La Latino America del Congreso Part III.- Is the Dream over?
"I am, and always will be the defender of the rights, liberties and independence of our Americas. I have defended and will defend those ideals for the rest of my life, both because it is fair and neccesary for the salvation of our poor compatriots and because I'm interested in everything related to the human species. My dream, is thus, to not only see a strong region, able to stand its ground and cooperate for the good of everyone, but to see our people happy, united and prosperous. But, in light of recent successes, I can't help but wonder if that dream is nothing but a mere fantasy of a rambling old man..."
-Francisco de Miranda, father of Colombia.
In 1824, all the people in Latin America contained their breaths as a pivotal moment in the history of the region, and perhaps the world, took place. Francisco de Miranda, president of the Republic of Colombia, had finished his second presidential term and declined to run for a third. This left Colombia divided between two possible candidates, both fathers of la patria and important generals. Those two men were Simon Bolivar, Generalissimo and Governor of the State of Venezuela; and Francisco de Paula Santander, yet another general and also Minister of the Army and Navy.
Since the very beginning of the Republic, Colombia had been divided between two factions, the Conservative “Centralists” who wanted a strong central government, protectionism and limits in international trade and immigration, and to expand the role of the Armed Forces in politics. Rallying behind Bolivar, this faction had the almost complete support of the Criollo elites and the people of Venezuela, and Ecuador to a lesser extent. The Army, and several of the Generals like General Flores, also supported them.
On the other hand, there were the liberal “Federalists”, who argued for a federation or even a loose confederation with a weak Federal Government, free market and immigration and delimitation of the role of the Armed Forces in peace time. Led by Santander, and favored by Miranda and Sucre, the Federalists had their support base in Cundinamarca, Central America and Hispaniola. The Navy was mostly in their side, along with little sectors of the Army like the Garrison of Hispaniola and the Honor Guard.
Pro-Centralist political ad.
The Elections, planned for August 10 in honor of the patriots that died in Quito, thus put Santander’s Federalist Party (Partido Federalista) against Bolivar’s Centralist Party (Partido Centralista). The situation was very tense, not only in Colombia, but through Latin America. Colombia had positioned itself as the second most powerful nation in the continent, only behind the United States, and had great influence in the region, especially thanks to Miranda’s System of Congress Latin America.
In Mexico, His Imperial Majesty Agustin I and the Prime Minister and Duke of Monterrey, Antonio Andrade, waited. In Peru, de la Mar had won yet another election; he supported Santander out of pragmatist, after all, a Colombia with a very strong Army was not good for Peru, but de la Mar also hoped that if Bolivar won, Colombia would collapse and be dissolved. In Chile, O’Higgins was worried; he didn’t know if Congress Latin America could continue without Miranda, or rather, with Bolivar at the helm; he also didn’t know if that was something positive or not. In La Plata, Artigas and the other Platinean Leaders were divided, some wanted Santander to win, other Bolivar, but nobody agreed why. In Brazil, the Emperor Don Pedro was apathetic, having to deal with his own problems, namely displacement with the elites and landowners.
Finally, the day came and the Criollos and the very few Indigenas and Mestizos who could vote moved to do so. The great majority of the population of Colombia was happy with Miranda’s rule. He had brought education with Decreto de la Educacion General, which dictated that any community with more than one hundred neighbors would have a school, with obligatory schooling for kids between six and twelve; also funding the Universidad Central de Colombia, in Quito, Santafe and Caracas. He had brought prosperity and industry, together with a powerful navy and quite possibly the best equipped and trained army in the continent. He had brought union in the nation, serving as the father of all the Colombians. Yet, he was now too old to govern effectively – the Independence War had taken its toll.
Miranda in the presidential palace towards the end of 1830.
The Libertadores were waiting in the Presidential Palace. Bolivar and Santander tensely stared at each other. The common perception of them nowadays is that of a united group of friends, but the fact was that there was almost no friendship between the group. Camaraderie and respect at best, outright contempt at worst. Bolivar and Sucre were friends, but Sucre was also Santander’s friend. Nariño mostly kept to himself, and Santander and Bolivar were bitter enemies, even since before the elections. Miranda had been the only person that kept the Libertadores united and willing to work together for the greater good of La Patria, but everybody wondered if they would be able to continue doing that. After all, no matter who won the elections, both Santander and Bolivar knew that the other was far too important to just push aside or even assassinate; but neither wanted the other to be around if they became President.
Results were ready in a couple of months. Santander had won with 59% of the popular vote to Bolivar’s 41%. Some parts of Colombia were outraged by the result, with Venezuela even threatening to secede from the Republic. The Colombian parliament, divided between the Federalists and the Centralists, started to argue fiercely, with Venezuelan Ministers supporting an independent Venezuela, while the Cundinamarcan ones wanted to keep Colombia united. Ecuadorian Representatives were apparently neutral, but everybody knew that should Venezuela secede, Ecuador would follow suit quickly.
The situation reached its climax when Bolivar decided to launch a coup d’état against the government of Santander, marching with his own personal militia, the Sociedad Venezola, into the Congress. The Guardia de Honor started to fight with Bolivar’s militia, and several congress members died that day, but Santander and several key members of the government managed to flee. Then Miranda stepped in.
Bolivar y sus milicianos, painted by one of his sympatizers.
Miranda was very elderly, and his health was deplorable due to overworking himself. He had not been able to conceive any son with his wife, and most of his family was death. He had once declared than his only and true family were all the Colombians, his children, no matter their position, race or anything. He was beloved by everyone, criollo, mestizo, native, immigrant, Venezuelan, Cundinamarcan, Centralist, Federalist…
Miranda faced Bolivar and dared him to attack and kill him. Witnesses of the success would later say that Miranda seemed like a stern father reproaching his son. Bolivar’s militia was unable to shot against the father of the Patria, laying down their arms. The Guardia de Honor then proceeded to arrest them and Bolivar, restoring order to the Congress and Santander to his position as president of the Republic.
Reactions through Colombia were mixed. Most people reacted with horror to Bolivar’s actions, especially the fact that he killed several compatriots (in fact, most of the Congress members that died that day were Venezuelan) and how he threatened Miranda, all in hopes of installing a dictatorship under himself. The mixed part comes in that several people still supported him nonetheless.
Francisco Paula Santander, as President of Colombia.
Bolivar’s coup attempt, sometimes called the 18th Brumaire of Simon, mocking his Napoleon delusions, would ironically be what consolidated the Santander government. Santander took advantage of the situation to arrest all the Venezuelan politicians that supported Venezuelan secession, and replace them with other Venezuelans loyal to him. Bolivar, meanwhile, disappeared from the political radar and didn’t take part in the next elections in 1828, which were easily won by Santander.
However, Bolivar remained in Colombia, being a thorn in the side to the successive governments until his death in 1851. Santander knew that he was far too important to simply execute or even imprison for extended periods of time, especially because doing that would outrage his sympatizers, and his retirement from politics meant that he couldn’t give him unimportant works, like overseeing the Armies of Central America or be the Ambassador to some obscure country. He remained, thus, a liberator of the patria and very beloved through the country, with his attempt of a coup being not taught nor diffused by the Colombian education system during several years. He was still under strict vigilance, and even though the other libertators tried to prevent it, he still had great influence over the country. It’s often said that Santander kept himself alive with only his willpower in order to keep Bolivar in check, because Santander would only die in 1842, one year after Bolivar.
In Latin America and the world the reactions were quick. Officially, all the governments in Latin America were shocked and deeply regretted the incident, but actually, several of them wished Bolivar had succeeded. De la Mar of Peru especially wanted Bolivar to successfully pull out the cup, because he felt that it would provoke Colombia to collapse.
A rural town of South America during the Congress Age.
The last years of Congress Latin America were spent in relative peace, with a constant albeit slow grown in all the countries in all aspects. Colombian industry was thriving and very successful, along with its education system. Slavery was still a hot topic, but the laws of Freedom of Womb and the Fondo Monetario para la Gente Esclava (Monetary Fund for Slaves) were still active. The Fund was created to repay slave owners once their slaves became free, and to give some money to the slaves so they could sustain themselves until they found a job. Once they were liberated, most of the former slaves would then migrate to Hispaniola or the Colombian coastal areas to work in the industries there, more prominently sugar, coffee and cacao.
Brazil, Mexico and La Plata on the other hand were much more dependant in exportations. La Plata in especially became an important seller of food to the United Kingdom and France. All of the aforementioned nations would neglect their industry during this decade and generally misuse the great quantities of money they gained out of it. Chile, Charkas and Paraguay were not nearly as successful, even when Chilean Nitrates and Charkean cooper were highly prized and sought after.
Politically, the final years of this era are considered to have been stagnant. Santander, as it already was said, continued to lead Colombia until the very end of the era, while La Plata, Brazil, Chile and Mexico were still under the same leaders. In Brazil, though sometimes struggling with the elites, Don Pedro dominated the politics of the young nation. In Mexico, Andrade was still favored as prime minister, if only because of his great talent and also because there was nobody around that could stand to the challenge. In La Plata, Artigas continued to pull all the strings behind curtains, with the Federal President, Ignacio Alvarez Thomas, being little more than a figurehead. The Federals still had most of the power, much to the dismay of the Porteño Elites, who especially despised how Artigas tried to give more importance to Montevideo and the European influence. Consequently, most of them would end up becoming Unitarios, who advocated for a Centralized State.
The Brazilian Imperial Court.
In Chile, O’Higgins continued being the president until 1827, when Fernando Errázuriz Aldunate would be elected as president of the Republic. Chile, unlike most of Latin America, wouldn’t fall into a dictatorship except for one short period of time. It remained a stable, though oligarchic republic. Charkas and Paraguay were both under dictatorships, but neither was really brutal, their worst actions would be simple not allowing either country to grow and prosper.
Central America had been practically reduced to a Colombian puppet and was very unstable, but the Colombians managed to prevent a dictator from taking power. Haiti was relatively happy and prosperous under Leroy’s Benevolent Dictatorship, while Spain turned to try to consolidate its rule over its remaining colonies, Florida, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
Peru was the only exception. La Mar had been elected president in 1818, and then reelected in 1822. His second term came to an end in 1826, and then Jose Bernando de Tagle was elected by the congress in indirect elections. However, his presidency didn’t turn out to be quite like most of the Peruvian people expected. He tried to open the country to investment and improve the relations with Colombia, decisions that didn’t sit well with the old, conservative elites. In 1828, while Colombia was in the middle of the turmoil of new elections, La Mar launched a successful coup and became the Supreme Leader of Peru.
The Colombian Territory Peru claimed along with Tumbes.
Now having all the power in the state, and enjoying mass approval by the people and elites, La Mar started to take more and more extremist decision, increasing the power and size of the Peruvian Armed Forced, and questioning the decisions of the Congress of Cucuta, which he called a Colombian System. La Mar and Santander had profound disagreements over the territories of the former Viceroyalty of Peru that Colombia held ever since the Congress, and of the “abuses” (whether real or fictitious) Colombia committed during the War.
Tensions were really high, as the Peruvian people seemed to be only more united while Colombia was still divided by Bolivar’s fiasco. Peru was, still, an equal to Colombia, but the Peruvian leadership feared Colombia would eventually utterly outclass Peru, or even the entire Latin America and then become a dominant state that would rule the region with an iron first. Words that have been called prophetic sometimes, but are said to be just “paranoid ramblings that doesn’t resemble reality” by Colombian historians.
The Peruvian Government discuting the "Colombian question".
Diplomatic negotiations reached a boiling point towards the end of 1829, as Peru threatened Colombia with war if they didn’t hand back Tumbes and almost the entire Colombian Amazonia. Santander refused to do this, but called for a conference. La Mar didn’t want to hear this.
In January 27th, 1830, Peru broke diplomatic relations with Colombia and mobilized for war. In February 1st, 1830, Latin America and the world observed how Congress Latin America collapse once the first Peruvian soldier reached Tumbes. In his office, listening to the news, Miranda couldn’t help but wonder if that was the end of his dream.
Peruvian cavalry advancing into the State of Azuay, in the South of Colombia.
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