Simón Bolivar, Liberator of Latin America who fell into the debt trap
The ‘Le Grand Soir’ website published an article by Eric Toussaint explaining how Simón Bolívar, the ‘Liberator’ of Latin America, fell into the debt trap of which he was not aware.
Simón Bolívar was born on July 24, 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela. It comes from a Spanish aristocratic family of great lineage that was established in Venezuela since the beginning of the colonization of South America.
He lost his two parents when he had not yet turned ten years old and, therefore, went to the care of several tutors before being finally put in the care of Simón Rodríguez, who played an important role in his education as a school teacherbecause he adhered to Rousseau’s ideas and brought him a philosophical vision that allowed him to open his mind and guide him along the path of liberal ideas that he would continue throughout his life. At the age of 14, he began his military career and obtained the subtenant range two years after his debut.
In 1799 he left Venezuela for the first time to Europe. Then Spain and France discovered, where the intellectual world frequented in many halls and the democratic and liberal ideas that had acquired were strengthened. He witnesses revolutionary France and is immersed in the heart of the ideas of the Enlightenment. He attended the creation of encyclopedic writings of Diderot and D’Alembert. Look at the political events that affect the world and are interested in the ideas that led to the French Revolution and the War of Independence of the United States of America.
And in 1804 he was initiated by another Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda in London in the Lodge of Rational Knights. He is also known as Lautarina Lodge, referring to Lautaro, an indigenous Chilean chief, who had spoken against the Spaniards already in 1550.
In April 1805 Simón Bolívar was in Italy and attended the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte and his rise to power. The ideas of independence of South America are gradually strengthening in their mind.
In 1808, Spain was invaded by a French army sent by Bonaparte. This occupation resulted in a terrible guerrilla war. Will weaken the position of Madrid in the Spanish colonies of Latin America.
In South America two fields were formed: the realists who wanted to remain under the dependence of the Spanish monarchy and the patriots who aspired to the independence of Spain. In 1810, Simón Bolívar was sent to London to seek support, but England remained very cautious.
Within the Patriotic Society, which was a revolutionary political club, Bolívar supported the efforts of General Francisco de Miranda for deciding in the 1811 Congress to proclaim the independence of Venezuela, which declared it independent on July 5, 1811. On August 13, 1811, Bolívar’s military career began with the victory of Francisco de Miranda’s troops against the rebels. Bolívar found himself in command of Puerto Cabello but lost control after the betrayal of one of the officers and Puerto Cabello found himself in the hands of the royalists.
Bolívar was exiled in Cartagena and on December 15, 1812 he published a manifesto in which he expressed his desire to unite all the countries of South America and elaborated an action program to achieve victory learning from his failures.
On January 16, 1813, the Cartagena Congress adopted the principle of an extermination war against Spain and the Canary Islands. In February 1813 he took the city of Cúcuta at the head of a small army and was appointed Major General. In May 1813 he attacked Venezuela again and managed to release the western part of the country.
He seized Mérida on August 7, 1813 and triumphantly entered Caracas. After this event will be appointed Liberator.
In 1814, the royalists won the battle of Puerta Bolívar and the Republicans had to leave Caracas, then suffered new defeats and Bolívar lost their authority over their own colleagues in arms.
As the country is deeply divided and due to the hostility that reigns there, it is forced to exile and leave Venezuela.
Then he went to Nueva Granada and, in May 1815, he went to Jamaica, where he tried to obtain the support of the English. Does not receive any help from them. On the other hand, the President of the Republic of Haiti, Alexandre Pétion, gave him asylum and provided him with the material to resume his release campaign.
Simón Bolívar request for the abolition of slavery in the territories released from Spanish control. Bolívar decreed the abolition of slavery on June 2, 1816 in Capurano.
At the end of 1816, a victory allowed him to return to Venezuela and at the end of 1817 he resumed the war against the realists.
On July 7, 1819 he devised a bold plan to cross the Venezuelan plain and reach New Granada. It was a success and took the city of Bogotá.
In 1821 a new state was created, that of Gran Colombia, which includes the current Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador. He will be elected president.
On June 24, 1821 he won a decisive victory in Carabobo, which assured the independence of Venezuela. Then, on August 7, 1824, he released Peru with the Argentine José de San Martín.
When the colonies of the north of the South American continent were released, Simón Bolívar was responsible for his organization. He became president of the three republics of Gran Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. But this was the beginning of Bolívar’s political decline, because the Congress that convened in Panama in 1826 to gather all Latin American states was a failure, failed to impose its political conception and was proclaimed dictator. Fails to maintain the unity of these countries.
In 1828 he was a victim of an attack from which he barely escaped and his last attempts to save the new republic failed. Sick and exhausted, he resigned as president. Simón Bolívar died on December 17, 1830 in Colombia.
Simón Bolívar in the debt labyrinth
From the beginning of the struggle for independence, Simón Bolívar, like other independence leaders, embarked on an internal debt policy (which ultimately benefited the local dominant classes) and external debt with Great Britain and their bankers. In order to obtain loans abroad, he promised part of the richness of the nation and granted free trade agreements to Great Britain. Most of the money borrowed never reached Latin America because London bankers charged huge commissions, real interest rates and sold values well below their nominal value. Some of the Latin American mission managers commissioned by independence leaders have also raised important commissions at the source or have simply not stolen part of the funds provided. For the rest, another important part of the funds provided was used directly to buy military weapons and equipment at prohibitive prices for British merchants. From what has happened in Latin America, that is, a small part of the sums borrowed, important amounts have been diverted by members of the new authorities, military leaders and local ruling classes. A series of quotes from Simón Bolívar accompanied by Luis Britto’s comments indicate that Libertador has been aware of the debt trap in which he and the new independent states had fallen. Simón Bolívar did not seek to enrich himself personally taking advantage of his position as head of state, which is not the case of many leaders who came to power thanks to the struggles for independence.
Two centuries and the same tragic errors.
External debt in very favorable conditions for Great Britain
In November 1817, Simón Bolívar sent a special envoy to London to obtain external financing on credit. In the accreditation letter he writes, he gives huge powers: ‘and that proposes, negotiate, adapt, conclude and firm in the name and under the authority of the Republic of Venezuela any pact, convention and treaty based on the principle of its recognition as its recognition asFree and independent state, and that provides support and protection, stipulating for this all the necessary conditions to compensate Britain for its generous sacrifices and give it the most positive and solemn proof of noble gratitude and perfect reciprocity of services and feelings’ (Luis LuisBritto, p. two). 395). Luis Britto | 2 |He commented: ‘Accreditation is conceived in very broad terms: it is possible to agree on‘ some necessary condition ’. ‘Both the agent and the lenders will use it with the greatest freedom’ (Britto P. 395). At first, debts contracted should be used exclusively for war effort.
Referring to the creation of Gran Colombia (Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador) in 1819, Britto points out: ‘This integration leads to the amalgam of debts contracted by each of the political organizations. Thus, article 8 of the Constitution clearly establishes: ‘The debts of the two peoples that have contracted separately will be recognized jointly and solidarity as Colombia’s national debt;And all the assets of the Republic will be guarantors of its liquidation ’. Britto continues: ‘Not only are the debts constitutionally consolidate: by virtue of the fundamental law, all the public goods of the incipient political body are pignoran as a guarantee. Unfortunately, this operation is not carried out with the transparency that would have been desired, since the transaction records were incomplete and confused. "
Rosa Luxembourg, almost a century later, considered that these loans, although necessary, had been an instrument of subordination of young states in creation: ‘These loans are essential for the emancipation of young ascending capitalist states and, at the same time, at the same time,They constitute the safest environment for old capitalist countries to keep young countries under supervision, control their finances and exercise pressure on their foreign, customs and commercial policy ‘| 3 |. For my part, I analyzed the link between debt policy and free trade agreements in the first half of the nineteenth century in Latin America in ‘Debt and free trade as instruments of subordination of Latin America from independence’.
The new elites take advantage of the internal debt and refuse to pay taxes
The English consul, Sir Robert Ker Porter, mentioned the conversations with Simón Bolívar in his newspaper and on Wednesday, February 15, 1827, observed that: ‘Bolívar recognizes the existence of an internal debt of 71 million dollars, in paper money, topay for the government. Hundreds of people have intensely and usurped most of the time on the bonds, buying them to people in need in 5%, 25%and 60%, and they tell me, it seems incredible, that almost no official keep cash, becauseEverything is going to this immoral and antipatriotic speculation: Vice President Santander (they have told me) has two million of these bonds, which he probably bought for 200.000 dollars ’(see Britto, op. cit. p. 378). Luis Britto comments: ‘These Agioteurs are in turn closely linked to many republican officers and politicians, who make great fortunes at the expense of the blood of their troops’ (P. 380). And he adds: ‘The mere announcement of harsh fiscal measures scares officials as the mayor Cristóbal Mendoz, who unexpectedly renounces’ (P. 380).
National debt will oppress us
The words used by Simón Bolívar in a letter sent on June 14, 1823 to Vice President Francisco Paula de Santander (referred toIt will oppress us. ‘And referring to the members of the local ruling classes and the new powers:‘ Public debt generates chaos of horrors, calamities and crimes and SR. Zea is the genius of evil, and Méndez, the genius of error and Colombia is a victim whose viscera are cut by these vultures: they have devoured in advance the sweat of the Colombian people;They have destroyed our moral credit, and in return we have only received little support. Any decision we make on this debt will be horrible: if we recognize it, we will cease to exist, and if we do not … this nation will be the subject of opprobrium ’(Britto, P. 405). It is evident that Simón Bolívar, who has become aware of the debt trap, rejects the perspective of repudiation.
Two months later, Simón Bolívar wrote again to Vice President Santander on the debt and referred to the situation of the new Peruvian authorities: ‘The Government of Riva Agüero is the government of a catylin associated with that of a chaos;You can’t imagine worse scoundrels or worse thieves of which Peru has in the lead. They ate six million pesos on loans, scandalous. Riva Agüero, Santa Cruz and only War Minister stole 700.000 pesos, only in equipment contracts and troop shipping. The Congress requested accountability and was treated as the couch in Constantinople. The way in which Riva Agüero behaved is really infamous. And the worst part is that among Spaniards and patriots, they killed Peru through repeated looting. This country is the most expensive in the world and there is no longer a maravedí to keep it ’(in Britto, P. 406).
Simón Bolívar, cornered by creditors, is willing to transfer public property. In 1825, he proposed to pay the debt selling part of the mines of Peru that had been abandoned during the War of Independence (see Britto P. 408 and SVTES);In 1827, he tried to develop quality tobacco cultivation to sell it in Great Britain so that the debt could be paid (Britto, P. 378-382);In 1830, he proposed to sell public lands in Austria to creditors (Britto, P. 415-416).
Simón Bolívar threatens to publicly denounce the abominable debt system to the people
On July 22, 1825, Simón Bolívar writes to Hipólito Unanue, president of the Governing Council of Peru: ‘The mines of the mines, the teachers of the Silver and Gold Andes, seek to be lent millions to pay theirsmall troops and its miserable administration. Let’s say all this to people and denounce our abuse and ineptitudes strongly, so that it is not said that the government is protecting the abominable system that is ruining us. That our abuses are denounced, I say, in the ‘Official Gazette’;And that there are tables that hurt the imagination of citizens ’(Britto, P. 408).
In December 1830, Simón Bolívar died in Santa Marta (on the Caribbean coast of Colombia) while Gran Colombia was torn and abandoned by the ruling classes of the region. It has been proven that he has never sought to enrich himself personally taking advantage of his position as head of state, which is not the case of many leaders who came to power as a result of the struggles for independence.
Bibliography
- Luis Britto García is a Venezuelan historian, historian and essayist born in Caracas on October 9, 1940. In 2010 he published a book in Spanish about Simón Bolívar: The thought of the Liberator – Economics and Society, BCV, Caracas, 2010 http: // blog.CHAVEZ.org.VE/THEMES/LIB … In May 2012, Luis Britto García was appointed presidential advisor of the Venezuelan State Council by President Hugo Chávez. See: https: // cold.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_ ……..
- Rosa Luxembourg. 1913. L’Acumulation du Capital, Maspero, Paris, 1969, vol. II, p. 89.
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