Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that he will send letters to the presidents of Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela, as well as to their opposition parties and grassroots social organizations, in an effort to reestablish the Gran Colombia. This vast republic, created by Simón Bolívar during the war of independence from Spain, existed from 1819 to 1831.

“I want to confess to you that this president wants us to revive Gran Colombia. And I even dare—knowing that we are not yet a majority, but we could be—to write letters to the presidents of Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama, to their opposition parties, to their indigenous organizations, to their youth … so that we can meet again and rebuild the great Gran Colombia confederation. I believe this is a dream that should not be forgotten, one that did not die with [Simón] Bolívar,” said the president at a mass event this Friday, April 25.

He also emphasized that Bolívar “was absolutely right” to found the republic and that those who advocated for its disintegration “and those who destroyed that dream with weapons” were “wrong.” “If Gran Colombia existed today under the power of its people, the Caribbean would be the mare nostrum, as the Romans said—a hotbed of culture,” he added.

To kick off his plan, Petro proposed holding an intercultural meeting on the 500th anniversary of the founding of Santa Marta, the city where national hero Simón Bolívar died.

“There in Santa Marta, we can shout with a Bolivarian and libertarian voice that the dream of Gran Colombia is reborn, and we will not let it die,” he concluded.

Gran Colombia was a republic composed of the provinces of New Granada (present-day Colombia and Panama), Venezuela, and Quito (present-day Ecuador). The capital and seat of government were in Bogotá, while provinces retained local authorities accountable to the central government.