Simón Bolívar and the Spectre of Pardocracia: José Padilla in Post-Independence Cartagena

Abstract

This article examines the tensions between the Gran Colombian republican constitution of 1821 and Simón Bolívar's fear of a mulatto takeover. It focuses on Cartagena in the 1820s, where the mulatto general José Padilla challenged the socio-racial hierarchy and accepted notions of equality of the city, heading a threeday coup in 1828 against Bolívar's attempt to impose a new authoritarian constitution. Padilla failed to rally the mostly African-derived population of Cartagena behind the republican views of Francisco de Paula Santander and was promptly executed. Using the protagonists' correspondence, manifestos, criminal investigations, consular reports and censuses, the article analyses the factors in the city's demography, political leadership and culture, and in the composition of its military forces, that explain Padilla's failure. It highlights the role played by race and by Bolívar's views of mulattos in the process.

Preserving Sunken Military Vessels as Underwater Cultural Heritage in Colombia: Legal Challenges and Prospects for the USS Kearsarge Wreck Site

“…The ARC has military sunken vessels from the early nineteenth to twentieth-first centuries, encompassing significant historical events such as the Independence War and the War of a Thousand Days (1899-1903) [108]. During the War of Independence, the main naval force in Cartagena de Indias was commanded by Admiral Jose Padilla, one of the few Colombia naval heroes who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar [109]. However, there are no official records of shipwrecks during the War of Independence from the "Patriotic Navy of Gran Colombia" [110] due to the loss or disappearance of files during the conflict [111].…”

Nonwhites and Brazilian independence in comparative perspective

“…the fear that pardos would organize, eliminate the white elite, and perhaps free the slaves (HELG, 2003). The fear of a slave revolt led the governor of the Dutch island of Curaçao to warn against introducing equality for free colored people.…”

Identidad, cultura y política. Perspectivas conceptuales, miradas empíricas

“…52 Citado en Safford, 1991. op cit. 53 Aline Helg, 2003. Simón Bolívar and the Spectre of Pardocracia: Jose Padilla in Post-Independence Cartagena.…”