In His Own Words
Simón Bolívar didn't just fight for independence—he articulated a vision for what Latin America could become. These are his words, his warnings, his hopes.
September 6, 1815
Written in exile in Kingston, Jamaica, this letter outlined Bolívar's vision for the future of Spanish America.
"We are a small human race; we possess a world apart, surrounded by vast seas, new in almost all the arts and sciences although, in a manner, old in the habits of civil society."
Bolívar understood that the Americas were neither European nor indigenous, but something entirely new. A civilization that would have to forge its own path.
"More than anyone, I desire to see America fashioned into the greatest nation in the world, greatest not so much by virtue of her area and wealth as by her freedom and glory."
Not wealth. Not territory. Freedom and glory. Bolívar's vision was moral before it was material.
"It is a grandiose idea to think of consolidating the New World into a single nation, united by pacts into a single bond. It is reasoned that, as these parts have a common origin, language, customs, and religion, they ought to have a single government to permit the newly formed states to unite in a confederation."
One people. One language. One faith. One destiny. The logic was clear then. It remains clear now.
February 15, 1819
Delivered to the Congress of Angostura, this speech laid the philosophical foundation for Gran Colombia.
"We are not Europeans; we are not Indians; we are but a mixed species of aborigines and Spaniards. Americans by birth and Europeans by law, we find ourselves engaged in a dual conflict: we are disputing with the natives for titles of ownership, and at the same time we are struggling to maintain ourselves in the country that gave us birth against the opposition of the invaders."
Bolívar grasped the unique position of Latin American identity—caught between worlds, belonging fully to neither, and therefore free to create something new.
"Subject to the threefold yoke of ignorance, tyranny, and vice, the American people have been unable to acquire knowledge, power, or civic virtue. The lessons we received and the models we studied, as pupils of such pernicious teachers, were most destructive."
He knew that political independence was not enough. The mental chains of colonialism had to be broken too.
"Legislators, the task before you is vast because the political system you will establish must regenerate a people perverted by the illusions of error, and by noxious incentives. Your decisions must give shape to a people who have been despoiled of their liberty, of all their virtues, by the forces of usurpation."
This was not just a political project. It was a project of regeneration—of creating new citizens for a new world.
The Prophecy
Bolívar saw with terrible clarity what awaited a divided Latin America.
"The United States appears destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty."— Simón Bolívar, Letter to Colonel Patrick Campbell, August 5, 1829
Written just a year before his death, this line haunts Latin American history. The Monroe Doctrine had been proclaimed in 1823. Bolívar could see where it would lead.
The United Fruit Company. The Panama Canal theft. The countless coups. The economic subjugation. Bolívar saw it all coming.
His solution? Unity. A confederation of Latin American states strong enough to resist external domination. That solution was never tried. The fragmentation he feared came to pass. His prophecy was fulfilled.
But prophecies are not fate. What was divided can be united again.
"All who have served the Revolution have plowed the sea."— Simón Bolívar, on his deathbed, December 1830
He died believing he had failed. He died not knowing that his words would outlive empires. That his dream would refuse to die.