Representaciones de Bolívar (1783-1830) en el centenario de su muerte en la Revista Cromos (1930)

This article explores some representations of Simón Bolívar, on the occasion of the centenary of his death, contained in a special issue that Cromos magazine dedicated to this commemoration on December 13, 1930. From the analysis of fifteen writings authored mostly by members of the Colombian Academy of History, the implications of heroizing Bolívar for the symbolic building of the nation and, more broadly, the American continent are discussed regarding time, space and population. Emphasizing the role that Spain and America play in the representation of the hero, it is noted how an ovation to Bolívar becomes an ode to Spain from the historical, cultural and racial point of view, while his Americanism stands out geographically and politically. It is shown that the praise for the Liberator’s epic abilities is accompanied by genealogical efforts to prove that he belonged to the European white race and to present the process of independence led by him as another phase of the civilizing mission that, since the Conquest, Spain had started in America. In short, the heroization of Bolívar entails disregard for the pre-Hispanic past and ignorance of the history prior to 1492, as well as a denigrating representation of his contemporaries. It is also concluded that, in line with the republicanism of the magazine, Cromos’s Bolívar is generally a republican Bolívar.