It is typical of the novel that Decoud, who will repeat this remark to Antonia as a spoken fact, may not have heard it correctly in the first place, as he himself admits here.

Don Jose calls Decoud "my son" under the impression of his engagement to Antonia, but coming from the apostle of nationalism it also means that Decoud's Occidental Republic will be the "son" of Don Jose's Costaguana.

However, the most significant aspect of the remark -- the only one Decoud is certain of -- is that Don Jose invokes God rather than the Nation. This bespeaks the death of his national ideal, which is why it contains "the breath of his departing soul."