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Jose Cecilio del Valle's Dream of a Latin-American Federation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Louis E. Bumgartner
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Extract

In 1824, José Cecilio del Valle presented to the Constituent Assembly of Central America a portrait of “Jorge Washington.” One of a number of such gestures, the presentation has no special significance. History would be no poorer if the record of the act had been lost forever. But if Valle could have chosen from his distinguished career a single moment to convey the image he wished to cast in the pages of history, he well might have selected the instant when the likeness of Washington passed from his hands to the waiting ones of the president of the Assembly. The scene would have been impressive on canvas. Stripped of flesh, his features showing signs of scholarship's discipline, Valle bends slightly from the waist, arms outstretched, offering the gift — his promise to dedicate himself to the success of the nation that Central Americans were trying to build.

But Valle had his own notions as to how Central America could succeed. Steeped in the history of the New World as well as of the Old, he thought the success of the Federation of Central America depended a great deal on the success of all new American nations. This is not to say, however, that he doubted that Central Americans could build a nation from their own resources.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1963 , pp. 103 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1963

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References

1 Archivo General del Gobierno de Guatemala (hereafter AGG), B6.16, 2976, 117. Actas de la Asamblea Constituyente, February 17, 1824; B6.16, 2899, 107. Comisiones especiales de la Asamblea, April 8, 1824. Valle presented the portrait on February 16. It was hung but had to be taken down. The Congress had acquired full-length portraits of Bartolomé de las Casas and Simón Bolívar. Since Washington appeared in three-quarter length, he ruined the “symmetry.”

2 Dionisio de Herrera to Valle, Tegucigalpa, August 9, 1822, Valle Papers. (Valle's descendants in Guatemala City possess the Valle Papers.) Herrera, Valle's cousin, described independence as a “comedy,” but there is no reason to believe that the description affronted Valle.

3 Elected on March 7, 1822, he swore loyalty to the Empire on March 11. See AGG, B5.10, 2208, 74.

4 El Amigo de la Patria was Valle's paper.

5 In El Amigo de la Patria on April 1, 1822, Valle expanded his ideas concerning inter-American cooperation. See Valle, José del and Valle Matheu, Jorge del, eds., Obras de José Cecilio del Valle (2 vols., Guatemala, 1930), II, 59.Google Scholar

6 Valle Papers.

7 See Bolivar to Francisco de Paula Santander, Lima, February 9, 1825, Selected Writings of Bolivar, compiled by Vicente Lecuna, edited by Harold A. Bierck, Jr., and translated by Lewis Bertrand (2 vols., New York, 1951), II, 467.

8 See AGG, B4.2, 01167, 50; B4.2, 01168, 50.

9 Cadalso, Eliseo Pérez, Valle, apóstol de América (Tegucigalpa, 1954).Google Scholar

10 El Amigo de la Patria, March 1, 1822.