Bolivia Quotes
He had been horribly tortured and then had his limbs torn from his body by horses as a form of execution. However, he turned out to be right. A modern Revolutionary Group adopted his name: Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army.
1000 Spanish prisoners of war were over a 4 day period beheaded. This infamous order has been a black mark on his general democratic and humane public life. Some apologists for his war crimes point out that the Spaniards were making an all-out assault on his revolutionary troops who were very badly outnumbered. It took many revolutionary solders to guard the prisoners and if Bolivar lost the upcoming battle, it would have been the end of his revolution and Spain might still be in control of much of South America. With the additional soldiers freed up from guard duty, Bolivar barely survived the battle and the Revolution was not crushed.
The Peninsula was the term used to describe Spain. At the time there were various wars and conquests of Spain and Portugal and by referring to the Peninsula everyone knew what was referred to independent of the latest battle or revolution.
Bolivar was a much greater military freedom fighter for democracy than he was as a democratic civilian leader.
See {633023} for an example of this transition.
The term “America” was used by him and others to refer to South and Central America—not the United States.
The population was an amalgam of Spaniards, Englishmen and other Europeans, Blacks originally brought over as slaves from Africa, and indigenous people from many different tribes.
The cocoa plant produces leaves which the Bolivian Indians have been chewing for centuries as mild stimulant and assuager of hunger pangs. However with Western chemistry, the cocoa leaves can be turned into cocaine. The Cocoa crop has a ready market domestically and a hugely inflated profit for exports to the illicit drug trade. The United States has put pressure on Bolivian politicians to make growing of the cocoa plant illegal, and has supplied the chemicals and the funds to destroy the cocoa crop wherever they find it growing. This angers small peasant farmers for whom this is the most profitable crop and one of the few on which they can even grow in much of the country; it also angers the vast majority of the Indian population—about half the country—as they are pressured to give up chewing cocoa. The Indians have virtually no harmful effect from chewing cocoa leaves and say that the problem is with the Gringos who are drug users and cannot control themselves. Why should they give up their preferences, traditions and customs because the North Americans are irresponsible and cannot control themselves? Chavez, the first ethnic Indian President of Bolivia took the position that the peasants and peasant farmers should not have to sacrifice to benefit the rich Americans and others in the world. America has a prevention and education problem and Americans should stop buying the cocaine—a product on which the Bolivian Indians make almost nothing; they would be happy just growing leaves for the domestic market.
This is one of the first examples of term limits. Sucre, one of the idealistic patriotic liberators of South America from the Spanish, did not even want to accept the presidency, but was persuaded that to refuse would be considered an insult to the proud South Americans. The acceded, and retired after his two year term—following the example of George Washington whose history he well knew. Another South American hero, San Martin, refused the Presidency and all honors and payment, and while a great hero, did insult much of the population who considered him as insulting to the people. Many South American nations have followed Sucre’s example and constitutionally limited their presidencies to a single term.
His dream was for a conference of South and Central American leaders who would meet with other world leaders to maintain peace and eliminate war. This was one of the early visions of a League of Nations or a United Nations.
