Therefore, the consolidation of a secretariat that would administer the diplomatic affairs of the republic was an instrument for the consolidation of the Colombian project of Bolívar and Santander, in order to unite the provinces of New Granada, Venezuela and Ecuador under a single country.
Likewise, Simón Bolívar, one day after the sanction of the Constitution on October 7, 1821 in Villa del Rosario de Cúcuta as the first decree signed for the office of the Secretary of the Interior and in accordance with the provisions of the constituent assembly, appointed the Venezuelan Pedro Gual as first secretary for foreign relations of the Republic of Colombia.
Then, in 1823, Gual, as the Republic’s foreign affairs secretary, informed Congress that after two years of service as the secretariat, the diplomatic missions sent to the United States, Portugal, and England had succeeded in making the first two countries recognized Colombian sovereignty and that the third party had declared trade with Colombian ports legal.
In this way, 200 years have passed since Gual expressed that the vision with which the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Relations had been created was to be the pillar of the public administration of the State and consolidate the nation-state project of the nascent republic. .
Pedro Gual stated that “The Ministry of Foreign Relations, which has always been the most essential part of the public administration, has thus received that consistency and unanimity that is essential to avoid exposing ourselves to the damages that premature and ill-considered negotiations have caused. to other countries. The Republic of Colombia has an unquestionable right not to deviate from this conduct, because it is absolutely indebted to itself for what it is. If it has not yet produced a completely advantageous result, at least the executive has the consolation of not having jeopardized the fate of the nation, of having made the principles known everywhere, and of hoping that it will not be long before they see their crowning glory. efforts with a happy success”.
Who is Pedro Gual?
Pedro José Ramón Gual Escandón was born on January 17, 1793 in Caracas. He is considered one of the first diplomats in America, participating in the creation of Colombia’s foreign policy in its beginnings as a country and then Venezuela, as head of the Presidency on three occasions.
It is aLawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and diplomat is considered one of the creators of the foreign policy of Venezuela and Greater Colombia. He completed his higher studies at the Royal and Pontifical University of Caracas, where he obtained the degrees of Licentiate and Doctor of Theology, culminating in 1808 in civil law.
In 1813, Gual traveled to Cartagena, where he published the newspaper “El Observador Colombiano”, in which he campaigned for unity of action between Venezuela and New Granada. In December of that year he was elected to a position in the Cartagena Provincial Legislature and appointed as president of one of its sections. In this position, he had to sign the decree declaring Simón Bolívar Benemérito de Cartagena and was commissioned by the Government to personally present said recognition to the Liberator in Caracas and at the same time confer with him about the creation of a confederation of Venezuela and the State of Cartagena.
In January 1815 he assumed the position of governor of the state of Cartagena. A short time later, the Cartagena government appointed him a diplomatic agent in the United States.
Then, when Simón Bolívar was elected president of the Republic of Colombia, Bolívar and Gual sent diplomatic missions to the south and to the north in order to conclude union and alliance treaties and to prepare the celebration of a congress of the new Spanish-American nations in Panama.
International relations
Once the seat of government was transferred to Bogotá, Gual deployed all his efforts to seek international recognition for the new republic, in particular initiating negotiations with the United States and England, which culminated satisfactorily in 1822 and 1825, respectively.
For this reason, Pedro Gual, already appointed as chancellor, considered the “true brain of the republic’s foreign policy”, wrote in his report to Congress in 1823: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has always been the most essential part of the public administration.” With this he sought to contribute to a renewed disciplinary approach between international relations, to better understand the historical place of Colombia in Latin America.
Of his ambitious continental policy, Gual wrote: “Nothing interests as much at this time as the formation of a truly American league. But this confederation must not be formed simply on the principles of an ordinary alliance for offense and defense; it must be much closer than the one that has been formed lately in Europe against the liberties of the peoples”.
“It is necessary that ours be a League of sister Nations separated for now in the exercise of their sovereignty by the course of human events, but united, strong and powerful to sustain themselves against the aggressions of foreign power. added.
“It is essential that you emphasize the need to lay the foundations of an Amphictyonic Corps or Plenipotentiary Assembly that gives impetus to the common interests of the American States, that settles the discords that may arise in the future between peoples that have the same customs and habits and that due to the lack of such a holy institution can perhaps ignite the disastrous wars that have devastated other less fortunate regions”, concluded Gual.