When I lived in Ecuador, I saw many streets called Simon Bolivar Avenue, Simon Bolivar Road, or Simon Bolivar Park. Even though I heard the name so many times, I never thought of researching this name or looking into the history of this name. When I heard his name in class, I was very pleased to get the chance to finally learn about Simon Bolivar because I witnesses his legacy in Latin America first before learning his story. He interests me a lot because of his fame in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela and I was very curious into knowing who this person was.
It seems evident that Simon Bolivar had a huge contribution in Gran Colombia or present day Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. He also had a huge influence in Peru and Bolivia, and Bolivia even took his name because of Bolivar’s contribution to the region. In fact, he is known as the founding father or the liberator of all of these countries because he helped these countries gain independence from Spain. Even though he was educated in Spain, he criticized Spain and fought with militias that fought pro-Spanish royalists. Later on in his Angostura Address, he claims that Latin America was bound by European laws and enslaved by imperialists. He also uses the idea of positivism, calling for democracy, popular vote and racial equality. Unlike the US Founding Fathers, Simon Bolivar called for the abolition of slavery in the Americas. This helped create unity amongst those who despised the Spanish crown and helped the fight for independence. However, he is also rather contradictory in his Angostura Address because in 1828, he “disregards” freedom and democracy and calls for the people to follow him to rule in an authoritarian manner. I find this particularly interesting, because this trend of going from a freedom fighter to an authoritarian is evident in many cases. Once people obtain power, they often get corrupted and they want to consolidate their power into their own hands. This is extremely dangerous and creates authoritarian regimes like Simon Bolivars’. He calls for a hereditary senate which limits representation because he believes some people are not fit to participate in politics. Moreover, while he is supportive of abolishing slavery, he claims that Black Latin Americans and Indigenous people should have a limit on how much they have a voice and representation in the country.
Jeremy,
Thank you for sharing your perspective on Bolivar’s legacy. I have read a handful of posts on Bolivar, but your experience living in Ecuador definitely makes yours unique. It is always interesting to consider historical figures and events as far as how they relate to us personally. I’m very glad to hear that learning more about Bolivar’s contributions and legacy in class allowed you to think about him in the context of your surroundings having physically been in Latin America and witnessed firsthand some of the effects, both positive and negative, of his leadership and rule.
Hi Jeremy, thank you for your insight on Simon Bolivar and his legacy. I also found it very ironic that before he liberated these countries from the Spanish he united the indigenous people and black Latin Americans through the use of positivism until he accomplished his goals and turned to authoritarianism in his Angostura Address. This makes me wonder as well if he planned it all along to support freedom and democracy just to be able to gain the support of indigenous people and later emphasize authoritarianism or did corruption overtake him and caused him to switch his views in order to consolidate his power.
I also chose Bolivar for my reflection post because at a glance his accomplishments are rather extraordinary which earned him the name “The Liberator”. I also found some irony behind a lot of his actions, as he would call for constitutional republics to be formed in Latin America, while he himself was a dictator multiple times. It is hard to remain such an influential figure while having this controversy around them, but Bolivar bringing numerous Latin American countries to their own independence allowed him to do so.