CAF and the Ecuadorian Embassy commemorate 180 years since the Meeting between Bolívar and San Martín

An encounter commemorating 180 years since the Guayaquil Meeting between the Liberator Simón Bolívar and General José de San Martín will be celebrated next Tuesday, July 30th, at the headquarters of Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), to which distinguished personalities of the academic, cultural and political world have been invited.

Said encounter has been organized by CAF together with the Ecuadorian Embassy and is being held within the framework of the II Summit of South American Presidents which took place in Guayaquil, Ecuador on July 26 and 27.

The event’s inauguration will be in the hands of the Ambassador of Ecuador in Venezuela, Paulina García Donoso de Larrea and it will be brought to a close by CAF’s Chief Executive Officer, Enrique García, who attended the Summit of South American Presidents as a guest.

Speakers who will contribute to this theme will be the Ambassador of Argentina in Caracas, Roberto Villambrosa, Historian and former President of Venezuela, Ramón J. Velásquez; the President of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language and former Ambassador of Venezuela in Quito, José Luis Salcedo Bastardo and the writer, Lupe Rumazo, Cultural Attaché of the Ecuadorian Embassy in Venezuela, who will analyze the Meeting from the literary point of view.

Three historical characters will be the center of the event: The Liberator Simón Bolívar, General San Martín and Marshal Antonio José de Sucre, whose actions in Ecuador since 1821 was decisive for this Meeting to take place. On January 21, 1821, Sucre was named Commissioner by Simón Bolívar before the government of Guayaquil, Cuenca and all other free towns and provinces controlled by Quito’s Presidency, and made it possible for the Liberators to meet on May 24, 1822.

The spirit of the Meeting between Bolívar and San Martín was “cordial, sincere and affectionate”, according to Historian Alfonso Rumazo González’s description in his biography “José de San Martín”. Both Liberators had the Federation Project as the decisive subject matter for this meeting, the objective of which was to forge a Nation of Republics.

On July 29, the Liberator wrote Vice President Santander: “The Protector has offered me his eternal friendship towards Colombia; to intervene in favor of the boundary arrangement, not to mingle in Guayaquil’s business; a complete and absolute Federation even though it may only be with Colombia, which should be the residence of Guayaquil’s Congress; he has agreed to send a delegate on behalf of Peru to discuss, jointly with us, Spain’s business with its envoys; he has also recommended Mosquera to Chile and Buenos Aires so that they would accept the Federation; he wishes that we had exchangeable garrisons in one and another State. Finally, he wishes that all will go well under the aspect of the Union, because he knows that, without it, there cannot be peace and quiet”.

Taking this intention as the base for the “Union of Republics” that encouraged the Liberators, the Ecuadorian Embassy and Corporación Andina de Fomento honor the commemoration of the 180 years since the Guayaquil Meeting.