He yearned to be the father of a federation of nations and said so very plainly to Santander. You rule Colombia, Bolívar told him, “so that I may be permitted to govern all South America.” It was why he would apply himself so vigorously to organizing the Congress of Panama. He knew this would not be easy. He had always made it clear that the continent could not function as a single, integrated country; the landmass was too sprawling, the population too diverse. To complicate matters, Spain had never encouraged camaraderie among its colonies—travel and commerce had been forbidden and punished
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