The
ideology of Pan-Americanism can be summarized as the "unification of all
the Latin American nations and all Latin American people." The Fraternity
has served as an "Ideological University" through the study and
interpretation of Pan-Americanism inspired by the accomplishments of its Five
Pillars: Simon Bolivar, Jose de San Martin, Bernardo O’Higgins, Benito Juarez
and Jose Marti.
Pillars
Simon Bolivar
Jose de San Martin
Bernardo
O’Higgins
Benito Juarez
Jose Marti
Simon Bolivar
(1783-1830) Don Simón
Bolívar, most commonly known as el Libertador, is perhaps one of the
most widely celebrated heroes of the Western Hemisphere.
Trekking across thousands of miles across American land and sea, fighting in
over one hundred battles and skirmishes, he inevitably liberated no less than
six countries from the tyranny and exploitation of the Spanish Crown (namely:
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia and Panamá.) His tumultuous life,
driven almost entirely by his concrete sense of self and almost megalomaniacal
personality is a source of controversy but also of enlightenment. The insight
he possessed into the social and political dilemmas of the then, Spanish
Colonies, including the oppressive class system, greed, slavery, landownership,
as well as free and equal trade, provided a fertile ground from which he was
able to sow his dream for America.
Born in July 24, 1783 into
a very prominent family in Venezuela,
this great statesman, writer, and revolutionary general gave up his social status
for a more noble cause-- independence of Latin America
from foreign rule. He traveled the world and along the way was inspired by the
times in which he lived, particularly the crowning of Napoleon as emperor in
1804. This same act, awoke in him a desire to quell this fire that later, while
visiting Rome, he solemnly swore he
would do, "...I will not rest my soul until Hispanic America is liberated
from Spanish rule".
He possessed an uncanny ability to inspire men to follow him through trackless
wilderness to fight and die for liberty. For 20 years Bolivar led the fight to
free northern South America. His small, poorly equipped
forces won amazing victories and met overwhelming defeats. Not everything was
easy for him. There were times where his defeats caused him to seek exile in Haiti
and Jamaica,
but always returned with a greater strength in energy and armies. At the height
of his power, between 1825 and 1828, he was president of La Gran Colombia
(present day Venezuela,
Colombia, Panama,
and Ecuador), Peru,
and the newly formed Bolivia
(a country named after him). Bolivar was a sincere patriot, devoted to the
cause of liberty and equality, and a big promoter for the unification of all
the Latin American countries under one unified republic‹the idea of
Pan-Americanism. He died a sad, lonely death marred by Tuberculosis, in Santa
Marta, Colombia
on December 17, 1830.
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Jose de San Martin
One of the greatest heroes of South American independence
was Jose de San Martin. He helped liberate Argentina,
Chile, and Peru
from Spanish rule. A proud ruler, at the height of his success he relinquished
his power to Simon Bolivar after a historic meeting in 1822. Jose Francisco de
San Martin was born on Feb. 25, 1778
in Yapeyu, an Indian settlement in what is now northern Argentina.
His father, a Spanish army captain, was administrator there. When Captain San
Martin was called back to Spain,
he enrolled his son in a Madrid
school. When he was 11 years old, young San Martin became a cadet in the
infantry. He was 13 when he fought his first battle in North Africa.
For the next 20 years he fought the Moors and Napoleon's forces where he rose to
the rank of lieutenant colonel. San Martin's sympathies, however, were always
with the mistreated colonials. In 1812 he resigned and returned to Argentina
to join the revolt there. In 1814, he had himself made governor of a district
in the foothills of the Andes. After gathering and
training an army, he led it across the Andes
Mountains into Chile
where his men routed the Spanish at Chacabuco in 1817 and entered Santiago
unopposed. The next year, San Martin's decisive victory at Maipo set all of Chile
free.
In 1820 his army landed on the southern coast of Peru
and entered Lima in 1821. San
Martin met with Bolivar in Guayaquil, Ecuador,
in July 1822 and turned over the command to him. On returning to Argentina,
San Martin learned that his wife had died. He left for Europe
with his daughter and spent the rest of his life in exile. San Martin lived in France
and Belgium
until his death in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France,
on Aug. 17, 1850.
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Bernardo O’Higgins
The leader of Chile's
first independent government and a brilliant soldier, Bernardo O'Higgins led
the Chilean patriots in their battle for independence. A reformer and an
idealist, he was the first national leader in the Americas
to abolish black slavery. O'Higgins was born on Aug. 20, 1778, in Chillan,
Chile. His father was Spain's
governor for Chile
and viceroy for Peru.
In 1790, O'Higgins went to Peru
to study, staying until he was 16, when his father sent him to Europe.
In Spain,
O'Higgins met Jose de San Martin, later the liberator of Argentina.
In 1802, O'Higgins returned to Chile
to manage property left him by his father. He joined the militia and rose to
the rank of Colonel. When Chile
rebelled against Spain's
in 1810, he offered his services and eventually help drive the Spaniards out of
Chile. When a
new Spanish force invaded Chile,
he was made commander of the revolutionary army but was defeated at the battle
of Rancagua in 1814.
O'Higgins, with the other Chilean patriots, fled to Argentina.
In 1817, under O'Higgins, these men came back to win Chacabuco and Maipo, the
battles that secured Chilean independence. Chile's
provisional government asked O'Higgins to rule the country as supreme director.
During his rule, which lasted for six years, he instituted a number of reforms
and also helped San Martin build forces to fight Spain
in Peru.
O'Higgins' liberal policies did not suit the Chilean aristocrats. As a result,
in 1823 he was forced to resign. Peru
offered him asylum, and O'Higgins went there to spend the rest of his life as
an exile, way from his heart--the country he had worked so hard to free. Don
Bernardo O'Higgins died several years later on Oct. 24, 1842.
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Benito Juarez
(1806-1872) Don Benito
Juarez is celebrated as the Native who fought for the poor and oppressed by
educating himself and later becoming the first Native president of Mexico.
During his years in the Government, he succeeded in undermining the power of
the Roman Catholic Church and the wealthy landlords in order to make Mexico
a constitutional democracy. Don Benito Juárez is both a hero for Mexicans but
also for many Natives in the Americas
who for centuries have fought for recognition and respect.
Juarez was born at San Pablo Guelatao in the state of Oaxaca
on March 21, 1806. Until
the age of twelve he worked in the corn fields and as a shepard when a desire
to educate himself prompted him to leave his village. On December 17, 1818 he walked to the city of Oaxaca
where his sister lived and took a job as a domestic servant. He eagarly made up
for his previous lack of education, He studied law at the Oaxaca Institute of
Arts and Sciences, receiving his degree in 1831. Within a few years he had
served in both state and national legislatures. In 1841 he became a judge and
served as governor of his state. From his government service he gained many
ideas for political and economic reform.
When liberals defeated conservatives in the Mexican elections of 1855, Juarez
became Minister of Justice and Public Instruction. The new administration
abolished special courts for the church and the military, forced the church to
sell its enormous property holdings, and created a new, liberal constitution.
In 1857 Juarez was chosen to preside over the Supreme
Court and, in effect, to serve as vice-president. During a conservative revolt
from 1858 to 1860, he acted as president. He was forced to flee Mexico
City but held the government together until he died at
the age of 66.
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José Martí
Perhaps the greatest writer of the Americas,
Don José Martí is revered not only as a father of modern poetry, but also of
the Cuban independence movement. He was disdainful of slavery and racism and
was an advocate of equality and liberty; he is often compared to Dr. Martín
Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln. His political activism fueled his writing,
motivating him to produce poetry, political manifestos, speeches, and hundreds
of articles and reviews for journals around the world. He is considered a hero
by many for his leadership of the nationalist forces in the Cuban war of
independence, which eventually lead to his untimely death. His writings and
political activism were based on strong personal beliefs of morality,
independence, and patriotism, a combination that both his followers and readers
have found compelling for over a hundred years.
Cuba's foremost
patriot in the struggle for independence from Spain
was the poet and essayist Jose Julian Marti. His lifelong dedication to Cuban
freedom was spelled out in essays and poems that circulated throughout the
Latin American countries. He considered himself a citizen of all the Americas,
and his essays did much to promote better relations between the United States
and Latin America; but more importantly, between the Latin American nations
themselves.
Jose Julian Marti y Perez was born on Jan.
28, 1853, in Havana,
where he obtained his early schooling. As a teenager he became involved with a
revolutionary group and was sentenced to six months at hard labor for speaking
against the government. At age 18, he was exiled to Spain,
where he finished his schooling at the University
of Saragosa in 1874. He then fled
to Mexico by
way of France.
After a brief visit to Cuba
in 1877, he settled in Guatemala
as a teacher. He returned to Cuba
in 1878 and continued his political activities. This again led to exile in Spain
in 1879. He did not see Cuba
again until 1895. He left Spain
after two months and lived successively in New York City
and Venezuela.
His politics offended the Venezuelan dictator at the time, who then forced
Marti to return to New York.
A continuous stream of articles published in South American newspapers brought
him fame throughout Latin America. In 1892 he became
head of the Cuban Revolutionary party and began planning an invasion of the
island. He and other revolutionaries arrived in Cuba
on April 11, 1895. But
tragically, on May 19, he was killed in battle at Dos Rios. Don Jose Julian
Marti will be forever remembered because he waged war neither with swords nor
guns, but with simple words expressing the truth.
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