Bicentenario de la Carta de Jamaica de Bolívar (1815-2015)

Abstract

In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of this fundamental piece, this article focuses on Bolívar’s interpretation of the situation that emerged, worldwide and in America, during the crucial years following the Battle of Waterloo in which Napoleon’s Empire collapsed and the political and military Bourbon hegemony in America plunged into an ultimate crisis. The author highlights the transcendental originality of Bolívar’s vision of what he calls an “intermediate species”, that is, the new main players of the historical process which would end up with independence: the mestizo, an essential component of the “small human race” and ethnic base of the multiple “nuestroamericano” identities.