@ -31,11 +31,13 @@ The United States was ceded in 1846 by Great Britain, Oregon in the Northwest, a
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, this policy of expansion allowed the formation of a vast territory and, after the Civil War – which diverted the attention and efforts of the North Americans to internal problems – the United States will focus on establishing its political and economic domination in Latin America, replacing English hegemony and engaging in a process of development and industrialization that will place it in the twentieth century at the head of the capitalist countries.
These few lines have the ambition to tell the story of the imperialist interventions in Latin America, which helped in a significant way to increase the strength of the one that would become the first power on the planet and the spearhead of world capitalism.
The interventionist policy of the United States manifested itself very early in Latin America. Although north Americans had a major adversary in this area — Great Britain — they had always looked with lust at the territories that for three centuries had been subject to Spanish colonial rule and that, at the beginning of the nineteenth century — after their independence — experienced long periods of anarchy, the result of the infighting that developed in almost all the young republics.
The process of territorial expansion of the United States began at the end of the eighteenth century. The border being “elastic” to the west, they acquired various territories between 1792 and 1821 \footnote{Vermont, in 1791, Kentucky, in 1792, Tennessee, in 1796.
The latter two territories, along with Mississippi, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, were acquired by the Union in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
Others, further west, were bought from Bonaparte in 1803.}.
The process continued further west and south, where the voracity of the Union swallowed great extensions of the “middlewest” obtained through the cession or purchase of territories to the European powers.
Purchase and disposal made on the backs of the indigenous populations – “the red skins” – who were turned away and/or exterminated.
This is how the United States managed to significantly increase its initial territory.
@ -61,7 +63,8 @@ He warned in 1812 — at the time of the second war between the Union and Great
\begin{quote}
\enquote{This government has proposed nothing more and nothing less, to fix its borders from the mouth of the Rio Bravo...
in a straight line towards the Pacific, including the provinces of Texas, Nuevo Santander, Coahuila and part of Nueva Viscaya and Sonora...
It may sound delusional, but it is a fact that the project exists and that they have made a map that includes Cuba as an integral part of this republic.}\end{quote}\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit., p.. 13.}
It may sound delusional, but it is a fact that the project exists and that they have made a map that includes Cuba as an integral part of this republic.}\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit., p.. 13.}
\end{quote}
Cuba, already in the sights of the United States.
@ -69,9 +72,11 @@ Ferdinand VII's Spain — put back on its throne after the Napoleonic episode
But interests diverged between the imperialist powers.
England, which had been the first beneficiary of the loss of Spain's American colonies, was unwilling for Spanish power to return in force to its former possessions.
Thus, around the second decade of the nineteenth century, when the Spanish monarchy wanted to start the war again to reconquer its former territories, it found in the front line to oppose it, His Most Gracious Majesty who attempted a kind of agreement with the United States.
The British minister, George Canning, invited the North Americans to make common cause and oppose the Spanish claim.
It was then that former President Jefferson replied to President Monroe who was consulting him on the attitude to have towards the European powers:
\begin{quote}
@ -85,13 +90,14 @@ Later the former Yankee president clarified his thought:
\begin{quote}
\enquote{We must ask ourselves the following question: do we wish to acquire for our Confederation, some Spanish-American provinces? ...
I sincerely admit that I have always been of the opinion that Cuba would be the most interesting addition we could make to our system of states...
Domination on this island and Florida would give us control of the Gulf of Mexico and the Isthmus states...}
\end{quote}\footnote{Ibid., p. 15.}
Domination on this island and Florida would give us control of the Gulf of Mexico and the Isthmus states...}\footnote{Ibid., p. 15.}
\end{quote}
Florida fell into Yankee hands in 1819. Cuba, the obsession with American diplomacy, will be reduced to the state of protectorate in 1898.
A few weeks later, President Monroe in his annual message to the nation would set the guidelines that the diplomacy of the United States should adopt in the face of the desires shown by the European powers towards the Spanish-American nations.
It was what has since been called the “Monroe Doctrine.”
It was what has since been called the “Monroe Doctrine”.
Taking up a number of ideas already set out by Washington and Hamilton, Monroe announced that the United States would not interfere in European affairs and would adopt an attitude of strict neutrality.
On the other hand, the Union would guarantee the independence of the Spanish-American countries, opposing Spain's reconquest of its former colonies on the continent, and any attempt to do so by any other European power.
@ -106,8 +112,8 @@ On the other hand, Monroe, reaffirming North American neutrality in European aff
\begin{quote}
\enquote{In the wars between the European powers and in the affairs within their jurisdiction, we have never taken sides...
Our policy towards Europe – which was adopted at the beginning of the wars that have recently shaken it – remains unchanged:
not to interfere in their internal affairs and to regard de facto governments as legitimate.}
\end{quote}\footnote{Ibid., p. 19.}
not to interfere in their internal affairs and to regard de facto governments as legitimate.}\footnote{Ibid., p. 19.}
\end{quote}
Although the “Monroe Doctrine” deterred the European powers in their dreams of reconquest, it could not prevent their interference and intervention on several occasions:
England played an important role in La Plata, and succeeded in creating a buffer state in 1828 between Brazil and Argentina, separating from the Provincias Unidas, the Eastern Strip, Uruguay.
@ -168,12 +174,12 @@ The United States then took advantage of this opportunity, which favoured its ex
Mexico, for its part, intended to enforce its sovereignty and sent the famous General Santa Anna.
After some successes of the Mexican armies at San Patricio, Encinal del Perdido and El Alamo — which the newspapers presented to the public opinion of the United States as the defeat of a sublime cause — Santa Anna was defeated on April 21, 1836 in San Jacinto.
Taken prisoner, he was forced to sign a Leonine Agreement (“Convenio Publico”) at Puerto Velasco on May 14, 1836, where it was agreed that the Mexicans would withdraw from Texas on the southern edge of the Rio Bravo.
The agreement provided that “all special properties, including horses, black slaves, in the hands of the Mexican army or passed on the side of this army, shall be returned to the commander of the Texas forces”\footnote{Leopoldo Martinez Caroza, La intervenciôn norteamericana en Mexico, 1846-1848, Panorama Editorial, Mexico, 1985, p. 19.}.
The agreement provided that “all special properties, including horses, black slaves, in the hands of the Mexican army or passed on the side of this army, shall be returned to the commander of the Texas forces”\footnote{Leopoldo Martinez Caroza, La intervenciôn norteamericana en Mexico, 1846-1848, Panorama Editorial, Mexico, 1985, p. 19.}.
The better-equipped Texas troops had imposed an agreement that, twelve years later, would play an important role in the carving up of more than half of Mexico's territories.
North American support for Texas adventurers was confirmed in the forties by President John Tyler, who said of the separation of Texas from Mexico:
“The mere probability that slavery could be abolished in neighbouring territories must be sufficient grounds for annexing them.”\footnote{Ibid., p. 27}
“The mere probability that slavery could be abolished in neighbouring territories must be sufficient grounds for annexing them.”\footnote{Ibid., p. 27}
In 1845, Texas entered the Union as a slave state. The election campaign led by Tyler's successor, James Polk — President of the United States between 1846 and 1850 — had been:
“Annexation of Texas. 54°/40', or death”. (He was referring to the Yankee border and the territories torn from Mexico.)
@ -190,6 +196,7 @@ an armed “scientific expedition”, sent by President Polk, and in January 184
He had to re-embark against the firmness of the Mexican authorities.
The pretext sought by the United States was provided by a clash between two border patrols of the respective armies on April 24, 1846, in the hamlet of “Carricitos”, in Mexican territory.
Polk announced a few days later, in Congress, that Mexico had invaded the territory of the United States and shed North American blood.
War was immediately declared and only a few prominent voices were raised to condemn the planned Anschluss. Among them, Abraham Lincoln, Representative of Illinois:
@ -248,6 +255,7 @@ It was then that the Water Witch, a North American Navy ship that, exceeding the
Authorizations for peaceful passage were suspended and a presidential decree banned the navigation of foreign warships.
On February 1, 1855, the Water Witch, ignoring the Paraguayan decree, attempted to force a dam on the Parana.
The officer of the Paraguayan garrison of Fort Itapiru who controlled the passage of the ships ordered him to turn back, then fired two warning shots blank.
Faced with the refusal to comply, a cannon shot destroyed the rudder, killing the helmsman of the Yankee ship.
The Water Witch was then swept away by the waters of the river and had to retreat.
@ -257,7 +265,8 @@ Finally, in May 1857, the United States Congress approved the dispatch of a “s
The toast to the company's success was greeted by one of the officers, according to Pablo Max Ynfrans, with an overflowing flight of geopolitical exuberance:
\begin{quote}
\enquote{I raise my glass... so that our difficulties with Paraguay end and we end up annexing the entire basin of the Rio de la Plata...}\end{quote}\footnote{Ibid., vol. II, p. 42.}
\enquote{I raise my glass... so that our difficulties with Paraguay end and we end up annexing the entire basin of the Rio de la Plata...}\footnote{Ibid., vol. II, p. 42.}
\end{quote}
This wish, fortunately, will not be granted.
@ -271,7 +280,7 @@ The United States and Paraguay Navigation Company, for its part, continued a lon
By the mid-nineteenth century, the conflict of interest between Britain and the United States for control of the Caribbean worsened.
The two countries were led to sign the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty by which the contracting parties declared that they were working for the construction of an interoceanic canal in Nicaraguan territory, without informing Nicaragua of this.
They recognized each other's prerogatives in its future use and asserted that they had no intention of building fortifications or “occupying Nicaragua... nor to exercise domination over any territory of Central America...”\footnote{Lemaitre Eduardo, Panamá y su separación de Colombia, Ediciones Corralito de Piedra, Bogota, 1972, p. 66.}
They recognized each other's prerogatives in its future use and asserted that they had no intention of building fortifications or “occupying Nicaragua... nor to exercise domination over any territory of Central America...”\footnote{Lemaitre Eduardo, Panamá y su separación de Colombia, Ediciones Corralito de Piedra, Bogota, 1972, p. 66.}
Nicaragua lived, in the fifties of the nineteenth century, like many states in the region, in the midst of continuous civil wars.
In 1854, a conflict between liberals and conservatives escalated into an international conflict: the liberals called for help from Yankee mercenaries. The time for the buccaneers had arrived.
@ -289,8 +298,10 @@ The end of the century nevertheless marked the rise of the United States in the
Entangled in their Civil War in the 60s, they then very firmly demanded the departure of French troops from Mexico.
They intended to remain the only masters in Central America and succeed in making the Caribbean a new Mare Nostrum.
The desire for North American expansion, which would result in an active foreign policy, is dated back to the late nineteenth century.
However, this desire for expansion, as we have seen, has existed for a long time at the expense of the Latin American nations.
What is true, however, is that at the end of the nineteenth century, the United States effectively entered the world international scene, replacing in Latin America the hegemonic role held until then by the British.
The United States had become a great industrial power and had reached an imperialist phase that was now vying the other powers for its share in world affairs.
@ -305,18 +316,20 @@ strategic in the Yankee Mare Nostrum. The project reveals a interest that goes
In his project, Grant claimed that Santo Domingo was a weak nation, but that its territories were rich, “the richest that exist under the sun, capable of accommodating in luxury 10 million human beings...
The acquisition of Santo Domingo suits us by its position... would give us control over all the islands I told you about...
The acquisition of Santo Domingo... is a national security measure... it is a question of ensuring the control of the commercial traffic of Darien (Panama) and of resolving the unfortunate situation in which Cuba finds itself...”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 41.}
The acquisition of Santo Domingo... is a national security measure... it is a question of ensuring the control of the commercial traffic of Darien (Panama) and of resolving the unfortunate situation in which Cuba finds itself...”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 41.}
From the “belly of the beast”, and in front of the plans for annexation of Santo Domingo and Cuba, the pen of the apostle of Cuban independence, José Marti, rose in New York on March 21, 1889.
Marti addressed a clarification to The Manufacturer where he stigmatized the unignified Cubans who called for the outright annexation of the island by the United States:
\begin{quote}
\enquote{No dignified Cuban can want to see his country united with another... Those who went to war and were exiled... Those who build with their work... a fireplace,
... engineers, teachers, journalists, lawyers and poets... do not desire annexation by the United States and are suspicious of the evil elements who, like gusanos in blood,
have begun their work of destruction...}\end{quote}\footnote{Ibid., p. 43.}
have begun their work of destruction...}\footnote{Ibid., p. 43.}
\end{quote}
The United States, imbued with a very strong nationalist sentiment — it was the time of “Jingoism”\footnote{Jingoism: “English term synonymous with patriotic chauvinism”, Universalis.} — went so far as to consider an intervention against distant Chile.
Indeed, in 1891 took place the Baltimore incident in Valparaiso\footnote{Vial Gonzalo, Historia de Chile, vol. II (1891-1920), Santillana editions, Santiago de Chile, 1983.}.
The United States, imbued with a very strong nationalist sentiment — it was the time of “Jingoism”\footnote{Jingoism: “English term synonymous with patriotic chauvinism”, Universalis.} — went so far as to consider an intervention against distant Chile.
Indeed, in 1891 took place the Baltimore incident in Valparaiso\footnote{Vial Gonzalo, Historia de Chile, vol. II (1891-1920), Santillana editions, Santiago de Chile, 1983.}.
The Baltimore was a 4,600-ton Yankee warship that had just been built in England. It had the reputation of being “the fastest boat in the world.”
It was in front of the Chilean coasts as soon as April 1891 — during the civil war that had broken out against President Balmaceda — its mission being to protect North American nationals.
@ -327,7 +340,7 @@ As a result of the general brawl, several sailors were wounded with knives. Two
However, in a banal brawl, the United States engaged in an international conflict, blaming the new Chilean government — which, supported by London, had just won the civil war against President Balmaceda — and adopted an arrogant attitude that the Chilean government deemed unacceptable.
The war preparations of Benjamin Harrison's North American government were well advanced.
Gonzalo Vial reports that the father of the “naval power” himself, Alfred Mahan was called for consultations in Washington\footnote{Gonzalo Vial, op. cit. cit., p. 165.}.
Gonzalo Vial reports that the father of the “naval power” himself, Alfred Mahan was called for consultations in Washington\footnote{Gonzalo Vial, op. cit. cit., p. 165.}.
The Chilean government bowed to the threat of the use of force and agreed to apologize to the United States, compensated the families of the sailors, and withdrew expressions held by Foreign Minister Manuel Antonio Matta, considered offensive by North Americans.
@ -335,7 +348,7 @@ In reality, the conflict of interest between the United States and Great Britain
Thus, three years later, in 1895, there was a border conflict between Venezuela and the colonial georgetown government in British Guiana.
Faced with British war preparations, the United States warned Britain that it would not tolerate intervention.
And President Cleveland's Secretary of State instructed his ambassador in London to do so, saying that the rights of the United States were born of “its infinite resources.”
And President Cleveland's Secretary of State instructed his ambassador in London to do so, saying that the rights of the United States were born of “its infinite resources”.
At the end of the century, Yankee interventions multiplied: Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Cuba, Guam, Samoa, the ports of China and Panama.
Dismayed, Mark Twain wrote: “Let us paint the white stripes black and add the shins and skull where the stars are placed.”
@ -345,7 +358,9 @@ Dismayed, Mark Twain wrote: “Let us paint the white stripes black and add the
Since 1868, Cuban patriots had taken up arms against the Spanish colonial power. Defeated after ten years of fighting, they started the war again in 1895.
They had achieved success in the war. Victory and independence were within their reach. It was then that the United States hastened to intervene.
They had achieved success in the war. Victory and independence were within their reach.
It was then that the United States hastened to intervene.
Yankee investments in the island's sugar plantations and mines were significant, and U.S. leaders did not hesitate to say publicly that, to them, Cuban sugar was of vital importance, like wheat and cotton from India and Egypt to Britain.
@ -366,21 +381,22 @@ It was Wood himself who convened a constituent assembly.
An amendment drafted by Connecticut Senator Orville Platt was then introduced, despite opposition from several constituents who considered it an unacceptable interference that violated Cuba's sovereignty and independence.
In Havana, demonstrations broke out against this diktat and Governor Wood issued an ultimatum:
“The United States will continue to occupy the island until a Cuban government is organized, whose constitution bears, as an integral part of it, all the precepts of the Platt Amendment.”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 53.}
“The United States will continue to occupy the island until a Cuban government is organized, whose constitution bears, as an integral part of it, all the precepts of the Platt Amendment.”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 53.}
The Platt amendment was a blatant demonstration of the state of vassalization in which Cuba had been placed. On May 23, 1903, it was incorporated into the constitution.
It was only in 1934 that certain clauses were amended. Here are some pearls:
Article I: “The Government of Cuba shall not sign any agreement which allows a foreign power to obtain, for naval or military purposes, a part of the island...”
Article I: “The Government of Cuba shall not sign any agreement which allows a foreign power to obtain, for naval or military purposes, a part of the island...”
Article III was particularly humiliating:
“The government of Cuba consents to the United States being able to exercise the right to intervene to preserve Cuban independence (sic!) and the maintenance of an adequate government for the protection of life, property...”
“The government of Cuba consents to the United States being able to exercise the right to intervene to preserve Cuban independence (sic!) and the maintenance of an adequate government for the protection of life, property...”
Article VII gave the right to establish military bases on Cuban territory. Guantanamo is, in the news, living proof of a supposedly bygone era.
Governor Wood was not mistaken when, in a letter to Roosevelt in 1903, he wrote:
\begin{quote}
\enquote{Little, if any, independence has left Cuba with the Platt Amendment. The most sensitive Cubans understand this and think that the only positive thing left for them to do is to call for annexation.}\end{quote}\footnote{Ibid., p. 55.}
\enquote{Little, if any, independence has left Cuba with the Platt Amendment. The most sensitive Cubans understand this and think that the only positive thing left for them to do is to call for annexation.}\footnote{Ibid., p. 55.}
\end{quote}
Invoking the amendment, the Yankee troops will land several times: in 1906, 1912, 1917.
It was only in 1934 that Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to withdraw certain clauses, particularly binding.
@ -401,7 +417,7 @@ On December 6, 1904, in his annual message, the North American president stated:
“If a nation demonstrates that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and in a decent manner... if it maintains internal order and pays its debts, it will not need the intervention of the United States... Mistakes... or impotence... can force the United States... to exercise an international police role...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 64.}
A year after Roosevelt — who had been New York's police chief — warned in his annual message to Latin American nations that he intended not to apply the “Monroe Doctrine,” that is, not to prevent the punitive actions of foreign powers in the continent:
“If a republic of the South... makes a mistake against any nation... The Monroe Doctrine would not require us to intervene to prevent the punishment of fault, except to prevent punishment from turning into an occupation of the territory...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 66.}
“If a republic of the South... makes a mistake against any nation... The Monroe Doctrine would not require us to intervene to prevent the punishment of fault, except to prevent punishment from turning into an occupation of the territory...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 66.}
Roosevelt's two speeches will serve as a justification for the Yankee imperialist policy that will result in interventions in Panama, Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Santo Domingo.
The Big Stick policy — “speak softly and take with you a big stick” — would be the official policy of the Yankee government for the first decades of the century.
@ -432,12 +448,13 @@ Several draft treaties were submitted by the Yankee companies to the Colombians,
Yankee Ambassador Sullivan wrote to his government in 1869:
\begin{quote}
\enquote{If you want to get the rights to the canal through a route that is not a treaty, things can be easier in the Colombian Congress with some funds from the secret service.}\end{quote}\footnote{Lemaitre Edouardo, op. cit., p. 75.}.
\enquote{If you want to get the rights to the canal through a route that is not a treaty, things can be easier in the Colombian Congress with some funds from the secret service.}\footnote{Lemaitre Edouardo, op. cit., p. 75.}.
\end{quote}
But, despite North American efforts, it was Lucien Bonaparte Wyse — grandson of Lucien Bonaparte — who, between 1878 and 1880, obtained, for the French of the “International Civil Society”, ”the exclusive privilege for the execution and exploitation through his territory of a maritime canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific”\footnote{Ibid., p. 95.}.
U.S. President Rutherford Hayes threatened and declared that he wanted to break through another canal in Nicaragua.
He warned the international community by demanding “the right to exercise an exclusive protectorate on the canal that the French plan to break into Colombian territory.”\footnote{Ibid., p. 128.}
He warned the international community by demanding “the right to exercise an exclusive protectorate on the canal that the French plan to break into Colombian territory.”\footnote{Ibid., p. 128.}
Wyse convinced Ferdinand de Lesseps – the builder of the Suez Canal in 1869 – to take charge of the work, financed by a loan launched by the “Universal Company of the Inter-Oceanic Canal”.
@ -445,19 +462,20 @@ But in the following years a great financial scandal broke out which, together w
It was then that a French adventurer, liquidator of the company, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, intervened, who tried to sell to the United States the rights to the concession of the canal.
At the same time, Britain freed them from the commitments made in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and they were able to draft a treaty with Colombia (Herran-Clay Treaty), which was to be ratified by the Bogota Congress.
The majority of Colombian senators considered the project to be an attack on Colombia's sovereignty, and on August 12, 1903, refused to ratify it.
Faced with this refusal, the United States provoked the secession and uprising of the Colombian province of Panama.
One day before the Declaration of Independence, on November 3, 1903, the State Department sent a cable to the Yankee consul in Panama:
“Inform the Department as soon as the uprising takes place... Not yet, the uprising must occur during the night....”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 57.}.
“Inform the Department as soon as the uprising takes place... Not yet, the uprising must occur during the night....”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 57.}.
The uprising was proclaimed and a junta was formed in Puerto Colon.
Yankee troops disembarked from ships, which conveniently were on the spot and which prevented the Colombian forces from putting down the rebellion.
On November 6, the United States recognized Panama's “independence.”
Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a French citizen — who had taken part in the rebellion without moving from the 1162 suite of the Waldorf Astoria in New York — later acknowledged that the idea of secession had been discussed with President Roosevelt\footnote{Buneau Varilla Philippe, From Panama to Verdun, p. 162 et seq.}.
Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a French citizen — who had taken part in the rebellion without moving from the 1162 suite of the Waldorf Astoria in New York — later acknowledged that the idea of secession had been discussed with President Roosevelt\footnote{Buneau Varilla Philippe, From Panama to Verdun, p. 162 et seq.}.
He was hastily appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of Panama by the junta and on 18 November in Washington signed with Secretary of State Hay — a day before the panamanian envoys arrived — a Leonine treaty that mortgaged the sovereignty of the isthmus in perpetuity.
@ -480,11 +498,11 @@ Remon and Torrijos will die in two mysterious aviation accidents.
The Caribbean area was a privileged place where North American armed interventions were concentrated.
In 1901, the first intervention of the century was carried out in Nicaragua, and in 1903, as we saw in Panama.
The canal opened a new path for manifest destinity.
The canal opened a new path for \emph{manifest destinity}.
It was in 1905 that, “answering the call” of several leaders of the Dominican oligarchy, the future Nobel Prize, “Teddy” Roosevelt, installed — with the support of the Marines — Yankee tax collectors in the customs of Santo Domingo... The presence of diligent experts lasted four years.
Secretary of State Elihu Root signaled in those years that interventions would take place “whenever North American capital was in danger”\footnote{Castor Sucy, La ocupaciôn norteamericana de Haitî y sus consecuencias, Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1974, p. 22.}.
Secretary of State Elihu Root signaled in those years that interventions would take place “whenever North American capital was in danger”\footnote{Castor Sucy, La ocupaciôn norteamericana de Haitî y sus consecuencias, Casa de las Américas, La Habana, 1974, p. 22.}.
A new landing of marines in 1916 put Santo Domingo under the Yankee boot until 1924.
@ -505,7 +523,7 @@ A true state within a state, it had signed a first contract in 1901 with the Gua
By the end of the Great War, the United States had begun to oust European influence — mainly British, but also German and French — from Latin America.
Over this period, Cardoso and Faletto report that “... the American presence expanded rapidly...
The countries of the Pacific coast were fully incorporated into the economy of the United States and those of the Atlantic, such as Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, fell under its influence.” \footnote{Cardoso F. H. and E. Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America, PUF, 1983, p. 83.}
The countries of the Pacific coast were fully incorporated into the economy of the United States and those of the Atlantic, such as Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, fell under its influence”.\footnote{Cardoso F. H. and E. Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America, PUF, 1983, p. 83.}
From the end of the twenties, North American capital will exercise an undeniable preponderance in the region.
@ -530,7 +548,7 @@ Unacceptable demands for reparation were addressed to the Mexicans and, at the e
On the 20th the landing took place in Veracruz. Despite fierce resistance, Yankee troops managed to seize the city and get their hands on \$8 million that was in the coffers of customs.
On the same day, President Wilson addressed Congress for approval “so that the armed forces of the United States may be employed (against) General Huerta... and obtain from him the recognition of our rights...”\footnote{Carlos Machado, \emph{Documentos, op. cit.}, p. 75.}
On the same day, President Wilson addressed Congress for approval “so that the armed forces of the United States may be employed (against) General Huerta... and obtain from him the recognition of our rights...”\footnote{Carlos Machado, \emph{Documentos, op. cit.}, p. 75.}
Five years later, in 1919, Woodrow Wilson was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
@ -549,7 +567,7 @@ He played a leading role in the conflict between the government of Davilmar Theo
On December 17, 1914, at his request, marines from the cruiser Machias disembarked and took away \$500,000 belonging to Haiti from the vaults of the Haitian National Bank.
Faced with protests from the Haitian government, Secretary of State Bryan signaled that the United States must “protect North American interests that were under threat,” adding that this was “a simple transfer of funds”\footnote{Castor Sucy, op. cit. cit., p. 28.}.
Faced with protests from the Haitian government, Secretary of State Bryan signaled that the United States must “protect North American interests that were under threat,” adding that this was “a simple transfer of funds”\footnote{Castor Sucy, op. cit. cit., p. 28.}.
Pressure from Yankee businessmen, addressed to the State Department, wanted to push it to seize control of Haitian customs.
@ -564,7 +582,7 @@ It was Capperton himself who gave the green light for the appointment of Sudre D
Three days later, the draft agreement with the United States was submitted to deputies and senators.
The conditions were so humiliating for Haiti that within this submissive assembly there were voices of protest:
“According to the statements of their agents, the government of the United States — in the name of humanity — carried out a humanitarian intervention in our country and, with its bayonets..., its guns and its cruisers, presented us with a project.
So what is this project? A protectorate imposed on Haiti by mister Wilson...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 35.}
So what is this project? A protectorate imposed on Haiti by mister Wilson...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 35.}
The project was approved on 16 November. In 1918 a new constitution was promulgated, the inspiration and one of the drafters of which was the undersecretary of the Yankee Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, theorist of the doctrine of "good neighborliness".
@ -579,6 +597,7 @@ This, in addition to the systematic repression of the campaigns carried out by t
from 23,490 in 1915, the number rose in 1920 to more than 30,000. Another migratory flow headed for Santo Domingo.
The shameless collaboration of the bourgeois elites was counterbalanced by the epic of the “Cacos” of Charlemagne Peralte, who for four years (1915-1919), practiced a guerrilla war and stood up to the occupying troops before being treacherously murdered.
The marines did not leave Haitian territory until July 1934.
@ -593,13 +612,13 @@ In December 1926, Vice President Juan Bautista Sacasa led a force to restore leg
One of the liberal leaders, Augusto César Sandino, opposed it and returned to the northern mountains.
On January 10, 1927, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, in his annual message, explained that the Yankee intervention had proved necessary because “now we have great investments in sawmills, mines, coffee and bananas plantations...
If the revolution continued, North American investment would be seriously affected... ”Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 85.
If the revolution continued, North American investment would be seriously affected... ”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 85.}
Sandino and his “crazy little army” will resist victoriously in the mountains for six years the Yankee troops, who engaged in looting and bombing the countryside and villages.
Sandino turned the struggle for the restoration of flouted legality into a war of national liberation against the foreign occupier:
“I am fighting to expel the foreign invader from my homeland...
The only way to put an end to this struggle is for the forces that have invaded the national soil to withdraw immediately...”Du rêve à la Révolution, Solidarité Nicaragua N° 3, Paris, 1982, p. 5.
The only way to put an end to this struggle is for the forces that have invaded the national soil to withdraw immediately...”\footnote{Du rêve à la Révolution, Solidarité Nicaragua N° 3, Paris, 1982, p. 5.}
Faced with the impossibility of a military victory, the United States pushed for a political agreement:
Sacasa, the vice president became president as Sandino demanded and the marines left Nicaragua in January 1933.
@ -630,17 +649,19 @@ The Life Conference of American States meeting in Havana in 1928 condemned Yanke
At the VII Conference of 1933 in Montevideo, Franklin D. Roosevelt had to set out the Good Neighbour Policy, and the conference in the section on “Rights and Duties” stated:
\begin{quote}
\enquote{No State has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of another State.”}\end{quote}\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 87.}
\enquote{No State has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of another State.”}\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit. cit., p. 87.}
\end{quote}
Yankee Secretary of State Cordell Hull voted for the article “with reservation,” but avoided a condemnation of U.S. customs protectionism.
Then, the VIII Conference, held in Lima, authorized the meetings of consultations of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
It was during the Second World War that these meetings took place and the United States imposed on the Latin American countries the severance of diplomatic relations with the Axis.
Only Chile and Argentina refused to bend. It was not until 1944 that the Argentine government broke with Germany and Japan, which provoked a coup, organized by soldiers who disagreed with this decision.
In 1945, the “Chapultepec Act”, approved on the occasion of the “Inter-American Conference on the Problems of War and Peace”, celebrated in Mexico — where the absence of Argentina had been noticed — committed the countries of the New World to face the aggressor together in the event of an attack.
Article 3 specified that: “Any aggression ... against an American state will be considered aggression against the signatory states.”\footnote{Ibid., p. 89.}
Article 3 specified that: “Any aggression ... against an American state will be considered aggression against the signatory states.”\footnote{Ibid., p. 89.}
This provision, which should have played fully in 1982, on the occasion of the Falklands War, was not applied.
@ -654,15 +675,17 @@ The quarrel between Argentina and the United States dated back to the time of th
Accused of pro-fascist sympathies, he participated in the military movement of 1943 and became Minister of Labour, then of War in 1944.
He advocated a nationalist policy that offended North American interests, and the United States worked hard for him.
The Yankee ambassador in Buenos Aires, Sprulle Braden, a man with the Esso oil company, led an openly anti-Peronist campaign.
Supported by the Communists, he intervened in the current presidential campaign, publishing a “Blue Book” in which he accused Perón as a Nazi.
Perón retaliated in a “Blue and White Book,” where he asserted that the United States wanted to ”install... a government of their own, a puppet government, and for this they began by ensuring the assistance of all the “Quisling” available. ” \footnote{Ibidem, p. 90.}
Perón retaliated in a “Blue and White Book,” where he asserted that the United States wanted to ”install... a government of their own, a puppet government, and for this they began by ensuring the assistance of all the “Quisling” available.”\footnote{Ibidem, p. 90.}
For its part, through Ambassador Braden, the White House did not mince its words: “The majority of the Argentine people have always been democrats and contrary to totalitarian ideas... the government follows the German model of 1933...”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit., p. 91.}
The election result gave Perón a large majority, and the Saturday Evening Post newspaper, commenting on the State Department's policy of intervention in Argentine internal affairs, wrote:
“This is evidence of political schizophrenia that undermines North American prestige and influence.
The Argentine people have responded as any people would have replied when foreigners feel entitled to tell them what policy they should follow...”\footnote{Ibid.}
The Argentine people have responded as any people would have replied when foreigners feel entitled to tell them what policy they should follow...”\footnote{Ibid.}
\section{The “guatemalazo”}
@ -681,6 +704,7 @@ especially the first, which began a timid redistribution of land, which Colonel
It was not to reckon with the reaction of the powerful Mamita Yunai, Foster Dulles, Secretary of State and his little brother, Allen, head of the CIA.
In the midst of the Cold War, they stirred up the scarecrow of communism, and in the Pan-American Conference in Caracas (March 1954), Foster Dulles attempted to equate the presence of communists in any government in the hemisphere with “extra-continental aggression.”
Meanwhile, his younger brother Allen was arming a “liberation” army with the complicity of the Honduran government, which placed itself under the orders of Colonel Castillo Armas, linked to the International Railways of Center America, a subsidiary of united Fruit.
In the Caracas conference, Foster Dulles declared that “the domination and control of the political institutions of any American state by the international communist movement would constitute an intervention by a foreign power, and would be a threat to peace in America.”\footnote{Carlos Machado, Documentos, op. cit., p. 96.}.
@ -698,8 +722,6 @@ The Guatemalan spring had lived.
As soon as he came to power, Castillo Armas repealed the land reform and other measures taken by Jacobo Arbenz.
307
\section{Bay of Pigs}
@ -720,11 +742,13 @@ But when the evidence of U.S. involvement became irrefutable—pilots shot down
\begin{quote}
\enquote{If ever the inter-American doctrine of non-intervention obscures or allows a policy of passivity, if the nations of this hemisphere fail in their struggle against communist penetration, then I want to
let it be clear that my Government will not hesitate to assume its responsibilities... If this moment ever comes, we do not intend to receive lessons of non-intervention...}\end{quote}\footnote{Ibid., p. 101.}.
let it be clear that my Government will not hesitate to assume its responsibilities... If this moment ever comes, we do not intend to receive lessons of non-intervention...}\footnote{Ibid., p. 101.}.
\end{quote}
Since then, Cuba's history has been the story of continuous resistance to thwart intervention plans and to counter U.S. interference with the island.
Encouragement from opposition groups followed assassination attempts against Cuban leaders.
Forced to resist the greatest power in history, Cuba had no other solution than to flee forward.
Thus, apart from sugar and rum, the export of a "non-traditional" product became, for more than two decades, the weapon with which Cuba counter-attacked: the export of the revolution.
@ -752,7 +776,7 @@ Goulart's government had shown its willingness to fight against the miserable co
He announced the right to vote for the illiterate and his intention to promote an agrarian reform law.
On March 31, 1964, the armed forces deposed Goulart, assuming control of the country, and President Lyndon Johnson hurried on April 2 to send the military “his warmest wishes,” adding that the North American people had “watched with anxiety the political and economic difficulties your great nation was going through...
We admire the resolute will of the Brazilian community to resolve these difficulties within the framework of constitutional democracy... (sic!)”.
We admire the resolute will of the Brazilian community to resolve these difficulties within the framework of constitutional democracy... (sic!)”.
The democratic convictions of the military were expressed in the following years.
They unleashed a savage crackdown on left-wing movements and parties that were trying to resist the dictatorship.
@ -789,7 +813,7 @@ to disguise the Yankee intervention with the participation of troops from four m
the Brazil of the military putschists, Nicaragua of Somoza, Paraguay of Stroessner and Honduras.
It was for the North Americans to prevent the establishment of a new Cuba, which justified, in their eyes, all the breaches of the standards established by the O.E.A. itself:
“I understood that there was no time to waste, talk and consult... American nations cannot, must not and will not allow the establishment of another communist government in the Western Hemisphere...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 109.}
“I understood that there was no time to waste, talk and consult... American nations cannot, must not and will not allow the establishment of another communist government in the Western Hemisphere...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 109.}
In September of the same year, a resolution of the United States House of Representatives (Selden Resolution) declared that, faced with the mere threat of communist danger, American nations could and should assist each other.
@ -814,13 +838,13 @@ The Yankee intervention in Chile has been widely known since the publication of
U.S. action began — in collusion with the Chilean right — during the presidential campaign.
The CIA copiously watered newspapers and parties of the center and the right.
The ineffable Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, made it a point to declare in June 1970:
“I don't see why we would fold our arms without acting and watch a country become communist because of the irresponsibility of its people...”\footnote{Davis Nathaniel, \emph{Los dos ultimos anos de Salvador Allende}, Plazay Janes editores, Barcelona, 1986, p. 18.}
“I don't see why we would fold our arms without acting and watch a country become communist because of the irresponsibility of its people...”\footnote{Davis Nathaniel, \emph{Los dos ultimos anos de Salvador Allende}, Plazay Janes editores, Barcelona, 1986, p. 18.}
The head of Chile's main news outlet, El Mercurio, and the vice president of Pepsi-Cola met on September 15, 1970 in Washington, D.C., with CIA Director Richard Helms.
On the evening of the same day, Henry Kissinger, Richard Helms and President Nixon coordinated a plan of action — “Track I”, then, “Track II,” to prevent Congress from proclaiming Salvador Allende President of the Republic.
According to the Church Commission, Nixon's instructions were precise, written in his own hand:
“Save Chile... we must not deal with the risks, do not compromise the embassy, 10 million if necessary ... full-time work... action plan in 48 hours...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 19.}
“Save Chile... we must not deal with the risks, do not compromise the embassy, 10 million if necessary ... full-time work... action plan in 48 hours...”\footnote{Ibid., p. 19.}
The “Track II” plan included several phases, ranging from the corruption of deputies, generals and admirals, to the assassination of the army commander-in-chief who refused to follow the putschists and was ambushed in October 1970.
@ -852,6 +876,7 @@ Defeated, he had to give way, in 1990, to a democratically elected civilian whil
On July 19, 1979, E.S.L.N. troops entered liberated Managua.
Two days earlier, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, heir to a dynasty founded by his father in 1936, fled.
The Sandinista government then faced the immense task of having to rebuild a devastated country.
It implemented an agrarian reform, redistributed land, developed a vast literacy campaign while fighting, from the first months, against the ex-guards of Somoza who were massing on the Honduran border.
@ -876,7 +901,6 @@ Nicaragua is required to become what no Latin American nation can be:
a democracy like the United States, something that somoza was never asked to do, or that we would not ask of the contras in power.”
The "low-intensity war", the attacks, the generalized violence, the death of young soldiers, killed in ambushes by the contras, ended up tiring part of the population.
In 1990, the Sandinista government — decried as a totalitarian regime — held elections. The candidate of the United Opposition, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, won in a country ravaged by years of conflict.
@ -900,13 +924,14 @@ And interventionist hysteria gripped millions of North Americans.
Without fear of ridicule, President Reagan went so far as to tell, very seriously, that the intervention had been decided "after an urgent request", emanating from five Caribbean countries, whose weight could be measured on the international scene: Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent...
The “Granada victory”—more than 6,000 heavily armed Marines against Cuban construction workers—would serve Reagan in his re-election campaign the following year.
For the North American administration, it was also a question of making people forget the fiasco in Lebanon, where, a few weeks earlier, more than fifty soldiers had been killed.
The operation that “liberated Grenada from a Marxist dictatorship” had an electoral purpose, but, at the same time, it served to show the world the determination of the Reagan administration in its fight against communism.
\section{Operation “Just Cause”}
\section{Operation \enquote{Just Cause}}
On October 2, 1977, a referendum in Panama ratified the new Carter-Torrijos Treaty. The Panamanian people abrogated the Leonine Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty, “never signed by a Panamanian,” as General Omar Torrijos liked to repeat.
@ -916,9 +941,9 @@ Panama, under the terms of the treaty, would gain full sovereignty over the cana
General Torrijos, head of the National Guard, had to overcome the obstacles and encroachments that the Yankee senators — enemies of the treaty — opposed to the signing of the treaty.
Senator De Concini's amendment added a clause that sought to guarantee the United States the right to intervene militarily in the canal:
“If the canal were closed or its operations prevented... the United States will have the right to take action... including the use of military force...”\footnote{Conte Porras Jorge, \section{Del Tratado Hay-Buneau Varilla, al Tratado Torrijos-Carter}, Impresora Panama, 1982, p. 144.}.
“If the canal were closed or its operations prevented... the United States will have the right to take action... including the use of military force...”\footnote{Conte Porras Jorge, \section{Del Tratado Hay-Buneau Varilla, al Tratado Torrijos-Carter}, Impresora Panama, 1982, p. 144.}.
Torrijos then wrote to Carter and Carter pledged “not to use this amendment as a legal justification for possible further intervention in Panama.”
Torrijos then wrote to Carter and Carter pledged “not to use this amendment as a legal justification for possible further intervention in Panama”.
Torrijos died in 1981 in a mysterious and never solved aviation accident.
The Panamanians give him credit for having managed to reach new agreements on the canal, under extremely difficult conditions.
@ -928,7 +953,6 @@ General Noriega became, after Torrijos' death, head of the National Guard. He wa
As is well known, the Bush administration did not bother in 1989 with legal subtleties or so-called seniority rights at work.
That year, presidential elections were held. The opposition regrouped around Guillermo Endara who later claimed to be the winner.
But, under pressure from the National Guard, Francisco Rodriguez was appointed president of the republic.
A tug-of-war then began between the opposition – supported by the United States – and General Noriega's National Guard.
@ -937,7 +961,7 @@ General Noriega, who presumably worked for the CIA a few years earlier — and a
An arrest warrant was issued against him. At the same time, Yankee troops stationed in the Canal Zone engaged in provocations and intimidation against the population, which in part supported Noriega.
On December 20, 1989, Bush — a few days after Malta, where he had toasted with Gorbachev, celebrating the end of the Cold War — launched Operation “Just Cause.”
On December 20, 1989, Bush — a few days after Malta, where he had toasted with Gorbachev, celebrating the end of the Cold War — launched Operation \enquote{Just Cause}.
And the Yankee troops, regardless of the legal justifications, once again invaded Panama using thousands of soldiers, aviation and helicopters.
@ -960,7 +984,7 @@ Panamanians are holding their breath waiting for the year 2000 which, according
Contrary to what many people think they know, the North American intervention of the nineties in Haiti, does not date from October 15, 1994, but...
of September 30, 1991, when President Aristide was overthrown by a coup d'état organized by Haitian soldiers with the “assistance of the CIA and the American Embassy”.\footnote{Wargny Christophe, Manière de voir N° 33, February 1997, Le Monde Diplomatique, p. 68-C.}
of September 30, 1991, when President Aristide was overthrown by a coup d'état organized by Haitian soldiers with the “assistance of the CIA and the American Embassy”.\footnote{Wargny Christophe, Manière de voir N° 33, February 1997, Le Monde Diplomatique, p. 68-C.}
In 1971, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Baby Doc, succeeded his father — François Duvalier, Papa Doc — in power since 1957.
Baby Doc was overthrown in 1986, and moved to France, once the government of Prime Minister Laurent Fabius granted him a residence permit.
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