Wielding their power, the conquistadors have destroyed the once beautiful harmony between man and nature. Dictators have employed the brute force of the "saber- (line 34) to multiply "prison bars- and to exploit the natural "treasure- of the Americas for economic gain; they have turned the people against each other in a terribly successful attempt to divide and conquer. Use of words such as "silvery,""(line 23), "mortgages,"" and "auctions-(line 35) reveal the monetary greed of the imperialists The allusion to Pennsylvania as the "new conquistadors- (line 40) is somewhat ironic, though it is an obvious reference to the United States' economic and political imperialism in Latin America. (Pennsylvania was once a colony of England; now, ironically, it colonizes other countries.) Implicating the United States by using the word "dollars,""(line 48) the speaker laments over the economic exploitation of the labor force and over the moral crumbling of young girls dancing the seemingly provocative "dance of the orangutan-(line 52). Thus, in both a figurative and literal sense, imperialism has destroyed Latin America. .
The poem shifts again in line 53 with the repetition of the impassioned phrase that began the ode: "Oh, pure Americas ."" Thus, the speaker is deeply saddened and melancholic as he recounts the current situation of his native Latin America. Throughout the past few lines, the speaker also revealed a sense of hostility towards the imperialists, blaming them for his country's problems. The speaker's recollections of the Americas' natural beauty, as exemplified by the imagery of "ocean waters,""(line 62) and "dizzying geography,""(line 64) reveal the great love he feels for Latin America and its potential for "sylvan freedom-(line 59) The allusion to the tyrants Machado, Batista, and Trujillo (line 56,57) serves as a powerful example of the imperialists' political oppression of Latin America and as a reminder of brother turned against brother (the three dictators are all Latin American natives).