Blind Continentalism
by Jorge Vargas
Simon Bolivar, one of the leaders of the South American revolutionary movements that liberated several nations from the cruel grip of the Spanish Empire, had a dream. The demagogues of today's Iberian America continue to harp on this dream as if they had no knowledge of the true history of Don Bolivar and his great dream.
What was Bolivar's dream, really? What did he actually believe? And what was his opponent thinking?
He believed that the United States would prove to be a problem for the South American republics and on more than one occasion he pointed out that the mission of the U.S. would be to dominate and abuse South America in the name of a false liberty. He believed that Peru, a nation ruled by Spanish and Spanish-descended elites, would be a great threat for South America because it would always be coveted by Spain and Peru's elites would always want to be re-conquered by Spain.
Thus, he came up with his dream: Let us create a mega-nation out of the Spanish vice-royalties - which were New Granada (modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, parts of Ecuador, and Panama), Peru (which back then was modern-day Peru, Bolivia, parts of Ecuador, northern Chile, and western Brazil), and Rio de la Plata (modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern and central Chile) - and let us isolate and weaken Peru's elites so much that they are forced to return to Spain and thus they will not lead our continent to harm while also making sure that our mega-nation will be too large for the U.S. to ever abuse.
Thus, Don Bolivar was already an age and a half ahead of himself. He knew that the future reign of power would depend heavily on a nation's surface area. The United States was only just becoming aware of this, and Hitler's Germany would not realize it until the march on Eastern Europe in the 1940s.
The dream failed. The elites of Bogota turned on those of Santiago and those of Buenos Aires sided with Don Jose de San Martin who himself liberated the Southern Cone of the Continent and Peru. Don Bolivar was left with northern South America.
The titans collided in a conference in Guayaquil and the entire continent trembled, as Jose Marti the Cuban liberator would later write. Thus, Bolivar's opponent presented his plan.
Jose de San Martin had spent time in Peru and he, an Argentine, was the one who declared Peru's independence and made himself protector of the Peruvian Republic in the 1820s. He had a deep respect for the Peruvian people of the countryside and of Lima, and he, an Argentine by birth, had heard enough tales of the ancient Inca Empire to know that it was something good and efficient, and he wanted to reinstate an Incan Council with an Inca Emperor who would hold council in the ancient city of Cusco, and the Inca Empire would have dominance over all of South America save for Brazil, Suriname, and the two Guyanas.
But Bolivar's idea prevailed nevertheless and Jose de San Martin, not at all the lesser of the two heroic giants of old, walked away and agreed to give up his dream of Empire.
Bolivar, knowing his dream had no future, then decided he could at least draw a map such that Peru would be weak before its neighbors and, therefore, Spain would be unable to re-take the Continent.
So he took most of Ecuador away from Peru and added it to New Granada which he subsequently renamed 'Gran Colombia.' Bolivar then took Bolivia away from Peru, named it after himself and made it independent. He split Chile from Argentina and thus, with Bolivia and Chile to the south, and a gigantic Argentina further south of those two, Peru could have no southern dreams of expansion. And to the north? A gigantic Gran Colombia that went to war Peru only a few years later.
What happened? Border conflicts!
That was the result of Don Bolivar's great idea. All of the local dons and lords worked together and against each other to enlarge their estates and they squabbled to become presidents and protectors and then they fought great wars that had no national intention save the enlargement of territory which would then go into the hands of the victorious presidents and protectors.
Animosities ensued between Peru and Colombia. Peru and Ecuador. Ecuador and Colombia. Colombia and Venezuela. And to the south? Peru and Bolivia formed a Confederation that was torn apart by greed. Chile and Argentina fought a great war and hatred was born. Uruguay went to war with mighty Brazil, and won. Paraguay went to war with Bolivia though neither side quite understood why.
And then Chile, the long-time ally of Peru during Peru's war against Spain's attempts of a re-conquest (yes, Bolivar was right that Spain would try to invade Peru again but he was wrong in thinking that the Peruvians would roll over and invite them in) invaded Bolivia and dragged Peru into war and Chile took land away from both and, since that time, the animosity between the three has been quite serious, and the rivalry between Chile and Peru continues to threaten continental peace.
Enter the demagogues. This is their story: Bolivar had a dream of one large united Latin America - never mind that Bolivar cared nothing for Central America and Mexico. Never mind that he openly referred to Peruvians as a race of degenerates. Never mind that he was highly protective of Venezuela, his native land, and publicly distrustful of Argentina.
So they have come up with UNASUR: The Union of the Nations of South America. It was signed into existence in Cusco-Peru (the city was chosen in honor of Don Jose de San Martin's dream) in December of the year 2004.
Does it have hopes of creating a South American passport and a South American currency? Yes. Has it helped continental trade? Yes. Has it helped to finally create an inter-oceanic highway linking Peru's Pacific with Brazil's Atlantic? Yes. Has it fostered a mentality by which the Bank of the South was created, giving credit to several of the continent's poorest nations? Yes. Has it given South America more strength in dealing with the fifty hegemonistic and abusive united states of North America? Yes.
But some are taking that dream of unity and those thoughts of Bolivar and bastardizing them from history in order to complete a dangerous political agenda.
Puppet Evo Morales of Bolivia, who thinks it is his right to interfere in internal Peruvian affairs, is one of these demagogues. And another is President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, for this individual thinks himself the tyrant that Don Jose de San Martin had thought to sit on a throne in Cusco nearly two hundred years ago.
These two individuals, along with the cynical President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, an insignificant nation that was created to serve as a buffer in the shadow of two much greater powers, are bastardizing UNASUR/UNASUL (in Portuguese) and making of this great union an entity of hate, and their Bolivarian Movement is nothing more than a blatant attempt to support those revolutionary movements of yesteryear that continue to threaten peaceful countries such as Peru.
UNASUR/UNASUL is a force for good and it will empower all of the nations that belong to it, but it must be dominated by civilized nations that are willing to focus on purely South American issues and desires instead of reacting, either through hate or through subservience, to the actions of nations that have nothing to do with South America. Let us be more precise, UNASUR/UNASUL needs a strong Brazilian-Argentine leadership with significant Peruvian-Chilean support because those four nations have demonstrated that they are capable of developing without having to submit themselvesto the whims of foreign powers as has been the case with Bolivia (the foreign power for Bolivia being Venezuela) and Colombia (the foreign power for Colombia being the US) and because those four nations - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru - have not subjected themselves to a rhetoric of hate as has been the case with Venezuela and, more recently, Ecuador.
Only through responsible leadership and with an UNASUR/UNASUL organization that focuses on issues from a South American perspective and without significant influence from outside groups and hegemons will the glorified Bolivarian dream of continental unity be something worth achieving for all of the nations of South America.
In the meantime, President Hugo Chavez and Mr. George W. Bush have both become silent and with the latter on his way out, and with two highly intept candidates looking to replace him, things are looking good for UNASUR/UNASUL. And they look better still now that the clown who rules over Bolivia, an honorable and commendable nation in many respects, is standing on his last legs as that nations usurper. With a nearly-ousted Morales and a silenced President Chavez, President Correa will likely silence himself as well and, adding those developments to the fact that the U.S. is in a laughable spiral of weakening itself politically, militarily and economically, the future looks bright for South America.
Perhaps Bolivar had it wrong, and maybe Don Jose de San Martin should not have backed down so readily in Guayaquil; what we know now is that unity is possible and desirable. All that remains is a proper delineation of the terms of that unity so that the honorable, reasonable, and independent nations of South America can help each other to prosper together and to reach that dream together, to reach that light that burned in the eyes of our great liberators... Together.
Let us remember their dreams as they were, not as we would have liked them, while our Continent finds itself gripped in Winter and while most of our capitals celebrate declarations of freedom and liberty during this season, the season of our republics and of our liberty.
