Bolívar and the Legacy of the Amphictyonic Congress: Unity and Fragmentation in Latin America

In 2026, it will be two hundred years since the Amphictyonic Congress of Panama, convened by Simón Bolívar in 1826. Official celebrations tend to present the Congress as a symbol of historical unity, but rarely confront the fact that fragmentation has been a structural constant in Latin America. The Congress was held at a time of profound international uncertainty. Spain had not formally renounced its former colonies, and the possibility of reconquest was not a rhetorical fantasy but a real geopolitical risk. In this context, in 1823, President James Monroe proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine, summarized in the phrase "America for the Americans." Bolívar understood this ambiguity. His proposal was not to delegate continental security to an emerging power, but to build an autonomous system of defense and political concertation among the new republics. The idea of a league or confederation—inspired by the ancient Greek amphictyonic leagues—sought to institutionalize cooperation, establish arbitration mechanisms, and consolidate a common foreign policy. However, the project clashed with the political reality of the time. The Treaty of Union, League and Perpetual Confederation, signed in 1826, failed to achieve the full ratification necessary for its effective implementation. From a strictly institutional perspective, the Congress can be considered a failure. However, from a broader historical perspective, it constitutes a foundational precedent for Latin American integrationist thought. Organizations such as the Organization of American States, UNASUR, and CELAC, with nuances and limitations, reclaim the aspiration for regional concertation that Bolívar formulated in 1826. This is where the controversial dimension of the bicentenary lies. Two centuries later, the region continues to face similar challenges: economic dependence, structural asymmetries, political polarization, and competition between powers in a multipolar world. Commemorating the Congress in 2026 should imply more than protocolary acts and evocative speeches. It should be an opportunity to honestly debate the real degree of integration achieved and the limits of regional sovereignty in an international system marked by strategic rivalries. Bolívar anticipated that disunity would make the new republics vulnerable to external interests. What was initially enunciated as a defense of American sovereignty ended up, in various historical junctures, becoming an instrument of power projection. The question posed by the bicentenary is not only historical but deeply contemporary: is it possible today to build the collective autonomy that Bolívar imagined, or will we remain trapped between internal fragmentation and external influence? Two hundred years after the Amphictyonic Congress of Panama, the Bolivarian dream remains, simultaneously, an inspiring aspiration and an unfinished task.