A great soldier and patriot, Simón Bolívar serves as an inspiration to all the peoples of the western hemisphere. Through turbulent and frustrating times, he had the vision to see that the unity of the Americas could be achieved … Bolívar's letter from Jamaica on September 6, 1815, poignantly expressed his dream of a union “with a single bond that unites its parts among themselves and to the whole.” With this aim in mind, he convoked the Congress of Panama in 1826, which signaled a decisive step toward the system of cooperation we enjoy today … On this occasion, we in the United States join with our hemispheric friends to remember the great hero whose ideals bind us closer together. Bolívar, more than any other figure in the history of the western hemisphere, understood that, while we are citizens of separate countries, we are members of one family in the new world – we are Americans.