The cult of ideas in Germán Carrera Damas

Abstract

The formula of the “cult of Bolivar” elaborated by Germán Carrera Damas in his homonym book is one of the most usual and original readings of the Venezuelan past. Carrera Damas argues that the permanence of images of the hero in the political scene, throughout Venezuelan history, is perceived as a corruption of the historical path that a nation should pursue. The logic of this argument is directly derived from the History of ideas, leading to a several problems of interpretative and methodological order. This article seeks to discuss these complications, considering the centrality of Carrera Damas’ thinking for the writing of Venezuelan history. From Elias Palti’s criticism of the History of ideas in Latin America and John Pocock’s  studies of political languages, we intend to deconstruct two perceptions of Carrera Damas historiography: first, that the cult of Bolivar is implicated in the Venezuelan sociopolitical backwardness; and secondly, that this phenomenon can be reduced to an instrumentalized ideology for social domination.