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Part Eighty-Nine: South of the Border
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Part Eighty-Nine: South of the Border
Mesoamerican Business:
The United States has long had interests in Ibero-America. The purchase of Cuba and early filibusters like William Walker represented the majority of American involvement in the Caribbean prior to the National War. However, later in the century, the US started seeking greater economic involvement and trade relations with Ibero-American countries. Of particular interest was the Mesoamerican Union. Many American corporations had set up plantations in Mesoamerica to cheaply bring goods like coffee, sugar, and rubber into the United States. After the formation of the Mesoamerican Union, American interests in the region grew as its first leader, Porfirio Diaz, was very friendly to American business.
During the presidencies of Grover Cleveland and Levi Morton, the United States established many treaties with Mesoamerica under Porfirio Diaz that guaranteed and greatly strengthened American businesses' operations in the country. In 1892, the United States and Mesoamerica entered an agreement greatly reducing the tariffs for goods produced in Mesoamerica and imported into the United States. Morton furthered the connections between Mesoamerica and the United States in 1897 when he signed a treaty that established a naval base on the island of Cozumel and authorized a railroad to be constructed by American companies across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Diaz also enacted domestic policies to attract American businesses, signing laws creating lax regulations and granting American companies better treatment with regard to labor and government projects.
The operations by American companies and their support by the United States government created vocal opposition in both the United States and in Mesoamerica. In the United States, socialist activists decried the conditions that they said the United States was enabling in Mesoamerica. Isolationists and anti-imperialists claimed the treaties were a sign of nascent American colonialism and that the United States was becoming no better than the British Empire. Interestingly, there was also opposition from Cuban and Floridan sugar planters, who feared the loss of profits to cheaper imported sugar. In Mesoamerica, the Diaz regime escalated class tensions and lent support to a growing agrarian and labor movement. After the election of the liberal Justo Rufino Barrios, the government attempted to negate some of the laws passed by Diaz, but in 1903 a coup against Barrios returned Diaz to the presidency.
Shortly after the coup, a rebellion was launched in Nicaragua led by Jose Santos Zelaya[1]. The rebellion was only partially due to opposition to Diaz' regime. It was also fueled by the perceived dominance of the western regions of Mesoamerica in the union. The states of Oaxaca, Yucatan, and Guatemala dominated the federation in terms of population, and most of the executive branch of the Diaz and Barrios governments had been from those states. Many Nicaraguans felt neglected in the federation, and were especially concerned that the government had refused to press the Nicaraguan claim to the strip of land taken by Costa Rica earlier in the century. The Zelaya rebellion gained control over Leon and Granada for a few months, but by the end of 1903 it had been crushed by the government.
The First Mexican War:
The most prominent event during Morton's term was the American intervention in the First Mexican War. The war began in 1896 when the government of Chihuahua rebelled against the government of Rio Bravo. As a recently incorporated and sparsely populated province, Chihuahua was neglected by the Republic of Rio Bravo and not given an equal voice in the legislature as Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas were. The Chihuahuan rebels, led by Ramiro Salazar[2], gained support from the governments of Durango and Granidalgo, who each claimed land from Rio Bravo. By the spring of 1897, Salazar's forces had captured the city of Chihuahua and much of the land surrounding it.
At this time, Durango and Granidalgo, who had singed an alliance, invaded the Republic of Rio Bravo. Granidalgo defeated a Riobravense army at the battle of Tampico and occupied the city in mid-May. Durango moved its army up the coast to defend its claimed territory from any overzealous Chihuahuans. In June, the American filibuster Jack Garner[3] crossed into Riobravense territory and raided the town of Col[FONT="]ó[/FONT]n in the far north of Chihuahua[4]. The Chihuahuan guerrillas attempted to capture Garner, but before they reached Col[FONT="]ó[/FONT]n he had fled back across the Rio Bravo into United States territory. In late June, the Chihuahuans demanded that Garner be extradited to Chihuahua to receive punishment. Morton refused to extradite Garner and after outcries by the news media and Congress claimed that the violence in Rio Bravo was destabilizing the region. From then, Morton authorized military intervention in the first modern major involvement of United States forces in Ibero-America.
After Morton's authorization, United States forces stationed in western Tejas crossed the Rio Bravo and occupied several border towns including Piedras Negras and Guadalupe[5]. In September after further movements by American troops, all the parties involved agreed to American arbitration in a resolution to the war. In the negotiations for the 1897 Washington Treaty, Morton and Secretary of State Elihu Root worked to dismantle British influence in the region by granting large concessions to the parties fighting against Rio Bravo. Most of the province of Chihuahua became independent under American protection, while the far north was incorporated into the Unorganized Territory in the Trans-Pecos and the Pacific coast was ceded to Durango. Granidalgo gained the port of Tampico and other small concessions along the Rio Tamesí. Despite protests from the British and Riobravense governments of unfair treatments to Rio Bravo in the negotiations, France, Germany, and other great powers endorsed the treaty as needed to promote stability in the Mexican states. The intervention of the United States, however, did not stabilize the area as more countries in the region began contemplating territorial expansion of their own.
[1] OTL President of Nicaragua.
[2] Ramiro Salazar is fictional. I would've used Pancho Villa but he's too young at this point.
[3] Yes, that's Cactus Jack. And yes, he was that old.
[4] Columbus, New Mexico.
[5] OTL Manuel Ojinaga, Mexico. Guadalupe is a nearby municipality.
Part Eighty-Nine: South of the Border
Mesoamerican Business:
The United States has long had interests in Ibero-America. The purchase of Cuba and early filibusters like William Walker represented the majority of American involvement in the Caribbean prior to the National War. However, later in the century, the US started seeking greater economic involvement and trade relations with Ibero-American countries. Of particular interest was the Mesoamerican Union. Many American corporations had set up plantations in Mesoamerica to cheaply bring goods like coffee, sugar, and rubber into the United States. After the formation of the Mesoamerican Union, American interests in the region grew as its first leader, Porfirio Diaz, was very friendly to American business.
During the presidencies of Grover Cleveland and Levi Morton, the United States established many treaties with Mesoamerica under Porfirio Diaz that guaranteed and greatly strengthened American businesses' operations in the country. In 1892, the United States and Mesoamerica entered an agreement greatly reducing the tariffs for goods produced in Mesoamerica and imported into the United States. Morton furthered the connections between Mesoamerica and the United States in 1897 when he signed a treaty that established a naval base on the island of Cozumel and authorized a railroad to be constructed by American companies across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Diaz also enacted domestic policies to attract American businesses, signing laws creating lax regulations and granting American companies better treatment with regard to labor and government projects.
The operations by American companies and their support by the United States government created vocal opposition in both the United States and in Mesoamerica. In the United States, socialist activists decried the conditions that they said the United States was enabling in Mesoamerica. Isolationists and anti-imperialists claimed the treaties were a sign of nascent American colonialism and that the United States was becoming no better than the British Empire. Interestingly, there was also opposition from Cuban and Floridan sugar planters, who feared the loss of profits to cheaper imported sugar. In Mesoamerica, the Diaz regime escalated class tensions and lent support to a growing agrarian and labor movement. After the election of the liberal Justo Rufino Barrios, the government attempted to negate some of the laws passed by Diaz, but in 1903 a coup against Barrios returned Diaz to the presidency.
Shortly after the coup, a rebellion was launched in Nicaragua led by Jose Santos Zelaya[1]. The rebellion was only partially due to opposition to Diaz' regime. It was also fueled by the perceived dominance of the western regions of Mesoamerica in the union. The states of Oaxaca, Yucatan, and Guatemala dominated the federation in terms of population, and most of the executive branch of the Diaz and Barrios governments had been from those states. Many Nicaraguans felt neglected in the federation, and were especially concerned that the government had refused to press the Nicaraguan claim to the strip of land taken by Costa Rica earlier in the century. The Zelaya rebellion gained control over Leon and Granada for a few months, but by the end of 1903 it had been crushed by the government.
The First Mexican War:
The most prominent event during Morton's term was the American intervention in the First Mexican War. The war began in 1896 when the government of Chihuahua rebelled against the government of Rio Bravo. As a recently incorporated and sparsely populated province, Chihuahua was neglected by the Republic of Rio Bravo and not given an equal voice in the legislature as Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas were. The Chihuahuan rebels, led by Ramiro Salazar[2], gained support from the governments of Durango and Granidalgo, who each claimed land from Rio Bravo. By the spring of 1897, Salazar's forces had captured the city of Chihuahua and much of the land surrounding it.
At this time, Durango and Granidalgo, who had singed an alliance, invaded the Republic of Rio Bravo. Granidalgo defeated a Riobravense army at the battle of Tampico and occupied the city in mid-May. Durango moved its army up the coast to defend its claimed territory from any overzealous Chihuahuans. In June, the American filibuster Jack Garner[3] crossed into Riobravense territory and raided the town of Col[FONT="]ó[/FONT]n in the far north of Chihuahua[4]. The Chihuahuan guerrillas attempted to capture Garner, but before they reached Col[FONT="]ó[/FONT]n he had fled back across the Rio Bravo into United States territory. In late June, the Chihuahuans demanded that Garner be extradited to Chihuahua to receive punishment. Morton refused to extradite Garner and after outcries by the news media and Congress claimed that the violence in Rio Bravo was destabilizing the region. From then, Morton authorized military intervention in the first modern major involvement of United States forces in Ibero-America.
After Morton's authorization, United States forces stationed in western Tejas crossed the Rio Bravo and occupied several border towns including Piedras Negras and Guadalupe[5]. In September after further movements by American troops, all the parties involved agreed to American arbitration in a resolution to the war. In the negotiations for the 1897 Washington Treaty, Morton and Secretary of State Elihu Root worked to dismantle British influence in the region by granting large concessions to the parties fighting against Rio Bravo. Most of the province of Chihuahua became independent under American protection, while the far north was incorporated into the Unorganized Territory in the Trans-Pecos and the Pacific coast was ceded to Durango. Granidalgo gained the port of Tampico and other small concessions along the Rio Tamesí. Despite protests from the British and Riobravense governments of unfair treatments to Rio Bravo in the negotiations, France, Germany, and other great powers endorsed the treaty as needed to promote stability in the Mexican states. The intervention of the United States, however, did not stabilize the area as more countries in the region began contemplating territorial expansion of their own.
[1] OTL President of Nicaragua.
[2] Ramiro Salazar is fictional. I would've used Pancho Villa but he's too young at this point.
[3] Yes, that's Cactus Jack. And yes, he was that old.
[4] Columbus, New Mexico.
[5] OTL Manuel Ojinaga, Mexico. Guadalupe is a nearby municipality.
- wilcoxchar
- Word Count: 1k