La Revolución Bolivariana : Hugo Chávez presenta a Simón Bolívar

by Simón Bolívar, Hugo Chávez Frías

«No comparéis vuestras fuerzas físicas con las enemigas, porque no es comparable el espíritu con la materia. Vosotros sois hombres, ellos son bestias, vosotros sois libres, ellos esclavos.» Simón Bolívar Conocido en toda América Latina como El Libertador, el revolucionario venezolano Simón Bolívar fue uno de los líderes más importantes en las guerras de independencia de las colonias españolas. Recientemente rescatado por el presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez para su propio programa político, que él ha llamado «la revolución bolivariana», el mensaje de Bolívar sigue siendo tan estimulante en las actuales luchas políticas y sociales como lo fueron en su tiempo.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Theory, Philosophy

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

South American revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar, known as "the Liberator," defeated the Spanish in 1819; made president of greater Colombia, including now Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador, he helped from 1823 to Peru and Bolivia.

Antonio José de Sucre fought with Simón Bolívar to liberate Ecuador and Peru.


From the empire, Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios of common military and politics, together with José de San Martín, played a key role in successful Latin struggle for independence.

Following the triumph over the monarchy, Bolívar participated in the foundation of the first named union of independent Latin nations.

People regard Simón Bolívar as a Latin hero and visionary. During his short life, he brought independence and lay the foundations for much Hispanic democratic ideology. For this reason, people often refer or compare him with George Washington.

Reviews

[Richard R]

Towards the end of this book, there's a letter to the Marquis de Lafayette outlining Bolívar's admiration for George Washington and his dislike of comparisons to Napoleon. It's a somewhat odd coda to a text that frequently describes how Bolívar saw a very strong centralised executive rather than a federalised government as an essential component to his revolutions: "purely representative institutions are not suited to our character, customs, and understandings. In Caracas party spirit grew out of societies, assemblies, and popular elections, and this led us back to a state of servitude. And thus Venezuela, which has been the republic among us most advanced in its political establishments, affords us a striking example of the inefficacy of a democratic and federal system of government in our unsettled condition... I am of the opinion that the higher classes in Lima would not tolerate democracy, nor the slaves and pardos an aristocracy. The first would prefer the tyranny of one individual, to be exempted from oppressive persecutions, and if possible to establish a regular order of things." His fear of party factionalism leading to the reinstatement of a monarchy led him to prefer systems of indirect election similar to the British House of Lords and allowing a Life President to nominate a Vice President as their replacement.

One other striking aspect is the role of state intervention which, depending on your point of view, anticipated the much later abolition of slavery in the British Empire and in the United States or the expropriating tendencies of modern Latin American regimes. As such, his constitutions sought to balance property rights with land reform on behalf of the indigenous population and nationalisation of forestry in order to particularly control areas like quinine production. Slavery and torture were abolished but the death penalty was not and Bolívar was not adverse to using it in order to dispose of figures like General Piar.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having found little on the life of such a monumental figure as Simon Bolivar I was happy to find this collection of his own writings. Included are letters, directives, speeches, proclamations, and other original works by the Liberator of much of Latin America. For the historically uniformed like myself there is an invaluable chronology included which sketches Bolivar's exploits, along with short introductory paragraphs for each document, both of which I find gives enough historical context to appreciate the main writings.

There is plenty of interesting material here, especially in his longer addresses concerning the political structures of Gran Columbia and Bolivia. While I don't know a lot about his contemporaries (which would include the North American revolutionaries), Bolivar seems to share the same bombastic rhetoric of freedom and liberty, along with what at the time must have been a radical conception of the role of democracy, but now sounds to my ears more like ambivalence (something which seems to be shared amongst all republicans of that era). The book does have its fluff pieces: Bolivar's comments to his friend about a poem written by the latter are of no interest when taken so out of context. But when the selection of documents sticks to political theory there is a lot here on offer. Bolivar talks of his distrust of the federalist system, his ideas of a hereditary Senate, and for the later Bolivian government a tricameral legislature and life-long Presidential terms, all of which are extremely interesting and forcefully presented. Overall the selections here, coming from Bolivar himself, help flesh out a wider understanding of the current state of America, not least of all because he was one of the single most important causes of its current existence.

[Henry Heading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this interesting, the speeches and letters where all very intriguing but the lack of any analysis and the minute descriptions given before the transcripts limit this to being a simple copy and paste for the most part.

[Brumaire Bodbyl-Mast · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of various primary sources from Simón Bolivar, ‘El Libertador,’ (a title he himself shunned to appear humble,) pertaining to a wide variety of aspects. The Chávez introduction was shorter than I had hoped (and seeming not even written by him!) though the rest of the work tends to prove fascinating enough. A true pragmatic liberal of his time- Bolivar has a notable fetish for check and balances and a ‘healthy’ suspicion of democracy. Some of his ideas for governance are fairly logical in a liberal framework (I.e. stronger executives to curb legislative abuses) but others are boggling to the modern mind- like a hereditary upper parliament in the vain of the House of Lords, though not nobility, since that would imply stagnation. His pragmatic nature comes forth especially towards federalism- which he admires, though disagrees with its application in infantile free South America. There is repetition but the work offers an interesting, and broad portrait of Bolivar, and most translations are more modernized.

[hami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book, loved the intro by Hugo Chavez. I am new to Latin American history and the anti imperialist struggle there. This book can definitely give you a historical context.

[José Rodríguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buen libro, ayuda a entender el pensamiento de Bolivar de su puño y letra y la introducción es esplendida

[thinker bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Authentic writings from Bolivar demonstrates his role in international liberation primarily in South America. I enjoyed and have a better understanding, but also the book raised more questions for me in how this history has led to the situation of Venezuela and the rest of South America today.