This text comes from our book, All Ye Lands.
Not just in Mexico, but in South American as well—there were those who wanted independence from Spain. In Venezuela, General Simón Bolívar organized creole leaders and formed armies to fight for independence. These struggles, beginning in 1811, lasted 13 years, until August 6, 1824, when Bolívar won a great victory over the pro-Spanish forces at Ayacucho in Peru.
The region freed by Bolívar and his allies stretched from modern-day Venezuela, west to the Pacific Ocean, and then south to the southern boundary of Peru. Bolívar’s dream was to unite the several Spanish colonies in this area into a nation like the United States. He called this new nation “Colombia.” But the different regions of Colombia could not agree with one another, and Bolívar’s united colonies eventually broke up into the independent nations of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Argentina, led by José de San Martín, and Chile, led by Bernardo O’Higgins, had achieved independence earlier than Colombia. But Argentina, too, broke into three separate nations—Argentina, Uruguay, and Bolivia. Paraguay, a region completely cut off from the sea, also achieved independence. It immediately fell under the despotic control of General José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, who turned on his republican supporters and declared himself El Supremo (“highest one”) and dictator for life.
By 1826, Bolívar and other revolutionaries had made all of Spanish South America independent. But the new, independent governments were unable to maintain order or govern wisely. Wild ideas and experiments in political organization destroyed agriculture and left the people in the Andes starving.
Just as in Mexico, South American leaders turned against the Church and angered the poor, who had received support from the Church. The Indians were worse off under the new governments than they had been under Spanish rule. The Spanish crown, at least, had protected them from the ruling classes of their countries. Revolts and coups occurred again and again in South America. Strongmen, supported by the army, set up despotic governments instead of states based on the rule of law and tradition. The vast wealth of South America fell into the hands of a few rich and powerful men, while much of the population was left in poverty.
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