felipe Santiago Estens
To the Minister of State of the Department of Government

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 191

iv. Resolution That Colombian Indians

Pay a Tax Called a Personal Tribute
From Indigenous Peoples
Bogot, October
Simn Bolvar, Liberator President, etc.
Considering:
i. That it is an indispensable obligation of all Colombians to contribute to the cost of running the State, either directly or indirectly, and
that not even the indigenous peoples are exempt from this obligation;14
ii. That though the statute of October decreed that they
should make contributions equal to those of all Colombians, this provision, far from improving their condition, has made it worse and aggravated their penury;
iii. That the majority of the indigenous people themselves prefer
and many have asked permission to make a personal contribution that
will exempt them from the charges and fees assessed the other citizens,
I have decided in consultation with the Council of State to decree the
following:

Title
Names, Amount, and Payment Schedule of the Indian Tribute
Article . Indigenous Colombians shall, from their eighteenth birthday until the day they turn fty, pay a tribute to be called personal tribute from indigenous peoples.
Article . This annual tribute, amounting to three pesos, four reales, is
to be paid equally by all.
Paragraph . Those Indians who in addition to communal or reservation lands [resguardos] own property valued at , pesos or more in real
estate or personal property will not be assessed this tribute but will be
subject instead to the ordinary taxation paid by all citizens in common.
Paragraph . Exceptions will also be made for all Indians who are permanently disabled or seriously ill to the point of not being able to work
and earn a salary, providing this impossibility has been previously established by the competent authority through the legal procedures justifying this declaration of exemption in advance to the tax collector.
Article . The personal tribute from Indians must be paid in two
installments, on June and December of each year; in the current

192 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

year the installment for one semester only will be collected, this falling
due at the end of December.

Title
Concerning the Tax Collectors, Their Duties,
Security Bond, and Compensation
Article . The collection of the Indian tribute shall be the responsibility of persons or employees appointed by the government.
Article . All those appointed to this position shall guarantee onefourth of the amount estimated to be collectable in their district, and in
addition to the obligation secured by their personal property they will
submit a security bond sucient to satisfy the respective intendants who
must give their approval, in consultation with the Treasury Board.
An adavit of the receipt of the security bond shall be forwarded to
the Oce of the Auditor of the Treasury and another to the treasurer, at
the cost of the tax collector.
Article . The tax collectors shall visit personally the parishes or sites
designated in their commission for the collection of taxes due them, and
accompanied by one of the parochial mayors or the parish priest and
conducting themselves with the civility dictated by prudence so as not to
cause anxiety, the two of them, in the presence of the registry and the
parish archives, will enter the names and ages of all male Indians in a
general registry, which with their three signatures will be submitted to
the Oce of the Auditor of the Treasury, another copy being submitted
to the respective treasurer, and this procedure shall be repeated every ve
years.
Article . From the general registry the tax collectors shall draw specic lists of the Indians to be taxed, notarized by the collector, the parish
mayor, and the priest, which shall be used for collecting the tribute, these
lists being updated each year with precise data on new contributors.
Article . The treasurer shall deliver to the tax collectors the signed
books in which they are to enter the detailed account of the collection
according to parish and the number of contributors and the copies of the
receipts that must be given to them by the collectors, duly notarized. The
forms or receipts will contain the name of the Indian paying tribute, the
parish, home, or hacienda where he lives, and the amount paid, this
information being lled out by the collector in the spaces designated on
these forms.
These will be issued by the auditors of the Treasury, who will turn
them over to the treasurers for the purpose indicated.

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 193

Article . When a tribute payer dies, the tax collectors shall record
this on the lists and in the collection book, demanding to see the death
certicate, which will be given to them by the priests without exception.
In the event that the death certicate is not found or when an Indian
is absent without any information concerning his existence, the death or
absence shall be veried by sworn testimony of a mayor and priest of the
parish or by information of witnesses on ocial forms.
Article . If any Indian has changed residence, the tax collector into
whose district he has moved shall demand of him the tribute that he
owes, recording this on his lists and advising the collector of the previous
residence so his name can be removed from that list.
Article . The tax collectors are required to provide punctual accounts
of the amount of money they collect to the respective treasurers who,
informed of the progress of the collections on a monthly basis, will be in
a position to take the necessary actions against those who refuse to pay
or delay in doing so.
Article . Each year the collectors shall submit to the treasurers a
notarized account of the total amount of tribute collected no later than
March of the following year, keeping however a running tally as the
money is collected and ascertaining the entire amount one month prior
to the submission of the account.
In proof of the accuracy of the account they will also submit the lists
and collection books, and the certicates or documents verifying the
death or absence of the Indians or their exemptions from payment, with
sworn statements from the tax collector concerning tributes still uncollected after the exhaustion of all diligent eort, thus justifying legally the
impossibility of the collection and the unused payment forms being
returned.
Article . The treasurers shall examine and nalize the accounts submitted by the collectors of Indian tribute no later than three months following their submission.
Article . Six percent of all monies collected shall be set aside for the
tax collectors, without further emoluments or allowances for expenses.

Title
Concerning the Exemptions Granted to the Indians
Article . The Indians shall be exempted from all military service,
unless they choose to enlist voluntarily in the corps of veteran soldiers.
They shall be exempted from paying parochial fees and other national
taxes of any kind.

194 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

In order to exercise the exemption from paying sales tax, it is necessary that any item they sell, trade, or barter be their own property, including harvest, crops, livestock, and handicraft, or be the property of other
Indians. But should they sell anything belonging to any person subject to
sales tax, they must declare and so indicate, following the instructions of
the tribute oce.
Article . In all negotiations involving Indians, and in civil or criminal actions initiated among themselves or with other citizens, either
communities or individuals, they shall be regarded as paupers, in virtue
of which they will be charged no fees by secular and ecclesiastical courts
and judges.
Article . The Indians cannot be subjected to any kind of service by
any class of person without paying them the wage customarily paid for
such service throughout the country.

Title
Concerning Council Leaders and Other Indian Employees
Article . The lesser ocials and employees of the Indian parishes
will be continued in their posts for purely economic matters.
The duties of these employees are as follows:
. To supervise the conduct of their subordinates in order to
avoid excesses in consumption of alcohol and in other activities;
. To advise the tax collectors concerning Indians who have left
the parish and those who have come from other parishes;
. To lend their inuence and eorts in the collection of the personal tribute when the person charged with that responsibility
appears in the parishes, informing the tribute payers of his
arrival so that payment can be made on the initial demand;
. To notify the priests in a timely manner when an Indian falls
gravely ill so that he can be provided with the necessary spiritual and corporal aid.

Title
Concerning the Reservations or Indian Lands
Article . In the parishes where there are communal lands or reservations, each Indian family shall be provided with the land necessary for
his home and personal cultivation, in addition to the communal land
needed to graze his livestock and other purposes.

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 195

Article . Wherever there is a surplus of land, this can be leased to

benet the Indian community at a public auction presided over by the
governor of the province and witnessed by the protector of the community, Indian bidders being favored over other citizens provided that they
are leasing the land for themselves and that they oer the necessary
security.
Article . The priests and protectors shall encourage the Indians as
subtly as possible to practice communal farming of a large enough portion of the surplus land of the reserve in order to invest the proceeds precisely for their own benet.

Title
Concerning the General and Individual Protectors of the Indians
Article . The court prosecutors [ scales] shall serve as general protectors or guardians for Indians, and whenever one of the latter, either
individually or as part of a group, comes to him asking for representation
before the government or the superior courts in matters pertinent to
Indian rights, these protectors shall provide such representation without
any delay that might prejudice the matter.
Article . The court prosecutors acting as general protectors shall
represent to the government whatever they consider useful and advantageous to the Indians, to their civilization, their welfare, and the preservation of their communal lands, without allowing anyone to usurp or alienate their rights or property.
Article . The court prosecutors shall serve as particular protectors of
the province in which the Court resides, and in each one of the other
provinces or provincial capitals there shall be a protector appointed by
the prefect on the governors recommendation.
Article . The provincial protectors shall defend the person and
properties of the Indians and the concessions and privileges granted
them by this decree and by the existing laws, attesting to their action on
ocial paper and without exacting fees or any charges whatsoever.
Article . The protectors shall promote by any means within their
power the establishment of schools for the education of the children of
the Indians, and they shall urge the parents to send them to these schools
as frequently as possible.
Article . They shall represent to the courts through the prosecutors
and petition the government through the respective governor, asking
whatever they consider fair and benecial to the Indians of their
province.

196 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

Article . The protectors, during their term of oce, shall be exempt

from all council duties.
Article . In cases where the protectors are unable to intervene on
behalf of an Indian, the court or judge shall appoint provisionally the
necessary defender or defenders in the absence of attorneys for the poor,
the defenders so named being obligated to defend them gratis as they
would paupers.
Article . Based on a determination of the government and any previous information that may be requested of the respective intendants, a
fee or allowance shall be allotted to the local protectors to compensate
them for their work.

Title
Concerning the Stipends for the Priests and
the Observance of This Decree
Article . The priests in charge of Indian parishes shall receive the
stipend of pesos, reales.
Article . The priests who receive some part of the novenos or tithes
shall not be given the designated stipend, but should that amount be less
than the stipend, it is to be supplemented up to the amount of pesos,
reales.
Article . The law of October concerning Indians is hereby
annulled in all its parts.15
Article . The present decree shall be gradually implemented in
whole or in part, according to subsequent instructions to be issued by the
respective secretary.
Article . In provinces where implementation of this decree has not
been mandated, the government, depending on local circumstances, shall
dictate through special decrees the procedures to be observed.
The cabinet secretaries of state of the Departments of the Interior
and the Treasury are hereby charged with the responsibility for implementing and supervising the observance of the specic articles of this
decree falling under their jurisdiction.
Signed into law in the Palace of Government in Bogot, the capital of
the Republic, on October .
Simn Bolvar
For His Excellency the Liberator President, Secretary of the Interior,
Jos M. Restrepo.

Secretary of the Treasury, Nicols M. Tanco.

Application of Capital Punishment to

Ocials Who Have Taken Money

from Public Funds

Lima, January
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President, etc.
Considering:
First, that one of the principal causes of the disasters in which the
Republic has become embroiled was the scandalous waste of its funds by
certain ocials who have had access to them;16
Second, that the only way to eradicate this disorder completely is to
dictate harsh and extreme measures, I have decided to issue this decree at
once;
Decree:
Article . Any public ocial convicted in summary court of having
misapplied or stolen more than ten pesos from the public funds shall be
subject to capital punishment.
Article . The judges assigned jurisdiction in such a case, according to
law, but who fail to adhere to this decree shall be condemned to the same
penalty.
Article . Any citizen can charge public ocials with the crime specied in Article .
Article . This decree shall be posted in all the oces of the Republic
and taken in account in all commissions issued to ocials who are in any
way involved in the handling of public funds.

198 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

It shall be printed, publicized, and circulated.
Signed into law in the Dictatorial Palace of Lima on January ,
fourth year of the Republic.
Simn Bolvar
By order of His Excellency, Jos Snchez Carrin

Measures for the Protection and Wise

Use of the Nations Forest Resources:

Bolvar as Ecologist

Guayaquil, July
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia, etc.
Considering:
First, that the Forests of Colombia, those owned publicly as well as
privately, represent an enormous treasure in wood suitable for all types of
construction as well as dyes, quinine, and other useful substances for
medicine and the arts.17
Second, that throughout the region we are experiencing excessive harvesting of wood, dyes, quinine, and other substances, especially in the
forests belonging to the state, with disastrous consequences.
Third, that to avoid these, it is necessary to establish regulations for
the eective protection of public and private property against violations
of every kind, having seen the reports compiled for the government on
this matter and heard the report of the Council of State,
I hereby decree:
Article . The governors of the provinces shall designate in each canton, through elected judges or other trustworthy persons, common lands
belonging to the Republic, specifying in writing their boundaries and
botanical properties, such as precious woods, medicinal plants, and other useful substances, ordering this information to be recorded in the public archives with another copy forwarded to the prefecture.

200 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

Article . They shall immediately make it known in each canton that

no one can harvest precious wood or timber for the construction of commercial boats from vacant or state lands without prior written permission
from the governor of the respective province.
Article . These permits shall never be issued free of charge, but shall
be subject to a graduated fee to be determined by the governor in consultation with experts who shall submit a regulation to this eect for the
approval of the prefecture.
Article . Anyone who harvests quinine, precious wood, and timber
for construction from the state forests without the proper permit, or who
harvests more than the amount specied in the permit, shall incur a ne
of from to pesos, which shall be applied to the public funds, and
shall, further, reimburse the cost of harvested or damaged property, based
on the assessment of experts.
Article . The prefects of the maritime departments shall take special
care to conserve the timber in the state forests, especially that which can
be used for the naval forces, and to ensure that only the specied amount
is harvested, or that which will bring a prot to the public revenues.
Article . The governors of the provinces shall prescribe regulations
that are simple and accommodated to the local circumstances so that the
harvesting of wood, quinine, or plants for dyes is conducted in an orderly fashion that will improve the quality of the forests and promote greater
commercial prots.
Article . Wherever quinine or other substances useful as medicines
are present, a supervisory junta shall be established to oversee an area
considered appropriate by the respective prefect; this junta shall be composed of at least three persons and, whenever possible, one of them shall
be a medical doctor. The members of the junta shall be appointed by the
prefect, on nomination by the respective governor, and they shall serve in
this capacity as long as their conduct warrants.
Article . Anyone who intends to harvest quinine and other substances useful as medicines from forests owned by the state or by individuals shall be inspected in their operations by one or two commissioners appointed by the supervisory junta, salaries or expenses to be paid by
the entrepreneur or entrepreneurs. The junta and the commissioners
shall ensure:
First, that the limits specied in the permit to harvest quinine and to
extract other substances useful as medicines shall not be exceeded.
Second, that the extraction and other preparations shall be done
according to the regulations drawn up by the faculties of medicine in

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 201

Caracas, Bogot, and Quito, in a simple guidebook they are to compile
that will have as its object the prevention of the destruction of the plants
that produce these substances, which moreover are to be handled with all
essential care in their preparation, bottling, etc., so that their price and
commercial value will be maximized.
Article . In ports where no supervisory junta has been established,
the inspection stipulated in Article shall be carried out by intelligent
persons appointed to this task by the governor, their report rigorously
expressing the quality of the quinine or substance that has been examined. Should this requirement not be satised with the appropriate rigor, customs will not issue a stamp to register said substance, and should
it be discovered that extraneous bark or substances lacking the necessary
benecial properties have been mixed with it, this shall be noted, the
governor or customs administrator being so informed in order that shipment can be blocked.
Article . The faculties of medicine of Caracas, Bogot, and Quito
and the department prefects shall each provide the government with a
report proposing measures to improve the extraction, preparation, and
sale of quinine and other substances available for harvest in the forests of
Colombia for medicinal use or for the arts, making all necessary recommendations for the increase of this important aspect of the public wealth.
The secretary of state in the Oce of the Interior is charged with the
execution of this decree.
Simn Bolvar
For His Excellency the Liberator President of the Republic, the Secretary General, Jos D. Espinar

This page intentionally left blank

4. Education and Culture

This page intentionally left blank

Method to Be Employed in the

Education of My Nephew

Fernando Bolvar

(?)

The education of children should always be appropriate to their age,

inclinations, spirit, and temperament.1
As my nephew is above twelve years of age, he should apply himself
to learning modern languages, without neglecting his own. The dead
languages should be studied after he has learned the living languages.
Geography and cosmography should be the earliest knowledge
acquired by a young man.
The study of history, like languages, should begin with the contemporary period and then gradually move back in time to the dark ages of
fable.
It is never too early to begin the study of natural sciences, because
they teach us the technique of analysis in everything, moving from the
known to the unknown, and in that way we learn to think and reason
with logic.
But the students ability to perform calculation should be kept in
mind, for not all are equal in their aptitude for mathematics.
In general, everyone can learn and understand geometry, but this is
not true of algebra and integral and dierential calculus.
Rapid memorization always impresses as a brilliant faculty, but it may
redound in detriment to comprehension; so the child who demonstrates
too great a facility in retaining his lessons by memory should be taught
those things that will force him to think, such as problem solving and
setting up equations. On the other hand, those who are slow of retention
should be taught to memorize and to recite passages selected from the

206 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

great poets. Both memorization and calculation can be improved
through practice.
The memory should be exercised to the extent possible but should
never be strained to the point of weakening it.
The study of statistics is necessary in the times we are living, and I
wish for my nephew to learn this science.
If he chooses to do so, he will receive instruction in mechanics and
civil engineering, but not against his will, should he show a disinclination
to study those subjects.
There is no need for him to learn music unless he develops a passion
for this art; he should, however, acquire a rudimentary knowledge of line
drawing, astronomy, chemistry, and botany, delving more or less deeply
into those sciences according to his inclination or enjoyment of one or
more of them.
The teaching of good manners or social habits is as essential as the
acquisition of knowledge. For this reason, special care should be taken to
have him learn the values and manners of a gentleman by reading the letters of Lord Chestereld to his son.2
Morality derived from religious maxims and from the practical
preservation of health and life is a subject that no teacher can neglect.
Roman law, as the basis of universal legislation, must be studied.
As it is most dicult to judge where art ends and science begins,
should his temperament incline him to learn an art or trade, I will celebrate his decision, for there is an abundance of doctors and lawyers
among us, but we lack good mechanics and farmers, which are what the
country needs to advance in prosperity and well-being.
Dance, which is the poetry of motion, imparting grace and exibility
to the individual, as well as being a hygienic exercise in moderate climates, should be practiced if it appeals to him.
Above all, I recommend that you instill in him the enjoyment of cultivated society where the fair sex exerts its benecial inuence, as well as
that respect for men of superior age, knowledge, and social position that
makes youth fascinating by linking it to aspirations for the future.
Simn Bolvar

Decree on the Installation of

Several Normal Schools Based on

the Lancasterian System

Lima, January
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia, empowered with dictatorial authority in the Republic of Peru, etc.
Considering:
i. That the Lancasterian system is the only rapid and ecient method
of promoting public education;3
ii. That by introducing it into each of the departments it will be
diused without delay into the entire territory of the Republic,
I have decided to issue the following decree:
. In the capital city of each department a normal school will be
established, modeled on the Lancasterian system.
. The prefects, entering into an accord with the municipalities of
their respective capital, will provide a precise estimate of the
funds needed for this purpose.
. Each province will send a minimum of six students to the
school located in its department, so that they can later introduce this curriculum into the capital and other towns in the
respective province.
. The intendants, in cooperation with the municipalities, will
select students with the greatest potential to be sent to the
normal school. From the funds budgeted for public education,
a subsistence allowance will be provided to students who are
poor.

208 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

. The Minister of State in the Department of Government and

Foreign Relations is charged with the responsibility for executing this decree, which is to be printed, published, and distributed.
Signed in the Dictatorial Palace, in Lima, on January , fourth year
of the Republic.
Simn Bolvar
By order of His Excellency, Jos Snchez Carrin

Letters to Jos Joaqun de Olmedo:

Critique of the Victoria de Junn

i.
Cuzco, June
Dear friend:
A few short days ago I received on the road two of your letters and a
poem: The letters are from a politician and a poet, but the poem is from
an Apollo.4 Neither the heat of the tropics, all the res of Junn and
Ayacucho, nor all the lightning bolts sent down by the Father of Manco
Capac5 have ever produced a more intense conagration in the mind of
a mortal. You open re . . . where no shot has ever been red before; you
scorch the earth with the sparks from the axle and wheels of a chariot of
Achilles that never passed through Junn; you take possession of all the
characters: you turn me into a Jupiter, Sucre into a Mars, La Mar into an
Agamemnon or a Menelaus, Crdova into an Achilles, Necochea into a
Patrocles or an Ajax, Miller into a Diomedes, and Lara into a Ulysses.6
Each one of us is given our divine or heroic shadow to shield us with
its protective wings like a guardian angel. You fashion us after your poetic and fantastic style, and to extend this ction and fable into the realm
of poetry, you exalt us with your false deication the way Jupiters eagle
lifted the tortoise up to the heavens only to drop it onto a rock to crush
its oundering legs: In short, you have lifted us up to such sublime
heights that we are ung into the abyss of nothingness, a vast and shimmering array of lights covering the pale reection of our opaque virtues.
Thus, my friend, you have pulverized us with the lightning bolts of
Jupiter, the sword of Mars, the scepter of Agamemnon, the lance of
Achilles, and the wisdom of Ulysses. If I were not as generous as I am,
and if you were not the poet you are, I might think you had deliberately
written a parody of the Iliad using the heroes of our puny farce. But I

210 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

dont really believe that. You are a poet, and you know quite well, as did
Bonaparte, that from the sublime to the ridiculous there is but a short
step, and that Manolo7 and the Cid are brothers, though sons of dierent fathers. An American will read your poem as Homerian canto; a
Spaniard will read it as a canto from Boileaus8 Facistol.
For all of this, I oer you my boundless gratitude.
I have no doubt that you will carry out your mission to England with
dignity; so convinced was I of this that after turning my gaze on every
corner of the Empire of the Sun, I found no diplomat capable of representing Peru and negotiating on her behalf more skillfully than you.9 I
sent a mathematician along to keep you from concluding, in a transport
of poetic truth, that two plus two equaled four thousand;10 our Euclid is
there to keep our Homer alert, so he does not look with his imagination
but with his ngers, and to prevent him from being charmed by harmonies and metrical patterns, keeping his ears tuned instead to the
crude, harsh, astringent prose of politicians and publicans.
I came yesterday to the classic land of the sun, of the Incas, of fable
and history. Here the true sun is gold; the Incas are the viceroys or prefects; the fable is Garcilasos history; history is the relation by Las Casas
of the destruction of the Indies.11 An abstraction made of pure poetry, it
calls to mind noble ideas, profound reections; my soul is dazzled by the
presence of primitive nature, evolved on its own, forming creations from
its own elements based on the model of its intimate inspirations, without
any admixture of foreign works, or alien counsel, or the whims of the
human spirit, or the contagion of the history of crime and the absurdities
of our species. Manco Capac, Adam of the Indians, left his Paradise on
Lake Titicaca and formed an historic community, without a single element of sacred or profane fable.
God made him a man, he established his kingdom, and history has
spoken truthfully because the monuments of stone, the broad, straight
roads, the innocent customs, and authentic tradition make us witness to
a social creation of which we have no concept or model or copy. Peru is
unique in the history of mankind. It seems this way to me because I am
here, and everything I have just said to you, more or less poetically, seems
obvious to me.
Please be so kind as to share this letter with Mr. Paredes. I oer you
the sincere expression of my friendship.
Bolvar

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 211

ii.
Cuzco, July
My dear friend:
Day before yesterday I received your letter of May , which struck me
as extraordinary because you take the liberty of making me a poet without my knowledge and without my consent.12 As all poets are obsessive,
you insisted on endowing me with your tastes and talents. Since you have
gone to all that trouble, I will do as that fellow did whom they cast as
king of a farce and who said: Since Im king, Ill mete out justice. Dont
complain, then, about my mistakes because, having no knowledge of the
profession, Ill strike out blindly with my cudgel in imitation of the king
of the farce who scarcely left a puppet with his head on straight. Those
he missed he had arrested. So lets get to it.
Ive heard that Horace wrote a harsh letter to the Piso family severely criticizing metrical composition, and his imitator, M. Boileau, has
taught me a few precepts that a man without any metrical sense can use
to rip and truncate anyone who speaks rhythmically and melodiously and
with controlled dignity.
Ill start by pointing out a aw in oratory, since I dont like to start out
praising only to end up savaging. Ill save my panegyrics for the conclusion of the work, which in my opinion well deserves them, so get ready
to hear immense truths or, to put it more accurately, prosaic truths, since
you know quite well that a poet measures truth dierently than we men
of prose. Ill follow my teachers.
You must have erased a great number of verses that I would have
found prosaic or humdrum; either I have no ear for music, or these are .
. . pure declamation. Forgive my boldness, but you gave me this poem
and I can do with it as I will.
After this, you should have let the song ferment like wine until it
could be savored chilled and delicious. Haste is a great fault in a poet.
Racine took two years to compose fewer verses than these youve written,
and thats why he is the purest writer of verse in modern times. The plan
for this poem, although truly good, has a serious formal defect.
You have provided a very small frame to hold a colossus who occupies
the entire space and covers the other characters with his shadow. The
Inca Huaina-Capac is the apparent subject of the poem: Hes the genius,
the wise one, the hero, the end-all. On the other hand, it does not seem
appropriate for him to proer indirect praise to the religion that

212 | Lesser Bolivarian Texts

destroyed him; and it seems even less appropriate, even if he has no
interest in being returned to his throne, to give preference to intrusive
foreigners who while being the avengers of his blood are nonetheless the
descendants of those who annihilated his empire: This abdication will
not sit well with anyone. Nature prevails over all other rules, and this is
not a natural action. Allow me also to point out to you that this Inca
genius, who must be lighter than air, since he comes from the sky, comes
across as overly talkative and complex, something the poets were unable
to forgive in good king Henry in his harangue to Queen Elizabeth, and
you are well aware that Voltaire had a reputation for generosity but was
nonetheless criticized.13
The introduction to the poem is grandiloquent: it is Jupiters thunderbolt splitting the earth to blast the Andes, which are forced to endure my unparalleled exploits in the battle of Junn. Apropos here is one
of Boileaus precepts, who praised the modesty with which Homer begins his divine Iliad: He promises little and gives much. The valleys and
mountains proclaim the earth: The repetition here is not pretty, and the
soldiers proclaim the general, since the valleys and the mountain are the
very humble servants of the earth.
Stanza seems a bit prosaic. Perhaps Im mistaken, and if so, why
did you make me king?
Lets quote a verse so there can be no misunderstanding; verse , for
example:
Que al Magdalena y al Rmac bullicioso [to the Magdalena and the
torrential Rimac]
And another, verse :
Del triunfo que prepara glorioso [Of the glorious triumph here prepared]
Plus others that I wont quote in order not to seem harsh and ungrateful
to one who sings my praises.
The tower of San Pablo will be your Mt. Pindo, the torrential Thames
your Helicon: There youll nd your spleen-song, and consulting Miltons ghost youll neatly apply your own devils to us. With the shades of
many other illustrious poets, youll nd better inspiration than in the
Inca, who, if truth be known, probably wouldnt know how to sing anything but sad Quechuan yaravs. Pope, your favorite poet, will give you
some instruction for correcting some of those lapses that aicted even
Homer from time to time. Youll pardon me if I take after Horace in the

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 213

enunciation of my oracular ndings. That famous fault-nder waxed
indignant because the author of the Iliad nodded o from time to time.
And you know very well that Vergil regretted having given birth to a
daughter as divine as the Aeneid after having worked for nine or ten years
engendering her. So, my friend, it takes a lot of polish to polish the works
of men. I can see land now; my critique is done, or should I say, Im done
striking out blindly.
I confess to you humbly that the versication of your poem seems
sublime to me: Some genius pulled it forth from you and raised it to the
heavens. You sustain throughout most of the poem a lively and constant
warmth; some of the inspirations are truly original; the thoughts are
noble and beautiful; the thunderbolt that your hero lends to Sucre is
superior to the loan of Achilless arms to Patroclus. Stanza is
extremely beautiful: I can hear the whirlwind roaring and see the axles
burning: Thats Greek, thats Homeric. In the presentation of Bolvar in
Junn one can see, if only in prole, the moment before the clash between
Turnus and Aeneas. The role you give to Sucre is warlike and grand. And
when you speak of La Mar, Im reminded of Homer singing to his friend
Mentor. Although the characters are dierent, the case is similar. And,
besides, isnt La Mar like a warrior Mentor?
Dear friend, allow me to ask: Where did you nd the inspiration to
sustain a song so powerfully from beginning to end? Victory lies in the
conclusion of the battle, and you have won it because you concluded your
poem with sweet verses, lofty ideas, and philosophical thoughts. Your
return to the battleeld is Pindaric, and I liked it so much I would call it
divine.
Press forward, my dear poet, in the lovely career the Muses have
opened to you with your translation of Pope and your song to Bolvar.
Forgive, forgive me, friend; the fault is yours, since you cast me as a
poet.
Your dear friend,
Bolvar

Circular on Educational Reform:

Bentham Treatises Banned from All

Colombian Universities

Bogot, March
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President, etc.
Taking into consideration several reports that have been addressed to
the government advising against the use of the treatises on civil and
criminal legislation, written by Jeremy Bentham, for the teaching of the
principles of universal legislation, these reports being supported by the
General Direction of Studies,14
I decree:
Article . The Bentham legislative treatises shall not be taught in any
of the universities of Colombia, Article of the General Plan of Studies being hereby amended.
Article . Article is also amended, and in the classes on jurisprudence and theology the General Direction shall be permitted to make
substitutions in the basic texts, on advice of the report to be read at the
meeting of the governing board of the university, which the professors of
the school of law are to attend. In the universities where the General
Direction of Studies is not in residence, the respective subordinate directors shall be permitted to make similar substitutions in the basic texts
designated for use in said plan, informing the General Direction in order
that it be brought to the attention of the Executive Power.
Article . In any branch of jurisprudence and theology where a basic
text appropriate for instruction is not available in print, the respective

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 215

professors shall dictate to their students a new course following the
guidelines disposed in Article of the General Plan of Studies.
Article . As it is very important that there be an abundance of basic
texts, especially in areas in which there are currently none available for
Colombian youth, the General Direction shall encourage the assistant
administrators and universities to have the most capable professors draft
texts for certain courses, which shall be printed with monies drawn from
the funds of the universities, the costs being reimbursed subsequently
from prots produced by the sale of the books.
The Secretary of State in the Oce of the Interior shall be charged
with the execution of this decree.
Simn Bolvar
The Secretary of State of the Oce of the Interior, J. M. Restrepo

Prohibition of Secret Societies

Bogot, November
Simn Bolvar
Liberator President, etc.
Having learned from experience, both in Colombia and in other
nations, that secret societies serve the specic purpose of instigating public upheavals that disturb the peace and the established order, that concealing all of their operations behind the veil of mystery they lead us to
the fundamental conclusion that they are neither good nor useful to society, and by the same token that they seed mistrust and alarm among all
those who are uninitiated into the objects used in their ceremonies, the
judgment of the Council of Ministers follows.15
Decree:
Article . All secret societies or guilds are prohibited in Colombia,
whatever their denomination.
Article . The governors of the provinces, acting on their own and
through the chiefs of police of the cantons, will dissolve and prevent
meetings of the secret societies, rst carefully ascertaining whether any
exist in their respective provinces.
Article . Any person giving or renting his house or property to a
secret society will incur a ne of pesos, and each of those attending
will be ned pesos for the rst and second oense, twice that amount
for the third and subsequent oenses; those who cannot pay the ne will
be sentenced to jail for two months for the rst and second oense, and
for the third and subsequent oenses the sentence will be doubled.
Paragraph . The governors and chiefs of police will apply these
penalties to violators in a swift and summary manner, without possibility of appeal.

Lesser Bolivarian Texts | 217

Paragraph . The nes will be used to cover expenses incurred by the

police, under the direction of the governors of the provinces.
The Minister serving as Secretary of State of the Department of the
Interior is charged with the execution of this decree.
Simn Bolvar
The Minister serving as Secretary of State of the Department of the
Interior, J. M. Restrepo

This page intentionally left blank

Notes

I. The Major Political Texts

. Escritos, IV, . Though commonly referred to as the Cartagena Manifesto, the precise title of this document is Memoria dirigida a los ciudadanos de la
Nueva Granada por un caraqueo. Its initial publication was in pamphlet form, in
Cartagena, early in .
. Since the province of Caracas so overshadowed the others in population
and wealth, and the city of Caracas similarly overshadowed other towns of Caracas province itself, there was widespread demand that the province be subdivided for the sake of better balance among the component parts of Venezuelas federal union. Though Congress acceded to the demand, the measure could not be
carried out before the collapse of the First Republic.
. The empire lost by Spain in this case is Spain itself, which by had
fallen largely into the hands of French forces and their Spanish collaborationists.
. Bolvar here uses the name Colombia in the sense pioneered by the Venezuelan Precursor, Francisco de Miranda, as referring to Spanish America generally.
In later usage it comes to refer to the area of northern South America that had
formed the Viceroyalty of New Granada and in was declared the Republic of
Colombia, corresponding to present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and
Panama (and normally referred to, in retrospect, as Gran Colombia).
. This analysis of Spanish Americas past experience, present condition, and
future prospects, which is known in Spanish simply as Carta de Jamaica, was
addressed to a British subject then resident on the island who has been identied
as Henry Cullen. It was clearly Bolvars intent that the letter be brought to the

220 | Notes
attention of the larger British community in Jamaica and of English speakers
elsewhere, for which purpose it was translated, apparently, by John Robertson, a
British military ocer who became one of his friends and supporters during
West Indian exile. It was rst published in Kingston, in the Jamaica Quarterly
Journal and Literary Gazette of July , under the title Letter to a Friend, on the
Subject of South American Independence. The original Spanish-language
manuscript has been lost, and the rst known publication in Spanish was in ,
in the Coleccin de documentos relativos a la vida pblica del Libertador compiled by
Francisco Javier Yanes and Cristbal Mendoza (in vol. XXI, appendix). The
translation given here is based on that found in Escritos, VIII, ; the English version and Spanish variations, along with extended commentary, can be
found in the same volume of Escritos, .
. The Viceroyalty of New Spain, whose capital was Mexico City, included
the Captaincy-General of Guatemala, corresponding to all of Central America
except Panama.
. William Walton (), a British publicist, wrote on Spanish and
Spanish American aairs and collaborated with Venezuelan patriot agents in
London.
. The Abb Guillaume Thomas Raynal (), a French critic of Spanish
colonial policy, was widely read in Latin America despite the aspersions he also
cast on the New World and its inhabitants.
. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas () and Antonio de Sols y
Rivadeneyra () were two of the principal Spanish chroniclers of the conquest and colonization of America.
. The references to Fernando VII are at rst glance confusing, since he
appears as both usurper and victim of usurpation. In March , Fernando succeeded his father Carlos IV, when a protest movement caused the latter to abdicate the throne; subsequently, Napoleon lured both father and son to Bayonne in
France, where Fernando was induced to abdicate in turn, initially in favor of his
father but in practice to clear the way for Napoleon to impose his brother Joseph
as king of Spain.
. The Mexican revolutionary priest Fray Servando Teresa de Mier Noriega
y Guerra ().
. Jos Mara Blanco () was a Spanish liberal who took refuge in
England (where he was better known as Joseph Blanco-White) and gave sympathetic treatment to the Spanish American revolutionists in his publication El
Espaol.
. The French priest and publicist Dominique de Pradt, usually referred to
simply as the Abb de Pradt (), was another supporter of the Spanish
American cause who would become an apologist for and correspondent of
Bolvar.
. The Araucanian Indians of southern Chile were never fully conquered
until after Chile became independent.

Notes | 221

. CharlesIrne Castel () was a French writer who in his ecclesiastical capacity was the Abb de Saint-Pierre.
. Jos de Acosta () was a Jesuit naturalist who traveled extensively in Spanish America during the rst century of colonial rule and wrote the Historia natural y moral de las Indias ().
. Delivered at the inauguration of the Congress of Angostura on February , this address was rst published, in incomplete form, in the Correo del
Orinoco, and February, and March . An early English version was
published almost simultaneously, as a pamphlet, at Angostura, and a Spanish version revised by Bolvar himself was printed at Bogot in April . The translation given here is based on the version in Escritos, XV, . Both English and
assorted Spanish versions and commentary are found in the same volume,
.
. Cundinamarca was the name assumed by the former province of Santaf,
in a rhetorical tribute to New Granadas Native American antecedents, although
it is actually of Quechua origin rather than derived from one of the Chibcha
tongues spoken by the original inhabitants of the area. It would at times be
applied to New Granada as a whole and today is the name of the Colombian
department surrounding Bogot. It was pacied by Bolvar in December ,
when he forcibly compelled it to join the United Provinces of New Granada.
. Constantin-Franois Chasseboeuf, Comte de Volney (), was a
French scholar and liberal thinker and contemporary of Bolvar.
. Lazare Carnot (), French Revolutionary general and administrator.
. Active citizens, in what was a common usage among legislators and constitution-makers of the period, were those endowed with all citizenship rights,
including the surage; passive were inhabitants who enjoyed basic guarantees
but were not full participants in the political process.
. Bolvars address together with the text of his draft constitution was published in Lima in , as Proyecto de Constitucin para la Repblica de Bolivia y
discurso del Libertador. It was republished the same year in Bogot and in in
London in English translation. The address and proposed text are taken here
from vol. I of El pensamiento constitucional hispanoamericano hasta (Caracas,
; Biblioteca de la Academia Nacional de la Historia, ), , where the
changes introduced by Bolivias national constituent assembly are indicated by
means of footnotes. All substantive changesas distinct from those of purely
routine or technical naturewill also be shown in the notes to this translation.
. The reference is to Emmanuel-Joseph Sieys (), French clergyman and revolutionist.
. As spelled out in the text of the constitution, the vice president did not
inherit by being next in bloodline to the president but in the sense that he would
automatically succeed to the presidency on the incumbents death: In eect, he
was adopted as heir by the president.

222 | Notes

. Since Bolivia did in fact have a coastline, we see here a curious, though not
entirely surprising, lapse on Bolvars part. To be sure, that coastline (lost to Chile
in the War of the Pacic later in the nineteenth century) was largely uninhabited and undeveloped at the time of Bolvars writing; for overseas trade Bolivia
thus relied on ports in Peru and Argentina.
. At this point the Bolivian assembly incorporated an additional chapter
and article:
Of the Religion
Article . The Apostolic Roman Catholic Religion is the religion
of the Republic, to the exclusion of any other public cult. The government will protect and cause it to be respected, recognizing the
principle that there is no human power over a persons conscience.
. The Bolivian assembly amended this to read, Those who fought for freedom in Junn or Ayacucho.
.The Bolivian assembly changed this article to read: All those who have
until now been slaves and who are liberated as a consequence of the publication
of this Constitution; but they shall not be allowed to leave the house of their former owners, except in the manner to be determined by a special law.
. This also was changed to read: To know how to read and write well; this
qualication will only be required after the year . The delayed application of
a literacy test was a common feature of early Latin American constitutions (with
French Revolutionary precedents). It was ostensibly to give those who were illiterate only because the colonial regime had failed to provide sucient schools
time to overcome the deciency.
. In the constitution as nally adopted, there was to be one elector for every
Bolivian citizens, not every .
. Here the Bolivian assembly inserted the requirement that electors, at least,
had to be literate even before .
. Although the assembly stopped short of abolishing the traditional
patronato or system of state control over church administration, one of the
changes it made in this article was to provide that the electors should nominate
priests and vicars directly to the ecclesiastical authority rather than to the
Executive Power.
. Here the Bolivian assembly inserted: . Profess the religion of the Republic.
. The wording nally adopted was slightly more practical: in peace and
war, and in person when necessary.
. Here again the Bolivian assembly made a very practical change in the constitutional text, giving the president authority to leave the capital city without
rst getting legislative permission. Similar leeway was granted the vice president
in its nal version of Article .
. In the version nally adopted, this was changed to: The power to judge

Notes | 223
pertains exclusively to the tribunals established by law. The alteration appears to
suggest a higher regard for the judicial branch than that shown by the Liberator
himself, who in his address to the Convention of Ocaa (the document that
appears next in this compilation) would state that the judicial function is really a
subtype of the executive.
. Presumably popular action refers to the functions of petition and complaint assigned to the provincial electoral assemblies.
. This recurso, in traditional Spanish jurisprudence, was an appeal permitted outside normal judicial channels of a court decision already handed down in
nal instance. The procedure was an invitation to executive interference in judicial matters and was therefore a frequent target of institutional reformers in
postindependence Spanish America.
. This article appears to suer from careless drafting. In the version nally
adopted, the number of justices of the peace was reduced and the alcaldes were
eliminated.
. The Bolivian assembly lled in the blank by specifying that there should
be a ten-year trial period, as also required in Colombias Constitution of .
. Obras, III, ; rst printed in Gaceta de Colombia, May .
. In actual fact, the constitution as written required a two-thirds vote of the
members present to override an executive veto and more than two-thirds of the
total membership in order to hold a session. Hence in practice it would take at
least two-ninths of the congressmen to override.
. The reference is to Manuel Jos Hurtado, named by Vice President Santander to negotiate the foreign loan that was actually obtained in London in .
Hurtado was widely criticized for the terms that he accepted as well as for the
seemingly excessive commission he received from Colombia for his services. The
damage done by his extended stay in Europe is less obvious, although he did
unwisely leave a portion of the loan funds in the hands of the British nancial
rm that served as intermediary in raising the loan and which in went bankrupt, carrying with it the Colombian money. (It should perhaps be noted for the
record that at the time pesos were generally equivalent to United States dollars.)
. The reference here is to Peru, whose independence was achieved with the
help of Colombian arms but was now enmeshed in a series of diplomatic and
other controversies with Colombia, leading to the brief war of between
the two countries.
. No reliable estimate of Gran Colombian losses in the war of independence
has ever been made, but clearly the gure given here, roughly equivalent to onefth the total population, is grossly inated for rhetorical eect.
. Obras, III, . This essay was written in Quito, for anonymous publication as a newspaper article or pamphlet. Under the title Una mirada sobre la
Amrica Espaola, it was published in Caracas in .
. The actual date of establishment of a governing junta in Buenos Aires was
May .

224 | Notes

. Hero of the defense of Buenos Aires against the British invasions of

, Liniers was no longer viceroy when the revolution there got under way in
May . Attempting to organize a counterrevolutionary movement in Crdoba in the Argentine interior, he was captured and summarily executed.
. In what is now Bolivia, the Desaguadero was the farthest point reached by
a revolutionary expedition sent from Buenos Aires and led by Castelli. He was an
expeditionary philosopher, as noted below, in that he was a civilian lawyer who
represented the more radical wing of the Argentine revolution. Indeed, he and
his collaborators managed to alarm Bolivian whites through their appeals to the
Indian masses while sowing even wider alarm with their seeming irreligiosity.
Contrary to what Bolvar has to say, the survivors of that expedition were not
pursued quite all the way to Crdoba.
. A militia ocer and political moderate with strong ties to the interior
provinces, Cornelio Saavedra presided over the ruling junta set up in Buenos
Aires in May ; he was soon forced out by his political rivals.
. Rivadavia became chief minister of Buenos Aires province under
Rodrguez but was not governor himself; instead, he briey became president of
a precariously united Argentina.
. Lavalle was a leader of the Unitario party, which had supported Rivadavia.
In December , Lavalle rose against Governor Dorrego and had him executed. Previously he had served as a member of the Argentine expeditionary forces
taken by San Martn to Peru, e.g., in ghting near Ica, as noted perhaps unfairly
in the next paragraph.
. Supreme director of the United Provinces of Ro de la Plata, .
. Jos Miguel Carrera for a time headed the patriot regime established in
Chile. After the Spanish reconquest in , he took refuge in Argentina, where
along with his brothers Juan Jos and Luis he became enmeshed in the factional
disputes of the Argentine revolutionists.
. This highly uncomplimentary reference is to Vicente Guerrero, a prominent guerrilla leader in the Mexican struggle for independence, who became
president in , only to be overthrown the following year.
. In reality the rst Mexican emperor, Agustn de Iturbide, on his overthrow
in was allowed to go peacefully into exile with a generous pension. He was
executed only when he returned to Mexico without authorization the following
year.
. Another revolutionary guerrilla leader and rst president of the Mexican
Republic, Guadalupe Victoria was no longer holding that oce when Guerrero
committed the crimes Bolvar accuses him of.
. In Spanish lperos, the derogatory term applied to vagrants and petty criminals infesting the streets of Mexico City.
. The Convention of Girn, of March , was signed the day after the
Colombian victory over invading Peruvian forces in the Battle of Tarqui and

Notes | 225
temporarily put an end to hostilities between the two countries. What was despicable to Bolvar was the bad faith shown by Peru in failing to honor it.
. The Argentine ocer Rudecindo Alvarado led the ill-fated expedition
into southern Peru that ended in defeat in early at the Battles of Torata and
Moquegua.
. Although Torre-Tagle was already in potentially treasonous correspondence with the Spaniards, Callao was lost in February (and indirectly Lima
as well) as the result of an essentially spontaneous mutiny by the Callao garrison.
. A New Granadan ocer acting ostensibly out of constitutionalist convictions, Jos Bustamante led a mutiny in January among Colombian forces
still stationed in Lima against the mainly Venezuelan and Bolivarian higher
ocers. This contributed to the collapse of the Peruvian government, set in place
by Bolvar on returning to Colombia the previous year.
. Born in Cuenca in what is now Ecuador, La Mar was thus by birth a
native of Gran Colombia despite his Peruvian military position.
. The Third Division, after its mutiny under Bustamante in Lima, returned
to Colombian territory at Guayaquil and there endeavored, in the end unsuccessfully, to overthrow the authorities loyal to Bolvar.
. Obras, III, .
. Decretos, III, . The decree in question established a framework for
the functioning of Bolvars nal dictatorship and made clear that it was only a
temporary solution, pending the convocation of a new congress to prepare a
revised constitution.
. Here Bolvar presumably has in mind the proclamation of the Peruvian
general Antonio Gutirrez de Lafuente, leader along with Agustn Gamarra of a
successful revolution in Peru, denouncing the previous government headed by
Jos La Mar for its unjust war against Colombia. The new administration very
quickly made peace with the Colombians.
. This statement refers to the uprising of Jos Mara Crdova and his
followers in Antioquia in and is just a little disingenuous: Crdova was
wounded in the Battle of Santuario but received the coup de grace only after his
defeat, from an English ocer in Bolvars service, at a nearby house where he
had taken refuge.
. In eect, by this time dissidents favoring Venezuelas outright separation
from the Colombian union had already taken control in Caracas.
II. Lesser Bolivarian Texts
. Political and Military
. Escritos, IV, . This obviously should not be taken as a literal transcription of Bolvars words, which were not written down at the time. The version
given here is one apparently handed down by Simn Rodrguez and published in

226 | Notes
Homenaje de Colombia al Libertador Simn Bolvar en su Primer Centenario,
(Bogot, ), . There are, of course, other versions, and the lengthy
rst paragraph, in particular, may be taken with reservations as to Bolvars exact
authorship.
. Escritos, IV, . This was published, with minor alterations, by the printer Juan Baillo, in Caracas, probably also in .
. Escritos, V, . First published as Exposicin sucinta de los hechos del
Comandante espaol Monteverde durante el ao de su dominacin en las Provincias de
Venezuela (Caracas, ). The original apparently is lost.
. A slightly intemperate reference to Miranda, named dictator by the republican authorities in a desperate and ultimately unsuccessful eort to stave o
defeat. Bolvar held him personally responsible for the capitulation that ended
Venezuelas First Republic and was one of the ocers who, by arresting him, prevented his escape from the country.
. Escritos, VI, .
. Escritos, XI, .
. The reference is to the abortive attempt by Mario and others earlier in the
year, at the so-called Congresillo of Cariaco, to withdraw Bolvars supreme
authority.
. The order that Bolvar speaks of here is his own recent decree for the distribution of conscated properties to members of the patriot armed forces; it is
reproduced below.
. Escritos, XIV, .
. Escritos, XXIII, . The original is missing, but composed at some
point in the rst copy bearing the date of October during Bolvars
stay in what is now Ecuador. He obviously did not scale Mount Chimborazo,
Ecuadors highest, to its ,-meter summit, and even the attribution of this
composition to Bolvar has been questioned by some. But its authenticity as one
of his writings is accepted by most Bolivarian scholars, and neither is there reason
to doubt that he did ascend part way. The document was rst published in ,
in vol. XXII of Francisco Javier Yanes and Cristbal Mendoza, Coleccin de documentos para la vida pblica del Libertador de Colombia y del Per, Simn Bolvar.
. The French scientist Charles-Marie de La Condamine () had visited what is now Ecuador as part of an expedition to measure the length of a
degree at the Equator. The German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt
() visited the same area in the course of his travels through much of
Spanish America in the late colonial period.
. Obras, II, . The letter of Pez to which it is an answer is reproduced
on pp. of the same volume. The carrier of the letter, Antonio L. Guzmn,
was one of the Venezuelans who strongly opposed the national administration
headed in Bolvars absence by Vice President Santander; he later was a founder
of Venezuelas Liberal Party.
. Decretos, III, .

Notes | 227

. Obras, III, .
. Obras, III, (which appends a slightly dierent draft of the same).
. Dierent versions of this letter exist. The present version is not that of
Obras, III, , as reconstructed from extant fragments by Vicente Lecuna, but
that contained in the second (posthumous) edition of Lecuna, comp., Cartas del
Libertador (Caracas, ), VII, , and originally published by Federico
Stagg y Caamao, El general Flores, in the Boletn Histrico of the Fundacin
John Boulton (Caracas), (December ): . The emissary who had
brought the letter from Flores that Bolvar is answering was an Ecuadoran ocer who in the mid-nineteenth century became president of his country.
. That is, Venezuelans like Flores himself, many of whom were holding
command positions in the South, or present-day Ecuador.
. The Ecuadoran patriot Rocafuerte had been serving as an agent of independent Mexico in London and had been fulsome in praise of Bolvar, but he
came to see Bolvars dictatorship as essentially a betrayal of republican principles
and was to that extent now aligned with Bolvars political opponents.
. The so-called July Revolution of overthrew the restored Bourbon
monarchy of Charles X and sparked a number of other revolutions (not necessarily successful) in the rest of Europe.
. In the battle of La Ladera, November , Jos Mara Obando and Jos
Hilario Lpez routed the Bolivarian loyalist Toms C. de Mosquera as part of
their (ultimately unsuccessful) revolt against Bolvars dictatorship. Now they
were at it again, ghting to overthrow the government of General Rafael
Urdaneta, who came to power when a military uprising forced out the New
Granadan moderate Joaqun Mosquerawho had succeeded to the Colombian
presidency at the nal resignation of Bolvar.
. This was the same Venezuelan ocer who had been highest ranking military conspirator in the attempt on Bolvars life of September ; after release
from prison, he returned to Venezuela and from there accepted a summons to
help the resistance in Ro Hacha against the intrusive Urdaneta regime.
. A Santanderista caudillo of the New Granadan llanos, Moreno refused to
recognize the Urdaneta government and went so far as to call for the annexation
of Casanare to now-independent Venezuela. The Carvajal mentioned here is
Lucas Carvajal, a Venezuelan-born hero of independence who was assassinated
in Casanare.
. The victim in question is Antonio Jos de Sucre, whose assassination was
blamed by Bolvars supporters on Obando and Lpez, both of whom were now
actively resisting Urdaneta.
. It was near Pasto that Sucre was murdered, as he was returning from
Bogot to Quito, where he proposed to make his home.
. Bolvar had in fact been urged to resume power by Urdaneta and his faction, and by public pronouncements in many parts of New Granada, but he had
hardly been appointed by all of New Granada.

228 | Notes

. The Panamanian ocer Espinar seized power on the Isthmus and for a
time ruled it as a de facto autonomous state; he provided the armed schooner Istmea to be used in an attempt to undermine the control of Flores in Ecuador.
This last was ostensibly in support of the Liberator, but Bolvar correctly diagnosed it as an essentially trouble-making exercise.
. Alzuru was a Venezuelan colonel serving on the Isthmus and, for the
moment, a collaborator of Espinar.
.Obras, III, .
2. International Affairs
. Escritos, VIII, .
. The reference here, of course, is to Great Britains aid against Napoleon in
Europe, which gave Spain hope not only of surviving the invasion by French
forces but of going on to suppress the colonial insurrections.
. The Spanish text ends simply with the abbreviation Q.B.S.M., here
spelled out in translation.
. Escritos, XIV, . This letter was part of an extensive series of
exchanges on the subject of maritime claims, with letters from Bolvar to Irvine
starting on July (ibid., ) and culminating October (ibid., ).
In them Bolvar shows increasing irritation with the North American, and in the
last letter he eectively breaks o negotiations. Curiously, none of these letters
appear in what has been the most complete set of Bolvars writings in English
translation, the Selected Writings of Bolvar, as compiled by Vicente Lecuna and
edited by Harold A. Bierck ( vols., New York, ). In Spanish, the letters
opening salutation reads Seor Agente.
. Emmerich de Vattel (), the Swiss jurist and diplomat who in Le droit
des gens () sought to apply natural law principles to international relations.
. These two United States ships were seized by the Venezuelan navy for
attempting to run the blockade that the patriots had declared against the port of
Angostura while it was still in royalist hands. The episode gave rise to the most
serious of the disagreements between Bolvar and Irvine.
. William Cobbett (), English political writer and radical thinker.
. Obras, II, .
. Naturally here this purpose is not the same as this august purpose noted in the preceding sentence, i.e., to serve as capital of the world; it is simply to
serve as seat of the proposed congress.
. Obras, II, . On the Portuguese [sic for Brazilian] invasion of the
province of Chiquitos in Upper Peru or modern Bolivia, which in fact was the
work of a regional commander acting without authorization from the emperor in
Rio de Janeiro, see Ron L. Seckinger, The Brazilian Monarchy and the South
American Republics (Baton Rouge, ), .
. The island of Chilo, o the coast of southern Chile, was a royalist redoubt
left still unconquered after the defeat of royalist forces in Chiles central valley
and the setting up of an independent government.

Notes | 229

. Or more precisely, capital of the Viceroyalty of Ro de la Plata to which

Charcas had belonged.
. That is, the present Uruguay, occupied during the wars of independence by
Portuguese forces and inherited in by the new Brazilian empire.
. Bolvar had met the French scientist Aim Bonpland (), who was
also a collaborator of the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, while living in Paris before the start of the independence movement. Bonpland had gone
to Paraguay for scientic purposes but was detained by order of Dr. Francia on
suspicion of being somehow in league with the dictators numerous foreign and
domestic enemies.
. The former of the two Argentines mentioned was not actually a general
but comandante and was a representative of Buenos Aires specically in Upper
Peru; he was the son of the latter.
. Santander had proposed appointing Sucre as Colombian plenipotentiary
to Peru, hoping to take advantage of the prestige he acquired at Ayacucho in
order to obtain a favorable settlement of boundary disputes and of Colombian
claims for reimbursement for expenses incurred in helping to liberate Peru. He
made the proposal in a letter to Bolvar of March (Cartas Santander-Bolvar, vols. [Bogot, ], IV, ).
. Mosquera had earlier served as Bolvars agent to Peru (before going there
in person), Chile, and Buenos Aires.
. Pedro Briceo Mndez, the Venezuelan general who had been serving as
Colombias secretary of war, was one of those mentioned as a candidate for vice
president in in opposition to the reelection of Santander.
. Ramn Freire and Francisco Antonio Pinto were both Chilean liberal
leaders who had helped to overthrow the government of Chiles own Liberator,
Bernardo OHiggins.
. Obras, III, . This document was not dated but is thought to have
been drafted early in . It was rst published by Vicente Lecuna as Un pensamiento sobre el Congreso de Panam: Obsequio de Vicente Lecuna a los delegados al
II Congreso Cientfico Panamericano (Washington, ).
. Obras, II, . This letter was published in the Gaceta de Colombia,
February . As it indicates, George Washingtons family had presented to
Lafayette, for transmission to Bolivar, a gold medal dedicated to Washington, a
portrait, and some strands of his hair.
. Obras, III, .
. Col. Bedford H. Wilson, who was one of the British volunteers who had
previously served in Bolvars forces.
. The installation of a prince of the Frenchnot SpanishBourbon line
was the most widely discussed of various possibilities for establishing a monarchy in Colombia at the death or resignation of Bolvar.
. It may be of interest to note, as a curious sidelight, that a few United States
scholars have tried to water down this, the most scathing comment Bolvar ever
made about their country, by the simple expedient of removing a comma; it then

230 | Notes
reads, the new American states and the United States, which seem [now plural]
destined. . . . He thus would be lumping the United States together with the
independent Latin American nations, expressing his exasperation with them all
indiscriminately. See, e.g., William R. Shepherd, Bolvar and the United
States, Hispanic American Historical Review (August ): . Indeed, Bolvar
himself possibly did not dictate the comma, yet his particular annoyance with the
United States at this point is beyond question.
. Meaning, of course, Haiti, or the former French colony of SaintDomingue, although as a matter of fact it had at this point temporarily absorbed
the former Spanish colony of Santo Domingo.
3. Social and Economic Affairs
. Escritos, IX, .
. Escritos, XI, .
. Escritos, XVII, . This letter is more often reproduced with the date of
April (as in Obras, I, ), which also happens to be the date of an
incomplete copylacking the discussion of motivesthat is included in the
Memorias del General OLeary, vol. XVII, .
. The article is from a law of January , adopted by the Congress of
Angostura, which rearmed general emancipation of slaves as an objective but
left it for some future legislature to determine how this should be done. The law
endorsed Bolvars oer of freedom to slaves who performed military service on
behalf of the Republic but also made the specic pledge (which would hardly
have been to Bolvars liking) to return fugitive slaves who entered Colombia
from foreign countries. The entire measure may be found in Correo del Orinoco,
February .
. Escritos, XVII, , where the measure is taken directly from Decretos, I,
. In this and subsequent decrees the Native Americans were consistently
referred to either as naturales (natives) or as indgenas, the term indio being
carefully avoided in an early attempt at political correctness. Since the term
native standing by itself can be ambiguous, and indigene has an awkward ring in
English, the term Indian is employed instead in these translations.
. Although Juez poltico literally means political judge, it was not a judicial
oce. Instead, the Juez poltico was the agent of the national executive at the
municipal level. The position was subsequently given the more appropriate title
of Jefe poltico.
. Decretos, I, .
. This republican dating refers to the sixth year since the proclamation at
Angostura in of the Republic of Colombia and fourth since San Martns
formal declaration of independence in Peru in July .
. Decretos, I, .
. Decretos, I, . This decree dealt generally with the sale of government-owned lands and only in part with the distribution of Indian common

Notes | 231
lands. Unlike the decree reproduced here, it set no limit on the Indians alienation
of formerly communal property once it was distributed to them.
. The topo was a measurement of approximately . leagues.
. An uprising led by the cacique Mateo Pumacahua, which had some support among creoles and mestizos of the Cuzco region but was primarily an Indian movement.
. This clarication was inserted in the Peruvian Gazeta del Gobierno, September , just two weeks after publication of the original decree.
. Decretos, III, . This decree was not applied in Venezuela, at least not
the provisions relating to reestablishment of the tribute. See David Bushnell,
The Last Dictatorship: Betrayal or Consummation? Hispanic American Historical Review (February ): , n. .
. The law in question had ordered abolition of the tribute in all Colombian
territory.
. Decretos, I, .
. Decretos, III, .
4. Education and Culture
. Escritos, II, . This document, undated but in view of the reference to
Fernando Bolvars age apparently written toward the end of or in , was
rst published in La Opinin Nacional of Caracas, July .
. Philip Dormer Stanhope (Lord Chestereld), Letters to His Son (), a
well known manual of social deportment.
. Decretos, I, .
. Obras, II, . Copies of this and the following letter, in the personal
archive of Olmedos father-in-law, Martn Icaza, were rst published in Los
Andes (Guayaquil), June .
. Manco Capac, legendary founder of the Inca civilization, was a semidivine
being; accordingly, his father was the sun god, Inti.
. In addition to Antonio Jos de Sucre, Bolvar here lists the Peruvian ocer born in what is now Ecuador, Jos La Mar; the New Granadan Jos Mara
Crdova; the Argentine Mariano Necochea; the British volunteer William
Miller; and the Venezuelan Jacinto Lara, all of whose contributions to the victory of Junn had been noted in Olmedos poem.
. The leading character of a popular sainete or farce of the same name ()
by the Spanish dramatist Ramn de la Cruz.
. The French poet and literary critic Nicolas Boileau-Despraux ().
. Bolvar had named Olmedo as Peruvian agent in London, for the primary
purpose of raising a foreign loan.
. Bolvar named the Peruvian medical doctor and mathematician Jos Gregorio Paredes as Olmedos fellow commissioner.
. Bolvar here refers to Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (), the chronicler
of Peruvian antiquities, and Bartolom de Las Casas, the Dominican friar best

232 | Notes
known for his scathing denunciations of Spanish atrocities toward the Native
Americans ().
. Obras, II, .
. The Henry in this case is not Elizabeths father, Henry VIII, but her
French contemporary, Henry IV, as featured in Voltaires epic poem La Henriade.
The harangue in question lls all the works Chant deuxime and part of
Chant troisime, with a prolix recital of the problems aicting France.
. Decretos, III, . The General Direction of Studies was the agency
entrusted with implementing the General Plan of Studies issued by Vice President Santander for all Colombian higher education in .
. Decretos, III, .

Select Bibliography

Anna, Timothy. The Fall of the Royal Government in Peru. Lincoln, NE, .
Arnade, Charles. The Emergence of the Republic of Bolivia. Gainesville, FL, .
Belaunde, Vctor Andrs. Bolvar and the Political Thought of the Spanish American Revolution. Baltimore, MD, .
Bierck, Harold A. Vida pblica de Don Pedro Gual, Caracas, .
Brading, David A. Classical Republicanism and Creole Patriotism: Simn Bolvar
() and the Spanish American Revolution. Cambridge, .
Bushnell, David. The Santander Regime in Gran Colombia. Newark, DE, .
Carrera Damas, Germn. Boves: aspectos socioeconmicos de la guerra de independencia. Caracas, .
. El culto a Bolvar. Caracas, .
Cussen, Antonio. Bolvar and Bello: Poetry and Politics in the Spanish American
Revolution. Cambridge, .
Earle, Rebecca A. Spain and the Independence of Colombia . Exeter, UK,
.
Fisher, John, Allan J. Kuethe, and Anthony McFarlane, eds., Reform and Insurrection in Bourbon New Granada and Peru. Baton Rouge, .
Fundacin Polar. Diccionario de historia de Venezuela. vols., Caracas, .
Gutirrez, Alberto. La iglesia que entendi el Libertador Simn Bolvar. Bogot,
.
Hasbrouck, Alfred. Foreign Legionaries in the Liberation of Spanish South America.
Reprint ed., New York, .

234 | Bibliography
Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. , no. (February ). Special issue
dedicated to Bolvar on the bicentennial of his birth.
Hoover, John P. Admirable Warrior: Marshal Sucre, Fighter for South American
Independence. Detroit, .
Izard, Miquel. El miedo a la revolucin: la lucha por la libertad en Venezuela
(17771830). Madrid, .
Jaramillo, Juan Diego. Bolvar y Canning . Bogot, .
Lecuna, Vicente. Crnica razonada de las guerras de Bolvar. vols., New York,
.
Livano Aguirre, Indalecio. Bolvar. st ed., Medelln, .
Lucena Salmoral, Manuel. Caractersticas del comercio exterior de la provincia de
Caracas durante el sexenio revolucionario (). Madrid, .
. Vsperas de la independencia americana: Caracas. Madrid, .
Lynch, John. The Spanish American Revolutions, 18081826. d ed., New York,
.
Madariaga, Salvador de. Bolvar. London and New York, .
Masur, Gerhard. Simon Bolivar. d ed., Albuquerque, NM, .
McFarlane, Anthony. Colombia Before Independence. Cambridge, .
McKinley, Michael P. Pre-revolutionary Caracas: Politics, Economics, and Society,
. Cambridge, .
Mijares, Augusto. The Liberator. Trans. John Fisher, Caracas, .
Moreno de Angel, Pilar. Santander: biografa. Bogot, .
Murray, Pamela. Loca or Libertadora?: Manuela Senz in the Eyes of History
and Historians, c. . Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. , part
(May ): .
OLeary, Daniel F. Bolvar and the War of Independence. Austin, TX, .
Pez, Jos Antonio. Autobiografa. Facsimile ed., vols., New York, .
Parra-Prez, Caracciolo. Historia de la Primera Repblica de Venezuela.
d ed., vols., Caracas, .
. Mario y la independencia de Venezuela. vols., Madrid, .
Polanco Alcntara, Toms. Simn Bolvar: ensayo de interpretacin biogrca a
travs de sus documentos. Caracas, .
Restrepo, Jos Manuel. Historia de la Revolucin de la Repblica de Colombia. th
ed., vols., Medelln, .
Robertson, William S. The Life of Miranda. vols., Chapel Hill, NC, .
Rodrguez Villa, Antonio. El teniente general don Pablo Morillo, primer Conde de
Cartagena, Marqus de La Puerta. vols., Madrid, .
Stoan, Stephen. Pablo Morillo and Venezuela, . Columbus, OH, .
Tovar, Hermes. Guerras de opinin y represin en Colombia durante la independencia (). Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura,
no. (), .
Valencia Tovar, Alvaro. El ser guerrero del Libertador. Bogot, .

Bibliography | 235
Van Aken, Mark J. King of the Night: Juan Jos Flores and Ecuador, .
Berkeley, .
Waddell, D.A.G. Gran Bretaa y la independencia de Venezuela y Colombia. Caracas, .