United States influence and the Panama Canal in Central America

¶ … Caribbean

Banana Republics

This chapter outlines the history of Central America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The history comprises a couple of main parts - the advent of the banana economy and the opening of the Panama Canal.

Banana plantations became the first major industry in Central America, and brought about the development of some key infrastructure.

The most important infrastructure development, however, was the building of the Panama Canal, linking the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Both of these events account for the rapidly growing U.S. influence in the area. The reading shows how fruit traders from the U.S. were responsible for much of the development of trade in Central America. Eventually, the United States succeeded in building the canal, something other powers such as the French had failed to do.

The events of this era have left a long legacy on the region. Before the banana plantations, the United States was not a major player in Central America. However, as the nation became bolder it began to exert a greater influence in the region. The British began to withdraw, setting the stage for a 20th century in which the United States played an active role in the politics of the region. The U.S. has routinely taken sides in various disputes, right up to the overthrow of Manuel Noriega in the 1990s.

We also see how some of the unique demographic features of the region emerged. The laborers who worked on the Panama Canal, for example, would go on to shape that nation's diverse populace. The influx of black laborers into the Caribbean coast of Honduras and Nicaragua has also resulted in a population diversity that ultimately has caused problems for the governments of those nations.

Invading Guatemala

This reading presents three distinct views of the Spanish conquest of Guatemala. It is an interesting juxtaposition. We see the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, who wraps up his warfare as religious duty. His righteousness, he feels, gives him justification for the conquest. Yet he is viewed by the natives as only happy with war and precious metal. He has, to them, no love of their land or any desire to govern that land with justice and equity in mind.

Perhaps the most surprising part of this account is that from the Nahua veteran. That Alvarado would display contempt for those who opposed him is understandable, but he clearly displayed contempt even for his allies. The infidels, as he termed them, were apparently not worth of God's grace.

From this conquest flows some of the problems in the region today. Many of the natives are originally from Mexico, and are not indigenous to the area. They bought into the dream of the conquistador only to be left out of any rewards. As a result, they were forced to stay. This also resulted in a severe distrust of the Europeans. The waging of war had not resulted in distrust as that was a common activity in the region prior to Castilian arrival, but that the Spanish displayed such contempt for the local populace was tantamount to betrayal for those people.

Puerto Rico - March 3

It is interesting to note the difference between the way that Puerto Rico has developed in relation to the other former Spanish colonies in Central America and the Caribbean. The United States had begun in the late 19th century to assert itself politically and economically in the region, but it was not until the Spanish-American war that Puerto Rico became part of the equation. Unlike other nations that have attained independence, Puerto Rico instead finds itself in a unique situation as a commonwealth.

The relationship between the U.S. And PR had improved, as colonial biases have begun to fade. There is yet, though, unwillingness on the part of the U.S. And Puerto Rico alike to grant the island more political power. The present situation seems untenable but yet no better solutions have appeared.

The article, however, does not fully address the issue. It spends a great deal of time dealing with the dull machinery of politics, yet the issue of Puerto Rico is directly related to the Puerto Rican culture. It affects the culture and is in turn affected by it. The ramifications for the islanders do not enter into the article, and this actually seems to reflect the current political reality. When Puerto Ricans go the polls on the issue of independence, do they not base their decisions on the impact such a vote would have on their day-to-day lives? I would have loved more insight on the non-political side of this discussion.

Cuba

At the heart of this article is the question of how an ethnicity is defined. It was interesting to note the Cuban scientist who claimed that all Cuban Indians had been exterminated by 1550. Yet, clearly this was not the case. When we, of European descent, look back on colonial times we do tend to have a certain set of biases. In this case, the bias was that indigenous peoples are essentially frozen in time, that once they evolve they are no longer of their own distinct culture. Yet, that view is entirely unreasonable - all cultures evolve. Europeans in the new world have hardly remained static in terms of culture since arriving here.

The biases we have looking back have a damaging effect. We marginalize the indigenous culture by assuming that it does not have merit once it has begun to adapt. In Cuba, this culture only really exists in the remote Baracoa region. But there are some interesting parallels between the biases that drive the marginalization in a modern anthropologist and the marginalization of the indigenous peoples that gave the Spanish the justification to annihilate them. The contempt that the conquistadors had for the indigenous peoples is illustrated in the early parts of this reading, and we can see that this contempt carries through to modern days, such that the Ta'no culture could have disappeared without being recorded, simply based on one biased scientist in Havana.

The section on the Cuban economy was also of some interest. The difficulties in managing a command economy are illustrated, in particular by the absurdity of not having any soft drinks for weeks because caps could not be found. The invisible hand of the free market is maligned in Communist circles, not the least because in many poor countries people simply starve for lack of food. Yet, the logistics of running an entire country's economy are incredibly difficult. Decision-making does function better if more people are making those decisions - but that is the free market, not Communism. At what point would Communist Cuba need to move towards a free market to achieve economic efficiency while retaining the social safety net aspect of the command economy?