Colombia Could Be Caliban

After reading this article from Barnard College, I realized that Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest, connects to the colonization era in Colombia. Basically, in the play, Caliban gets taken his freedom away and is enslaved by Prospero. Throughout history, Caliban has been compared to an aborigine and a savage. The character's name originated from the word "cannibal" and Shakespeare's intentions with that choice are very clear. SInce he was a native from the land, he is seen as an anthropophagus and a savagely wild creature. That's why Prospero decides to enslave him and dominate him towards his own benefit. 

Many Latin American writers feel identified with this character in the sense of their countries' history, for many of the Latin American countries were filled with native people who were later enslaved just like Caliban. When Europeans got to America and interacted with the natives, they felt that these new beings were very hostile and they also decided to enslave them. They positioned themselves at a dominant place, just like Prospero. 

In Colombia's case, the original indian population that inhabited our country could be placed in the same position as Caliban. Our indigenous people were tortured and were taken their freedom away. As the article mentions it, their own culture was eliminated, and the mestizo culture was now created (mixture of native Colombians and Spaniards). There was nothing that either Caliban or Colombia could do in order to defend themselves from the "attacker". However, many famous Latin American figures have expressed their emotions towards this occurrence, such as Che Guevara and Ruben Dario. In Caliban's case, he simply wished the "red plague" upon Prospero and also that he could unlearn everything Prospero forced him to learn (ex: language).  After all, Colombia can really be considered a country of Calibans.