While I was reading this week’s assignment, I was exposed to having different national independence narratives. Depending on which countries, the perspectives are quite different. Mexican people thinks Miguel Hidalgo, liberal priest is important and Simon Bolivar is considered as a crucial figure in Venezuela and Columbia. In addition, depending on what actors people privilege, the type of independence narratives may vary. For example, from European descended perspective, independence was a story of bravery and sacrifice in the name of achieving national independence. On the other hand, from indigenous point of view, it is merely a exploitation toward them. It was intriguing to read about how Brazil got independence in 19th century because they did not fight as much as other Spanish colonies to achieve independence. Basically, Portuguese Emperor fled to Brazil due to Napoleonic war and declared independence in 1822. Moreover, I noticed the feeling that rebels had toward Europe gradually shifted from labeling as European to people rooted in Americas. It was interesting to observe this emotional change through reading the text.

Although Simon Bolivar is famous, I was never exposed to things about him and his letter. He started started off the letter by stating that “The hatred that the Peninsula has inspired in us is greater than the ocean between us”, which shows much hatred he had toward Spain. He also stated that it is hard to reconcile with them. I learned that people in Latin America did not have any social status and kept on being enslaved. Even though there had been hardships, he hopes for unity in Latin America, but thinks people were not ready for that.

Speech by Hugo Chavez was interesting to read because he directly said about North colonization of South. To explain his points, he had listed out several examples of how neoliberalism can be destructive to the South. He criticizes that neoliberalism is simply a way for North to benefit out of South. He mentioned about North’s attempt to manipulate South through economy and this had to be avoided. Neoliberalism seemed to be a cause of poverty and disparity among North and South. In the end, he claims that in order to fight back the threat, banks may be opened, university could be established, and people can promote economic system that may benefit South.

Through reading these texts, I was able to learn about the content of Simon Bolivar’s letter and the main point of Hugo Chavez’s speech.