Viviana Hurtado: Our America
Before Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro promoted an ideologically driven Pan-Americanism, Cuban Independence-era philosopher José Martí dreamed of a united Latin America, an idea that was pulsating among the intellectual class from Mexico to Chile. Nuestra América -- the dream of one continent, one people, one identity -- was principled on the hope of the New World and was rooted in Simón Bolívar, South America's George Washington who inspired the 19th Century Independence Wars of the Andean vice-royalties, from Spain. But even the larger-than-life Libertador -- the Liberator -- and his dream of One America would be defeated by regional infighting, dying a broken man in my father's hometown of Santa Marta, Colombia.
Before Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro promoted an ideologically driven Pan-Americanism, Cuban Independence-era philosopher José Martí dreamed of a united Latin America, an idea that was pulsating among the intellectual class from Mexico to Chile. Nuestra América -- the dream of one continent, one people, one identity -- was principled on the hope of the New World and was rooted in Simón Bolívar, South America's George Washington who inspired the 19th Century Independence Wars of the Andean vice-royalties, from Spain. But even the larger-than-life Libertador -- the Liberator -- and his dream of One America would be defeated by regional infighting, dying a broken man in my father's hometown of Santa Marta, Colombia.
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