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ThePatria Grande (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈpatɾjaˈɣɾande],Spanish: "Greater Fatherland" or "Greater Homeland") is the concept of a sharedhomeland or community encompassing all ofSpanish America, and sometimes all ofLatin America and theCaribbean. The term is associated with political ideas ofIbero-American integration, rejecting[dubious –discuss] the dissolution of theSpanish Empire in the Americas that followed theSpanish American wars of independence. The term may be also used to talk specifically about projects of Hispanic American unity held bySimón Bolívar andJosé de San Martín.
The name "Patria Grande" was first coined by the ArgentineManuel Ugarte, in his bookLa Patria Grande.[1] He gave speeches in many Hispanic American countries advocating their unification.[citation needed]
TheSpanish conquest of the Americas began in 1492, and ultimately was part of a larger historical process of worldcolonialism, through which variousEuropean powers incorporated a considerable amount of territory and peoples in the Americas, Asia, and Africa between the 15th and 20th centuries. Hispanic America became the main part of the vastSpanish Empire.
Napoleon'stakeover of Spain in 1808 and the consequent chaos initiated the dismemberment of the Spanish Empire, as the American territories began theirstruggle for emancipation. By 1830, the only remaining Spanish American colonies were the islands ofCuba andPuerto Rico. These were subsequently lost in the 1898Spanish–American War.[2]
President of BrazilLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva considers that theMercosur helps the social, political and economic integration of Latin America, and that thePatria Grande may not be achieved by closing doors.[3] This nickname has also been given by otherSouth American heads of state.[4]
Brazil's ambitions might be seen as different from the traditional idea of Patria Grande, though, as it is often argued that the country's historical foreign policy is shaped by the exclusion of Mexico and Central America (and the Caribbean, counted as Central America in the Portuguese sense of the term) as ideological and political cognates, seen as importantUS allies, with their paths in the opposite direction of interests central to its alleged project of a more sovereign, post-neoliberal, non-peripheral South America – or at least that of itsleft-leaning political parties and intelligentsia.[5]
The concept is well-known and used by leftist activists and leaders across South America as an important part of their ideology, like Argentina's former presidentCristina Fernández de Kirchner,[6] and Ecuador's former PresidentRafael Correa,[7][8] The most former of these, considered thatformer-President of Uruguay,Tabaré Vázquez, "assisted in consolidating the Patria Grande ideal."[9]
In 2012,then-Vice president of Argentina,Amado Boudou, stated his country's commitment to the ideal when visitingCochabamba in commemoration of Bolivia's independence bicentennial.[10] ForArgentina's bicentennial,Pope Francis "also prayed for that Patria Grande in our celebration: may the Lord take care of her, make her stronger, more sisterly and defend her from all kinds of colonizations."[11] Since its inception in 2014, theFestival Patria Grande, focused onLatin rock, has been held in Cuba.[12][13]Mangoré, for the love of art, a film based onAgustín Barrios' life was considered "an exaltation of the concept of a common and unique Latin American fatherland."[14]