I came across Bolivar's writing, and tracked down the full text on page 145 of the text "El Libertador" By Simón Bolívar, Frederick H. Fornoff, David Bushnell. The text can be viewed at LINK (http://books.google.com/books?id=JpagnzteVggC&pg=PR6&lpg=PR6&dq=9+november+1830+bolivar&source=bl&ots=T40EWWZkB2&sig=LXK7TX7Qhkal0-jBM3AMUOutNoY&hl=en&ei=8tW7S7OEKoLK8wTiqpn1Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCQQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=9%20november%201830%20bolivar&f=false)
The following excerpt, apparently with reference to Columbia, seems prescient as we view the instability in South and Central America.
You know that I have ruled for twenty years, and I have derived from these only a few sure conclusions: (1) America is ungovernable, for us; (2) Those who serve revolution plough the sea; (3) The only thing one can do in America is emigrate; (4) This country will fall inevitably into the hands of the unrestrained multitudes and then into the hands of tyrants so insignificant they will be almost imperceptible, of all colors and races; (5) Once we've been eaten alive by every crime and extinguished by ferocity, the Europeans won't even bother to conquer us; (6) If it were possible for any part of the world to revert to primitive chaos, it would be America in her last hour.
Thoughts?
Sounds pretty bleak to me, while Bolivar admired free markets and Thomas Jefferson, he also felt South America unlike the US suffered from " ignorance, tyranny , and vice" or something to that effect.
I know even less about Colombia, but your question about South America reminded me of an excerpt from a Gary Brecher column from a ways back, he is over the top, crass and simplistic, but if you enjoy dark humor, enclosed are some snippets.
AUGUST 22, 2002
COLOMBIA: A HUNDRED YEARS OF SLAUGHTERTUDE
By Gary Brecher
Every day America gets deeper into the sh*t in Colombia. We’re dumping planeloads of cash on the Colombian army — $1.5 billion is what Rumsfeld’ll admit, so you gotta assume it’s more like ten billion with the rest squeezed through the usual CIA laundries. Colombia’s got this new gung-ho president Uribe, and he says he’s gonna ratchet up the war against the rebels, which makes Bush and Ashcroft and the DEA real happy.
The big rebel group, FARC, have this “bring it on” attitude too. They’re always on the lookout for new ways to kill people. They even hired three ex-IRA guys to show’em how to make remote-launched mortars, and learned so fast they damn near blasted el Presidente right off the platform at his own inauguration.
So with everybody ready to party, it seemed like a good time to give you a little briefing on Colombia, our new pal. But I have to warn you, Colombian history is as messy as a slaughterhouse floor in a blackout. So I’ll give you a choice: the short version (for MTV victims with the attention span of fruit flies), and the long version for serious military buffs.
First, the short version:
Colombian History and Culture in Three E-Z Steps!
Step 1: Rent Scarface.
Step 2: Fast-forward to that scene where Pacino and his friends try a coke deal with some Colombians. The Colombians want to take the money and keep the coke. They try to persuade Pacino to tell them where the money is by handcuffing him and his buddy to the wall, revvin’ up a chainsaw and sawing off his friend’s arms and legs till the whole room is so splattered with blood you can’t see who’s killing who any more.
Step 3: Replay this scene over and over. And over.
Congratulations! You have just learned the history and culture of Colombia!
But for you old school types, here’s a slower, more detailed look at Colombia, our loveable Latin ally.
Think of Latin America is as a psych ward. Panama would be the sociopath con man.. Argentina’d be this suicidally depressed old bag with delusions of grandeur. Brazil would be a classic nympho slut…and Colombia would be the one who giggles to himself in the triple-locked cage at the end of the high-security corridor, the guy who likes to BBQ his victims and make “Kiss the Cook” aprons out of their skin.
Colombians have been killing each other since the Spanish came ashore and got to work hacking the local Indians into extinction. The only thing that’s changed in the 400 years since then is they’ve been getting better at it every century.
Between 1819 and 1900, Colombia had 50 rebellions and eight full-scale civil wars. Some of the rebellions were quick little coups with only double-digit casualties, but some were huge-scale conflicts. In “The War of A Thousand Days,” (1899-1901), those hardworkin’ Colombian killers managed to knock off 100,000 of their fellow citizens. They kept at it and hit some kind of peak in the 1940s, with an incredibly bloody mess called “la Violencia” that notched up at least 300,000 dead. You know if the Colombians call a period “violencia,” that it’s gonna be muy violencia.
One interesting thing about Colombian killing is they do it both ways: solo and in groups. There are some countries that turn into pyscho killers once they put on a uniform, but wouldn’t even run a yellow light once they’re in civvies again. Two classic examples: the Japanese and Germans. The Japanese did things in China that just don’t bear thinkin’ about…beheading contests, sword practice on pregnant Chinese prisoners, baby-bayoneting volleyball — but those same soldiers went home and turned into shy little salary-men who wouldn’t jaywalk, never mind hurt anybody. Same with the Germans: let’em loose in a gray helmet and they think up stuff that’d make Saddam ashamed — but back home in Dusseldorf they’d die before they’d drop a popsicle stick on the sidewalk.
Then there are the countries that kill real good in private life but won’t fight in uniform — Italians, say. Mean Fockers on the street, in the alley, but put one in a uniform and he can’t wait to throw away his rifle and find a nice cozy cellar to hide out in.
Colombians are a coach’s dream: the switch-hitters of killing. They kill in uniform or out, home or away, on the street or the battlefield. Equal Opportunity Slaughter: men, women, children, dogs — if it moves, they’ll kill it. For any reason. For no reason. For money, for fun, for the Revolution, for the Counter-Revolution, for practice.
Killing is like the only way you can make a point in Colombia. Take soccer. We all know foreigners get a little crazy about soccer — hooligans, riots, all that. But Colombians do it their way — none of that noise and drunken chair-throwing crap you get with English hooligans. Colombians say it with bullets. In the 1994 World Cup, Colombia lost out because a player named Escobar scored an “own goal.” Escobar flew back to Colombia expecting to get a hard time. But nobody yelled at him. That wouldn’t be the Colombian way. All that happened was that as soon as Escobar stepped out of his house, a man walked up and emptied a whole 9mm clip into him.
Before they got guns, Colombians settled life’s little problems with machetes. I read about this amazing custom in Colombian villages: if two men have a disagreement, they don’t shout, they don’t sue, they don’t bore everybody with long arguments. Nope. Two guys just take up their machetes, then each grabs one end of a serape. When the ref blows his whistle, they start chopping each other up. The first guy to let go of the serape loses. Usually because he’s dead.
The winner, who’s usually bleeding to death himself, walks away covered with glory — and a few quarts of arterial blood. The goat or chicken or whatever it was the fight was about belongs to him, and he staggers off just as happy as a Colombian can be, down to the coffin shop to see if he can trade the goat for an upgrade to the deluxe Mahogany model.
The historians I’ve been reading — typical bleeding-heart college professors — all try to say Colombians aren’t really violent. Oh no! It’s America’s fault, or it’s the United Fruit Company’s fault, or it’s the cocaine trade...
So how about a little truth for once. As in: Colombians kill. They’ve done it non-stop for 400 years. They’ll do it for another 400. That’s part of the reason it’s hard to explain the current wars in Colombia: because they’re just a little episode in one long war that will never end....
I say “wars” because there are at least three different rebel armies, and God knows how many death-squad “paramilitary” groups fighting right now in Colombia. The three rebel armies have some things in common: they all talk more or less like Commies, they all say they’re for the peasants, and they talk about cooperating — but they’d kill each other in a second if they weren’t too busy fighting the government....
it goes on and on...
here is the full article
http://exiledonline.com/colombia-a-hundred-years-of-slaughtertude/