Central America and the Caribbean, Interventions in

(1900–35)

The United States has always been concerned about the well-being of its Central American and Caribbean neighbors, if only to safeguard its own interests. Although rarely concerning itself in the affairs of these countries prior to the 20th century, between 1900 and 1935 the United States dramatically increased its involvement in the region for three intertwined reasons: first, the strategic need to protect the Panama Canal from European hands, which meant keeping Europe out of the region altogether; second, the urge to spread Christianity and democratic values to nations that Americans perceived as backward and in need of political reform; third, the need to protect American economic interests throughout the region, especially as its investments in the region increased during those decades. These interventions are emblematic of a time when the United States was beginning to take a more active role in global affairs, including the Spanish–American War in 1898, the annexation of the Philippines, and involvement in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.

The first major intervention occurred in 1903 under Pres. Theodore Roosevelt when the United States obtained permission to build an interoceanic canal in Panama. In January 1903, the United States negotiated with Colombia to build a trans-isthmian canal across Panama, then a province of Colombia. The Colombian legislature rejected the treaty even as Panama was trying to secede and establish itself as a sovereign nation. Roosevelt then recognized Panama as a nation and sent naval warships and Marines to prevent Colombia from quashing the rebellion. After successfully seceding in November 1903, Panama brokered a deal with the United States to permit the construction of the canal.

Roosevelt also used the U.S. military in 1906 after Cuba's first free elections sparked a revolution on the island. Hoping to prevent Cuba from devolving into a land of revolutions, the president ordered a battalion of Marines and sailors to occupy Havana in September 1906. The United States maintained a military presence in Cuba until 1909, both to monitor elections and serve as a constabulary force. Roosevelt's successor, William Taft, followed a foreign policy called “dollar diplomacy,” whereby American banks would assist Central America's financial recovery, which would in turn increase American influence and undermine the region's reliance on Europe. In 1910, Taft used Marines under Maj. Smedley Butler to prevent the Nicaraguan government from crushing a rebellion that the United States wanted to see succeed, allowing the United States to become the unofficial financial protector of Nicaragua in 1911. When revolution broke out in 1912, Marines returned, routed the rebels in the jungles of Nicaragua, and actively helped to re-establish a pro-American government.

Pres. Woodrow Wilson understood the strategic importance of protecting the Panama Canal, but it was his social progressivism that led him to have the United States intervene to a greater degree than had Roosevelt or Taft. Wilson disapproved of a revolution in Mexico that installed as president the unelected Victoriano Huerta, and he looked for reasons to depose Huerta and give Mexicans a more democratic and stable government. In April 1914, Wilson found his excuse when Mexican authorities in the industrial city of Tampico mistakenly arrested some U.S. sailors. The seamen were quickly released with apologies, but Wilson demanded more from Mexico. Citing Mexican intransigence, Wilson ordered the invasion of the port of Veracruz, which the United States occupied for seven months. A military government under the Army and Marines reformed the city and its politics, helping force Huerta's resignation. Mexican frustration at the occupation was such that, when the military left in November, the city quickly reverted to its old ways.

...