Separatist Movements

One of the greatest strengths of the United States was its purpose in uniting the many states and territories that bordered the 13 original colonies, which made up the northeast of that country. Under the philosophy of “manifest destiny,” the U.S. expanded its territory, obtaining the union of many states and lands belonging to other nations. In that way, the U.S. snatched away half of Mexico’s territory. The purpose was not only to access the Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, but also to extend U.S. power and territorial ambition to countries overseas.

From this territorial expansion was born the most powerful nation on Earth, since it maintained as a common denominator its democratic philosophy, shaped by the birth of capitalism and its three main tenets: respect for the Constitution and its laws, the liberty of man, and private property. Although the origin of the U.S. is open to criticism from the point of view of its expansion, the towns enclosed within America’s borders celebrated with joy to have joined such a rich and powerful nation full of prosperity.

With the birth of socialism/communism, the Soviet Union empowered itself by joining with the neighboring republics, especially after World War II. This was the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which, under the rule of communism, maintained that the social and political philosophy that united their great nation would last longer than Christianity. Unfortunately, the lack of democracy, liberty of man, and the right to property caused that nation to ruin itself. Now Mr. Putin, president of Russia and guardian of its former philosophy, desires to once again replicate the powerful nation that the Soviet Union once was.

In the great Canadian nation, there sprung forth a separatist movement in the French-speaking province of Quebec in 1959. The movement’s adherents could no longer put up with their theocratic and conservative provincial government, and in free elections changed their bearing, giving birth to the Separatist Party of Quebec. This party desired the independence of the province in order to rid itself of the weight of the English control that existed in Canada’s other nine provinces. In a referendum in the last years of the 20th century, the separatists were at the point of achieving their objective, but because of 1 percent of the electorate, they lost that great opportunity. However, the parties of pro-independence tendencies governed the province with such radical decisions that they wore down the people, and in the general election of this year, the Separatist Party lost by 75 percent of the vote.

In November of this year, the Catalonian people of the mother country will seek to become independent of the Spanish kingdom, through an illegal referendum that was not approved by the Spanish Constitution. They want Barcelona to be the capital of the new republic of Catalonia, a deplorable situation that would weaken the Spain of today and would make Catalonia a tiny country in the Eurozone. Although it is said that the voice of the people is above the weight of the law, we all long for the Catalonians to continue within the Spanish kingdom.

Scotland, which was joined with England in the year 1707, voted the day before yesterday for a separation from the United Kingdom, in a referendum that was indeed legal. And in accordance with the surveys of exit polls, 54 percent of the population said “no” to separation. Scotland is very important to the United Kingdom, like California, Texas or New York for the United States. We will know the final vote this Saturday and we hope that the “no” vote triumphs for the benefit of that great country.

In spite of the wisdom of Jose Cecilio del Valle and the military force of Morazán, who wanted to keep the region united, Central America was divided into five small and poor countries; our ancestors did not understand that a house divided usually fails. This month, the five countries of Central America celebrate their independence from the motherland, but we should begin to harbor in our thoughts the idea that a Central America divided is worth very little. Rather, a united Central American Isthmus can come out of poverty and misery and convert itself into a nation with democracy, liberty and fruitful work to fulfill the necessities of its more than 39 million inhabitants, who have the life, strength and spirit to continue forward.