Copyright (c) 2026 Cuadernos Nacionales
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Amphictyonic Congress of Panama (1826), considered the first attempt at regional integration in Latin America, failed institutionally, producing no effective link among the new republics. This failure, however, did not prevent it from becoming one of the most representative symbols of regional integration. Intellectuals, diplomats, and governments reframed the defeat as the founding moment of a shared Latin American identity, transforming it into an enduring symbolic victory. This article argues that the Congress's survival is not explained by institutional success, but by its function as a political myth: a failure that endures precisely because it never had to deliver on its promise.
