This week’s readings were quite interesting as it offered a new perspective for me. I had basic knowledge regarding who Simon Bolivar was, he was a The Liberator, and a soldier who led the revolutions against Spain, but I wasn’t quite aware of his ideas, or his political agenda.
The part that I personally found the most interesting was how Bolivar said that to be a functioning society Latin America had to first work together, but this was not going to happen. The countries in Latin America have very different histories, and cultures for them to be led under one ideology might simply be unrealistic. In Bolivar’s perspective to expel the Spaniards, first, a union must be formed.
There’s a lot of different points of view in Latin America regarding politics from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Haiti. In particular, I found his idea regarding the future of Peru to be fascinating. I had some previous knowledge of Peru’s struggles regarding liberty while at the same time having that class division between gold and slaves. Bolivar’s point stating that Peru has a lot of work to do if they plan to recover their independence is quite logical. How will they achieve liberty if the rich won’t accept democracy and the slaves will never accept aristocracy. Their divisions are preventing the country from achieving freedom. This great division of ideas can kind of give an idea of what the government of Peru will look like in the future. It’s evident in the text Bolivar’s disparity when in comes to their inability to rule themselves, and in turn, they will always need the guidance of the Spaniards.
I definitely agree with you that unity between Latin American countries was the key for Bolívar’s ideals to become a reality. And I definitely see the complications that would arise in attempting to do so, since the cultures within most countries is vastly different. I believe that Simon may have gotten some of his ideas from the American Revolution, where all 13 colonies in New England united against the British. In Latin America, however, even though there was unity behind getting rid of the Spanish, there wasn’t a lot of dedication towards solidifying future alliances, and establishing stable states within the region, and its precisely because of that that I also think that Simon Bolívar’s dream didn’t actually go into practice at all.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I agree with you that the letter was actually quite fascinating, everything he said seem to sound so perfect, however, I also had the thought in mind whether or not the letter is exaggerated as it is too good to be true. When I was discussing with my group, we felt like the letter was written for a specific reason, which is money. Although his plans might be true to his thoughts, I felt like his idea of forming an “union” seem to be too idealistic.