Pan-Americanism
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Pan-Americanism is a movement which, through diplomatic, political, economic and social means, seeks to create, encourage and organize relationships, associations and cooperation between the states of the Americas in common interests.
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[edit] History
The struggle for independence after 1810 by the Latin American nations evoked a sense of unity, especially in South America where, under Simón Bolívar in the north and José de San Martín in the south, there were cooperative efforts. Francisco Morazán briefly headed a Federal Republic of Central America. Early South American Pan-Americanists were also inspired by the American Revolutionary War, where a suppressed and colonized society struggled united and gained its independence. However, long before the U.S. could achieve its goal of a country made up of truly unified states, non-U.S. Pan-Americanists were planning to unite South America as one nation. In the United States, Henry Clay and Thomas Jefferson set forth the principles of Pan-Americanism in the early 1800s, and soon afterward the United States declared through the Monroe Doctrine a new policy with regard to interference by European nations in the affairs of the Americas. Initially welcomed as a source of protection from the encroachments of European powers, the doctrine later came to be seen by many Latin American intellectuals as a mask for U.S. imperialistic ambitions.
In the 19th century, Latin American military nationalism came to the fore. Venezuela and Ecuador withdrew (1830) from Gran Colombia; the Central American Federation collapsed (1838); Argentina and Brazil fought continually over Uruguay, and then all three combined in the War of the Triple Alliance (1865-70) to defeat Paraguay; and in the War of the Pacific (1879-83), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia. However, during this same period Pan-Americanism existed in the form of a series of Inter-American Conferences—Panama (1826), Lima (1847), Santiago (1856), and Lima (1864). The main object of those meetings was to provide for a common defense. The first of the modern Pan-American Conferences was held in Washington, DC (1889-90), with all nations represented except the Dominican Republic. Treaties for arbitration of disputes and adjustment of tariffs were adopted, and the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics, which became the Pan-American Union, was established. Subsequent meetings were held in various Latin American cities.
[edit] Evolution of Pan-Americanism
The intended liberalization of commercial intercourse did not occur, but collaboration was extended to a series of areas, such as health (Pan-American Health Organization), geography and history (Pan-American Institute of Geography and History), child protection and children's rights (International American Institute for the Protection of Children), rights of the woman (Inter-American Commission of Women), indigenous policies (Inter-American Indigenist Institute), agriculture (Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences) collective continental defense (Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Attendance), economic aid (Inter-American Development Bank), human rights (Inter-American Court of Human Rights), infrastructure works (Pan-American Highway) and peacekeeping (Inter-American Peace Force).
The American states also adopted a series of diplomatic and political rules, which were not always respected or fulfilled, governing relations between the countries, like the following ones: arbitration of disputes, peaceful resolution of conflicts, military non-intervention, equality among the member states of each organism and in their mutual relations, decisions by means of resolutions approved by the majority, the recognition of diplomatic asylum, the Private International Law Code (Bustamente Code), the inter-American system of human rights (American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, along with its protocols and associate conventions; and the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the Organization of American States).
[edit] Congresses and conferences
- 1826 in Panama. Congreso Anfictiónico de Panamá Congress of Panama. Organized by Simon Bolivar
- 1847-1848 Congreso de Lima
- 1856-1857 Congreso de Santiago
- 1864-1864 Congreso de Lima
- 1889/90 in Washington D.C. International Conference of American States. The day of this meeting, 14 April, is celebrated since 1930 as Pan American Day
- ?
- 1906 in Havana
- ?
- 1923 in Santiago
- 1928 in Havana
- 1933 in Montevideo
- 1936 in Buenos Aires (Peace Conference)
- 1938 in Lima
- 1942 in Rio de Janeiro (conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs)
- 1948 in Bogotá
- 1949 founded Office of Latin American Education, which became the Organization of Ibero-American States
- 1954 in Caracas
- 2nd Latin American Congress of Education took place in Quito
- 1967 Buenos Aires
- 1969 Viña del Mar
- 2006 Panama City, Panama - Sponsored by the President of Panama, Martín Torrijos - Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico’s Independence
[edit] Problems of Pan-Americanism
Pan-Americanism has been contradicted by the military interventions of the United States and the waging of hostilities of one American country onto another or with a foreign power.
In the first instance, the United States, primarily in the Caribbean and Central America, has intervened on the basis of its foreign policy interests, accentuated by the Roosevelt Corollary (1904) of the Monroe Doctrine that considers Latin America a zone of direct expansion and protection of US commercial interests. It lasted until the election (1933) of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who instituted the Good Neighbor policy. After 1945 and during the Cold War, the United States considers that the threat of the installation of communist or too–reformist regimes in America also necessitates intervention, albeit in a less direct manner.
[edit] Crises
[edit] Interventions
[edit] United States
The United States has made the following invasions and/or "interventions":
- Nicaragua: 1833, 1855-57, 1867, 1894, 1896, 1909-10, 1912-25, 1926-33
- Mexico: 1845-48, 1914, 1916-17
- Honduras: 1863, 1896, 1903, 1905, 1907, 1911-13, 1917, 1919, 1924-29
- Puerto Rico: 1898-present
- Cuba: 1898, 1901-03, 1906-09, 1912, 1917-19, 1921-23, 1933, 1961
- Panama: 1901, 1902, 1903, 1908, 1912-14, 1917-18, 1921, 1964, 1989-90
- Dominican Republic: 1869-70, 1903-05, 1907, 1914, 1916-24, 1965-66
- Haiti: 1914, 1915-35, 1944, 1994-95, 2004
- Costa Rica: 1919
- Guatemala: 1920, 1954
- Grenada: 1983
- Panama: 1989
- Chile: 1973
[edit] Foreign
[edit] France
- Second Mexican Empire - France established Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico, from 1864 to 1867.
[edit] Great Britain
- Canada - established from remaining British colonies as a counter to the United States
- Sovereignty of the Falkland Islands - a multifaceted multinational dispute.
- Falklands Crisis (1770)
- Falklands War - in 1982, between Argentina and Great Britain.
[edit] Spain
- Spanish-American War - 1898. The war began after the U.S. demand of Spain's peacefully resolving the Cuban fight for independence was rejected, though strong expansionist sentiment in the United States may also have motivated the government to target some of Spain's remaining overseas territories: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam.
[edit] Coups d'état
Governments, particularly the United States government, have been accused of carrying false flag coups d'etat, in order to install friendly governments in foreign countries. Some coups that some believe may have been actively supported by the United States government include the following:
- 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
- 1973 Chilean coup d'état
- 1991 Haiti coup d'etat
- 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts
