AHC: Balkanize South America

Your challenge is, with a PoD during or after the Latin American wars of independence, to break up the South Anerican continent into as many states as possible. The more, the better. Maps would be nice but aren't a necessity. So how can it be done?
 
My lazy answer is to have the US interfere much more. I know we were responsible for splitting up Gran Columbia, i'm not sure much else. But if we were fond of splitting up states to create smaller US backed regimes, maybe centered around resources, I'm sure that'd split things up a bit more. Combined with a large movement of Native independence movements, you could have a South America full of tiny states. Have the runaway slave communities (name escapes me) declare independence from Brazil.

Or if you want to go the less likely route, Germany wins a much longer World war two, and by 2012 it has crumbled into an entirely different set of states. Throwing off the second set of colonial shackles
 
Look at how easily the US was able to break off Panama even though it has been a part of Colombia since the independence and even long before that. A little work could convince plenty that their little chunk of land ought to break away. Furthermore, as you carve out more and more new (banana) republics, what's left of the original country which is being dismantled has less and less power to resist and will probably eventually try and fight in spite of almost certain defeat.

Fortunately for South America, it might come to pass that a backlash against such increasingly erroneous independence movements will emerge.
 
Look at how easily the US was able to break off Panama even though it has been a part of Colombia since the independence and even long before that.

The thing about Panama is that it is isolated from the rest of Colombia by the Darien Gap. Other chunks won't come as easy. Nevertheless,

I think it would be relatively easy to break up a few countries with more American and European involvement. The easier ones being:

Rio Grandese from Brazil
Patagonia and Entre Rios from Argentina, (perhaps the North West around the Chaco as well)
and split Peru in two North and South after the Confederation War.

The Amazon basin might be ripped away from Brazil, it is certainly a popular outcome seen here.

However you do end up with the problem that by weakening some of these you end up with a stronger rival next door. Chile, for one, would be very very difficult to balkanize - it is very united and enjoyed a rather stable history unlike its neighbors. weaken Argentina and Peru further and Chile benefits. Similarly, Paraguay also somewhat united at this time (though through autocratic rule) and hard to balkanize will certainly also be a winner. Anything that breaks away from Argentina or Brazil around it will fall to its sphere of influence. At the same time, if you rip off Amazionia from Brazil and everyone else around it will grow during the rubber boom. Unlike Brazil, Amazonia won't have the resources or strength to thwart the pesky neighbors away. Thus the Guianas, Equador, Paraguay, and Bolivia (if it still has a port) will encroach into the Amazon.

Also it should be pointed out that theoretically it was balkanized in OTL. The Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada split into three, later four. The Viceroyalty of Peru aslo split into two, and later one of those halves split again. On the other side of the Andes, Uruguay split off from Brazil, and what was the Rio de la Plata Viceroyalty became Argentina, Paraguay. And Chile kinda went its own way from the start but it was part of a larger political entity during the viceroyalties.
 
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Skokie

Banned
Colombia is still a très regionalist country. Were it not for advances in transportation and telecommunications, it could easily have become several republics. You could slice it up many ways.

–The Pacific region of the country (el Chocó) could have been a freed black/brown republic, like Haiti
–The Caribbean coast could be conceptualized as a kind of Cuba in terms of culture and social order; they might have sought independence to take themselves out of the constant infighting that took place in the interior.
Antioquía and Cundinamarca are sort of the twin "superpowers" of the country. Their capitals, Medellín and Bogotá, were the bitterest of rivals, like Renaissance Italian city-states. They've fought each other in civil wars for over 100 years. They're still very regionalista. Antioquía used to lead in industry and agricultural production. They can be conceived as the stereotypcial business-minded "Yankees" or "Paulistas" or "Armenians" or "Jews" of the country. Bogotá/Cundinamarca/Boyacá is the more sober, ecclesiastical, educational, artistic, political and bureaucratic center (home of the national capital and formerly a viceroyal seat). They could have divided the country in half between them.
–The Santanderes are traditionally an extension of Cundi-boyacense andean region. But they've got this militant, fuck-all-of-you, independent streak. They're kind of like the New Hampshire or Switzerland of the country. They could have checked out of the republic and struck out on their own if they got tired of the fighting.
Tolima/Huila and Cauca/Valle each could have been small republics on the scale of Central American countries. They had big plantations growing rice, fruits and tobacco, plus the horrid, venal, violent plantation owners to rule over them all.
Nariño would probably join Ecuador and enjoy long-lasting peace. ;)

(larger version here)
Regiones-culturales-de-Colombia-2002.jpg
 
You can balkanize Brazil by having the Portuguese Royal Family captured by Napoleon instead of escaping to South America. Brazil would most likely break up into smaller republics like Spanish America.
 
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