Federation of the Andes

The Federation of the Andes was an 1826 proposal for a confederation of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia by Libertador Simón Bolivar.^[1] During the Spanish American wars of independence, Bolívar and his lieutenant Antonio José de Sucre played a decisive role in the in achieving the independence of the three countries and held considerable influence in them, by way of their armies and by being elected leaders of Colombia and Bolivia respectively. Because of a series of disagreements^{[further explanation needed]}, the project never came to be, and was later abandoned in favor of the independence of the aforementioned countries.^[2]

Federation of the Andes Federación de los Andes
Capital	Quito or Guayaquil
Common languages	Spanish
Religion	Catholicism
Government	Confederation (de jure, never implemented)
Historical era	Spanish American wars of independence

The project has been known under different names in the literature such as Confederation of the Andes (Confederación de los Andes),^[1][3][4] Federation of the Andes (Federación de los Andes),^[5][6] Bolivian Federation (Federación Boliviana)^[7][8][9] and Andean Federation (Federación Andina).^[10][11]

The plan required that the union be initiated in, and promoted by, Bolivia and Peru so as not to be seen in those countries as a Colombian imposition. For this reason, Antonio José de Sucre governed in the former while Bolívar tried to impose the plan in Lima.^[12] It was expected that Sucre would negotiate with the Peruvians to add them to the Federation.^[13] This would be done through plenipotentiaries.^[8] Once the Liberator's constitution was established in Bolivia, it was necessary to continue with Peru^[6] and finally with Colombia.^[9] To achieve this, he had to maintain Colombian troops in Peru and Bolivia, which increased the discontent that his lifelong constitutions already produced,^[14][15] because they were seen as the praetorian guards of his puppet governments.^[16]

See also

• Dissolution of Gran Colombia (1826–1831)
• Latin American integration
• Peruvian–Bolivian War of 1828
• Peru–Bolivian Confederation (1836–1839)
• Colombia–Peru War (1828–1829)
• Spanish American wars of independence (1809–1829)