On July 24, 1783, 235 years ago, Simon Bolivar was born - a man who in many ways turned the history of the New World. His contribution to the transformation of the Spanish colonies into sovereign states is enormous, and a number of South American countries keep the memory of Bolivar in their names and national symbols, not to mention the numerous museums and streets named after the general. For Latin America, the figure of Bolivar is no less, if not more significant, than his contemporary Napoleon Bonaparte for Europe. Moreover, Bolivar was not only a military leader and political leader, but also one of the ideologists of Latin American sovereignty.
Simon Bolivar (his full name is Simon José Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad Bolivar de la Concepcion y Ponte Palacios y Blanco) appeared in Caracas - now it is the capital of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and then the city was part of the captaincy general Venezuela. The Bolivar family moved to South America not so long ago. The father of the future fighter for the independence of the Spanish colonies was a Basque by nationality, a native of the city of La Puebla de Bolivar in Vizcaya. Having lost his parents early, Simon Bolivar remained under the care of relatives, who in 1799 sent him to study in Spain. There, the young man mastered the subtleties of jurisprudence, then moved to France, where he attended lectures at the Polytechnic and Higher Normal Schools in Paris.
In 1805, 22-year-old Bolivar traveled to the United States. It was during a trip to North America that he finally established himself in his views - to seek at any cost the liberation of South America from Spanish rule. The example of the United States at that time inspired many Latin American revolutionaries, and this was not surprising, since the American colonists managed not only to free themselves from the power of Great Britain, but also to create a full-fledged and rapidly developing state. However, in Bolivar’s native Venezuela, the situation was fundamentally different from the situation in North America.
The bulk of the population of the Spanish captaincy-general was made up of Indians, mestizos and African slaves, while White Creoles were a minority. The overwhelming majority of the Venezuelan population lived in poverty and was concerned not with the struggle for independence, but with elementary survival. Nevertheless, Bolivar and other young Creoles were well aware that liberation from Spain would at least give a chance to improve the social, political and economic situation of Venezuela and South America in general.
As you know, the beginning of the armed struggle of the Latin American countries for independence was in many ways brought closer by the turbulent events in Europe. After the Spanish monarchy collapsed under the blows of Napoleon's troops, most of the possessions of the Spanish crown in South America refused to recognize the power of Joseph Bonaparte, proclaimed by the Spanish king. On April 19, 1810, the city council of Caracas, the main city of the Captaincy General of Venezuela, removed Captain General Vicente Emparan. Civil war broke out in Venezuela. Gradually, the ideas of the supporters of full independence, whose leaders were Francisco de Miranda and Simon Bolivar, prevailed in the Congress of the Venezuelan Provinces. At that time, Bolivar was under the colossal influence of the ideas of the French Enlightenment and was confident that the declaration of independence would be the first step towards building a just society.
On July 5, 1811, Venezuela declared its political independence from Spain. However, the civil war between the supporters of independence and the troops loyal to the Spanish crown continued. On July 25, 1812, Francisco de Miranda was forced to sign an armistice, yielding to the royalist leader, Captain Domingo de Monteverde.
However, Simon Bolivar and his supporters were not going to end the resistance. They moved to neighboring New Granada (now Colombia), where they continued fighting. In New Granada, an independent state was proclaimed - the United Provinces of New Granada. However, in February 1815, Spain sent a powerful expeditionary force under General Pablo Morillo to South America. Simon Bolivar fled to Jamaica, not losing hope of an early resumption of hostilities. And he really succeeded. Bolivar persuaded Haitian President Alexander Petion to provide him with military assistance, which soon allowed him to land on the Venezuelan coast. In 1816, Bolivar announced the abolition of slavery in Venezuela, which attracted many of yesterday's slaves into the ranks of his army.
In 1819, Bolivar's troops liberated New Granada. The creation of a new state was proclaimed - the Republic of Colombia, which included the territories of modern Colombia and Venezuela, and in 1822 - the territory of Ecuador (Quito), where Spanish rule was also overthrown. On June 24, 1821, the Bolivarian army inflicted a serious defeat on the Spanish troops at the Battle of Carabobo, in 1822 Bolivar's troops participated in the liberation of Peru, where in December 1824 the last Spanish troops in the South of America were defeated. Bolivar became the dictator of Peru and the ruler of the new Republic of Bolivia named after him.
The idea of Simon Bolivar's entire life was not only the liberation of South America from Spanish rule, but also the formation of the Southern United States, which were to include Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, La Plata (Argentina) and Chile. On June 22, 1826, a congress of representatives of the South American republics was convened in Panama, but the participants in this event did not come to a common denominator. Unlike the idealist Bolivar, the more down-to-earth Republican elites were reluctant to share their capabilities and powers. Moreover, Simon Bolivar was accused of imperial ambitions and the desire to become the sole ruler of South America.
The Peruvians took away from Simon the status of president for life of the republic, and on September 25, 1828, his opponents broke into Bolivar's residence in Bogotá. The commander miraculously escaped, but since he enjoyed considerable popular support, he managed to retain power and suppress the actions of his opponents. But the dream of creating a unified South American state became less and less realistic. On November 25, 1829, Venezuela announced its secession from Colombia, and in 1830 Bolivar resigned and died on December 17, 1830 at his home in the Santa Marta area of Colombia.
The life of Simon Bolivar, full of heroism, a civilian, still in his youth, without any military education, who became a commander and general and smashed the Spanish expeditionary troops, turned out to be tragic. No, he died a natural death, was not killed, but before his eyes that idea perished, the loyalty to which he kept all his conscious life - the idea of uniting South America into a single and strong state. Bolivar is said to have won 472 battles. Probably, it is not possible to count all the true victories of the troops commanded by this outstanding man. But this is not so important. Bolivar is one of the most revered historical political figures in South America, whose popularity can be compared only with the popularity of Ernesto Che Guevara. An entire country is named in honor of Bolivar - Bolivia. The name "bolivar" is the national currency of Venezuela, and in Bolivia the monetary unit is called "boliviano". The strongest Bolivian football club is named in honor of Bolivar. The name of the legendary commander is borne by provinces, cities, streets in various countries of South America.
Bolivar became the person who laid the foundations for the future Latin American anti-imperialist ideology, which was professed in various variations by Fidel Castro, Ernesto Che Guevara, and Hugo Chavez, and which many modern Latin American leaders continue to adhere to. Social justice, independence from external forces, the unification of linguistically and culturally close South American republics - these are the cornerstones on which Latin American patriotism is based today.
What is the essence of Bolivarianism (Bolivarism) as a political ideology? To begin with, interest in the figure of Simon Bolivar and his political legacy increased significantly at the end of the 20th century, when left-wing governments came to power in a number of Latin American countries. Despite the fact that two centuries have passed since the life and struggle of Simon Bolivar, many of his ideas are still relevant, and if they are followed and implemented, the situation in Latin America can really change.
Back in the 1970s - 1980s. in Venezuela, the formation of bolivarism began as a modern political concept, proclaiming continuity in relation to the ideas of Simon Bolivar. The main ideologist of the concept of bolivism was a young paratrooper officer Hugo Chavez, who served in one of the Venezuelan army's special forces to combat partisans. At the time, government troops fought against communist rebels, and Chávez's unit fought specifically against the Red Flag Party, a Stalinist rebel organization focused on the experience of Albanian Hoxhaism. As you know, you need to know the enemy by sight, so Hugo Chavez began to study leftist literature and gradually became imbued with great sympathy for leftist ideas. He, like many other young Venezuelan officers, was very irritated by the situation when in oil-rich Venezuela the bulk of the population lived in dire poverty, and the country remained a semi-colony of the United States. In the early 1980s. Chavez, while remaining in military service, founded the underground organization "Bolivarian Revolutionary Army-200", which was later renamed the "Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200".
In fact, bolivarism in its modern reading is one of the ideologies of the “third way”, seeking a “golden mean” between the Soviet model of socialism and Western capitalism. According to the proponents of the Bolivarian concept, a just economy should be humanistic, self-governing and competitive. That is, the head of the economy should be a person, and all the efforts of the state should be directed towards meeting the interests and needs of whom. The creation of decent living conditions is indeed a very urgent goal in South America.
In countries rich in natural resources, with a good climate and favorable geographic location, the majority of the population lives in unfavorable conditions, which is associated both with the presence of foreign capital, which draws all the juice, and with corruption and greed of the local elite. In order to provide a person with a decent standard of living, the Bolivarian concept proposes the development of cooperatives, associations and artels, which would contribute to additional employment of the population and the emergence of new opportunities for earning money. But the products created by such enterprises must be competitive at the global and regional levels, which can be ensured only on condition of scientific and technological development and growth of labor productivity.
When Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela, he really did everything he could to improve the lives of ordinary Venezuelans. But, as we know, the miracle did not happen. Now Chavez is no longer alive, and Venezuela is experiencing many socio-economic problems. But the fault of the Venezuelan leadership in this is minimal - the country has become a victim of the aggressive US sanctions policy. The balance of forces turned out to be extremely uneven, so Washington was able to quickly achieve complete economic suppression of Venezuela.
Of course, the United States is striving with all its might to prevent large-scale political and economic changes in South America, since they see them as a very serious threat to the existing world order. Since the 19th century, American elites have considered the entire New World their natural sphere of influence, exploiting the natural resources of South and Central America and striving to completely control the political situation in the countries of the region.
However, the US dominance in the New World cannot last forever, if only because population growth is higher in South and Central America, the countries of the region are young and developing economies. Who knows if the stars will converge in the foreseeable future so that the dream of Simon Bolivar will become a reality and South America will not only turn into an economically prosperous region of the planet, but will also move to a model of maximum integration at the interstate level.
By the way, if we discard the Latin American specifics, many provisions of Bolivarism are perfect for other regions of the planet. Independence from American imperialism and its financial institutions, the development of a socially oriented economy, concern for the well-being of its citizens - are these principles at odds with the outlines of the future that every true patriot of his country would like for his homeland, no matter whether it is in South America or Eurasia.
