A TIME WHEN THE AMERICAS SOUGHT THE SAME IDEALS

In 1812 the newly born Republic of the United States fought and won a war of national liberation aided by privateers commanding swift schooners which the heavy ships of the British Armada were unable to pursue. Very soon Latin American revolutionaries seeking to gain independence from Spain would be visiting shipbuilders in Baltimore and other ports to place their orders for schooners that could help them advance in their struggle. With freedom fighters in North America still committed to the overthrow of monarchies in our Hemisphere, the newly commissioned ships would leave their ports not only fully fitted, but with numerous volunteers eager to fight for democracy anywhere and everywhere south of the border.

The first ship that sailed from Baltimore to further the Latin American revolution was destined for what was then known as Buenos Ayres and would later become the Republic of Argentina, while other privateers joined the struggle for the liberation of Venezuela and Colombia. Most of the action took place over the waters of the Caribbean Sea where the Spanish ships loaded with gold and silver were readily sunk, or won over.

These freedom fighters from the USA, as well as many French and Irish volunteers, would rise in the ranks of the Latin American forces, would marry and raise their families in the new republics, and would be exalted by each country’s historians as national heroes.

This impressive scenario of brotherhood in the liberation struggle of the Americas would change after the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine. Nevertheless, it is a chapter of history that must be made known at the present time, when South America describes its efforts toward integration and cooperative development as “a new Independence process”. Within it, the people of the USA should be brotherly collaborators - as they were in the past - shunning all attempts to divide and position them as foes.