You can find the text online at either of these links, in Spanish or in English.
Sobre el autor y la obra
-
Simón
Bolívar
o
Vida
(1783-1830)
o
He was
from a rich criollo family in Venezuela
o
He had
a major role in the Latin American independence movement, especially in
Venezuela (his own country) but also in other Latin American countries (such as
Peru, Ecuador, Colombia…)
o
He later became the political leader of “Gran
Colombia” (which encompassed Venezuela and some other countries), which he was
forced to lead with a centralist government – he eventually proclaimed himself
dictator.
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This letter was written in 1815, while Bolívar
was in exile in Jamaica, three years after the start of the violent
independence movement
Social/political context
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In 1813, Bolívar led the military movement, “The
Admirable Campaign,” in an attempt to free Venezuela from Spanish control (this
was unsuccessful)
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In May of 1815, Bolívar exiled himself to
Jamaica because he didn’t have enough support to continue fighting for
independence from Spanish rule. He was hoping to reach out to other countries
for support.
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The letter was written in September of 1815, in
response to a letter from the British Henry Cullen.
Summary of the letter (Wikipedia)
The Carta de Jamaica was finished
on September 6, 1815, in Kingston. In it, Bolívar began by analyzing what had
been until that time had been considered the historical successes in the
struggle for liberty in the Americas. In general terms, it was a balance of
force achieved by the patriots in the years from 1810 to 1815. In the middle
part of the document are expounded the causes and reasons that justified the
"Spanish Americans" in their decision for independence, followed by a
call to Europe for it to co-operate in the work to liberate the Latin American
peoples. In the third and final part, he speculated and debated on the destiny
of Mexico, Central America, New Granada, Venezuela, Río de la Plata, Chile, and
Peru. Finally, Bolívar ends his reflections with an imprecation that he would
repeat until his death: the necessity for the union of the countries of the
Americas. Even though the Carta de Jamaica was nominally addressed to Henry
Cullen, it is clear that its fundamental objective was to gain the attention of
the most powerful liberal nation of the 19th century, Britain, with the aim
that it would decide to involve itself in American independence. However, when
Britain finally responded to Bolívar's call, he preferred the help of Haiti.
What Franco says about the letter (Chapter 1)
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Wrote it during his exile from Venezuela (in
Jamaica)
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Made remarkably accurate predictions about the
future
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The letter showed that he was “fully aware of
the danger that the former Spanish empire might break into numerous small
republics and that many of these would fall a prey to tyranny” (38)
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Predicted difficulty of new smaller nations in
establishing any sense of identity, since they were neither properly European
nor wholly indigenous (39)
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Bolívar lived to see his worst fears realized
and was himself forced to become an absolute ruler in order to keep control of
Colombia (39)
Temas/ideas importantes
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Estilo de escritura
o
Es una
carta – dirigida a Henry Cullen
o
Formal writing style (affected modesty/humility)
o
Occasionally cites things that Henry Cullen
wrote in the original letter (to which he’s replying)
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Use of
rhetoric
o
Affected modesty
§
He’s definitely got some affected modesty going
on in the beginning (claiming limited knowledge about the New World, etc.)
§
At the end: “Such, Sir, are the thoughts and
observations that I have the honor to submit to you, so that you may accept or
reject them according to their merit. I beg you to understand that I have
expounded them because I do not wish to appear discourteous and not because I
consider myself competent to enlighten you concerning these matters.”
o
Wants pity
§
“the poor Americans”
§
Compares Americans to slaves (“in a position
lower than slavery”)
-
Criticism of Spain
o
Refers to the horrible cruelties committed by Spain
during the conquest of the New World
o
Says Spain was once the greatest empire but now
it’s too weak to rule the New World or to even maintain itself (ouch!)
o
Says Spain is terribly greedy and that’s why it
controls the colonies so strictly
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Glorification of independence movement
o
Idea of the fight for justice and for a better
life, free of repression
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Questions of identity
o
Seems to take great pride in the name “Americans”
– separates himself and other Creoles from Spaniards
o
“we are, moreover, neither Indian nor European,
but a species midway between the legitimate proprietors of this country and the
Spanish usurpers. In short, though Americans by birth we derive our rights from
Europe, and we have to assert these rights against the rights of the natives,
and at the same time we must defend ourselves against the invaders”
Apuntes del texto
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It’s impossible to really know what will go down
in the New World since it’s such an unprecedented case (“only conjectures that
are more or less approximate can be made”)
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Spain let some terrible stuff go down during the
conquest – “these atrocities appear to be beyond the human capacity for evil;”
he provides the example of Bartolomé de las Casas’
record of the bad stuff the Spaniards did
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We (the Latin Americans) hate Spain! We used to
think they were cool, since we came from there so long ago, but now they’ve
just ruined it with all their crap. Metaphor of Spain as an evil stepmother
(haha, I like it!).
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Gives an update on how the fight for
independence is going across the board, in all the various countries/regions of
Latin America. Some places are currently winning (against Spain); some are
losing.
o
The La Plata River provinces, Chile, Peru, and
New Granada seem to be doing pretty well.
o
Venezuela and New Spain (including Guatemala)
are in bad shape.
o
Puerto Rico and Cuba aren’t even fighting for
independence. They are “the most tranquil possessions of the Spaniards”
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Spain was once the world’s greatest empire, but
it’s now too weak “to rule the new hemisphere or even to maintain herself in
the old”
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The rest of Europe and the United States have
just been chilling on the sidelines instead of acting in this whole conflict (Spain
vs. Latin America) – why don’t they act? (in our favor)
o
“we have had reason to hope that the civilized
nations would hasten to our aid in order that we might achieve that which must
prove to be advantageous to both hemispheres”
-
Henry Cullen’s comparison of Napolean’s attack
against the French monarchs with Cortés’s attack against the Aztec Montezuma -- I think he’s
saying that Napolean’s action was karma because the French monarchs had done
some bad/unfair stuff, so therefore Spain should be due their karma for Cortés’s
bad action against the indigenous...
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Emphasizes the wild, unknown element of life in
the New World – it’s impossible to get an accurate population count of
Americans because they’re often in remote areas (“Who is capable of compiling
complete statistics of a land like this!”)
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Impossible to see the fate of the New World, in
terms of what type of government different areas will have
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“I look upon the present state of America as
similar to that of Rome after its fall” – idea that different areas will do
what is most convenient/fitting to their distinct situation
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Questions
of identity / struggle to find identity: “we are, moreover, neither Indian nor
European, but a species midway between the legitimate proprietors of this
country and the Spanish usurpers. In short, though Americans by birth we derive
our rights from Europe, and we have to assert these rights against the rights
of the natives, and at the same time we must defend ourselves against the
invaders”
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Argues that the Americans have a terribly low
social/political position in the world:
o
“We are still in a position lower than slavery,
and therefore it is more difficult for us to rise to the enjoyment of freedom”
o
“Americans today… who live within the Spanish
system occupy a position in society no better than that of serfs destined for
labor”
-
Says that the colonies are very strictly
controlled (in terms of economy/produce) due to Spain’s greed
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America was forced to secede from Spain because Spain
started a war (?)
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The first thing that the new American governments
did was call for the establishment of a congress to erect a working government;
Update on what they did:
o
Venezuela – independent democratic and federal government,
rights of man!
o
New Granada – ditto to Venezuela
o
Buenos Aires and Chile – not sure, but thinks
the same as Venezuela & New Granada
o
Mexico – not sure, reports have been muddled;
there may be a dictator.
-
Basically, the new American countries/governments
are trying hard to get their stuff situated, but they’re not doing so hot since
they have no experience
o
The new countries don’t know what to do because
they’ve only been able to learn from Spain’s bad example
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“It is harder… to release a nation from
servitude than to enslave a free nation” – nations that have always been “enslaved”
don’t know how to run things as a free nation
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It seems impossible for America to function as one
huge republic; present division will probably continue
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Bolívar doesn’t want several separate American
monarchies. He agrees that America will have to remain divided in several independent
nations, but desires republics, rather than monarchies.
-
Predictions:
o
Predicts that Buenos Aires will have a central
government with a powerful military, and that due to this political situation,
the constitutional system will eventually turn into an oligarcy/monacracy,
which is unfortunate.
o
Chile will be a long-lived, lovely republic with
a strong spirit of liberty (yay Araucanians!)
o
Peru will have some issues because of the gold
and the slaves.
o
“Some provinces as a matter of course will form
federal and some central republics; the larger areas will inevitably establish
monarchies, some of which will fare so badly that they will disintegrate in
either present or future revolutions.”
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“The American provinces are fighting for their
freedom, and they will ultimately succeed.”
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It’s a wonderful thought to have the entire New
World as a single nation, but it’s impossible
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He doesn’t like the federal system or the
monarchy… He’s wary about what type of government will work out best. “Do not
adopt the best system of government, but the one that is most likely to
succeed.”
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More predictions:
o
The Mexicans will probably establish a
representative republic in which the executive will have great powers,
concentrated in one person.
o
Central America might form a confederation…
together, they could become the emporium of the world!
o
New Granada will unite with Venezuela.
o
A new nation, called Colombia can appear…
government there might follow the English pattern, except no king (no
hereditary executive)
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Refers to the religious fanaticism present in
Mexico – Virgin of Guadalupe
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Call for
union of the new countries of America… “America stands together because it
is abandoned by all other nations”
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Call for
help – “As soon as we are strong and under the guidance of a liberal nation
which will lend us her protection, we will achieve accord in cultivating the
virtues and talents that lead to glory”
