LATIN AMERICA: Simon Bolivar

Latin America does not have one single figure like George Washington. The only comparable figure is Simón Bolívar, who "liberated" the Bolivarian countries, the Andean countries from Venezuela to Bolivia. He was a Venezuelan, so it is natural that the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, would proclaim his "Bolivarian revolution", related to that of Fidel Castro. I have in my hand an envelope from the Casa de Estudios sobre America in Havana, with a large stamp representing Bolivar, put out to mark the anniversary of the Congress of Panama at which Bolivar proposed to unite the Americas. The plan seems to be to spread the Bolivarian revolution throughout the Americas. The icon would be Simon Bolivar, just as the Virgin of Guadalupe is the icon of the Pan American Catholic movement. At present neither icon has much following in Brazil or the Southern Cone. But who knows what will happen? In Argentina, one of the great agriculture countries of the world, people are scavenging in garbage cans for food. The Catholic Church in Latin America is largely dedicated to liberation theology, a clerical version, which originated in Brazil, of the "justicialismo" of Peron, which is being revived. What if these various forces merge?

Ronald Hilton - 9/25/02