The Big Bully

Thanks to our Lonel Planet guidebook I was able to read up a bit about the history of the countries we've visited over the past month, and there's been one name that keeps appearing in each nation's profile, and thats the US of A. Its incredible how much America hs messed with Central American politics. I could write pages and pages, but just to give you a quick idea.

Guatemala:
In 1951 the country's newly elected president wanted to redistribute the estate land into smaller farms, but the US fruit company United Fruit pressured the US govt to orchestrate an invasion from Honduras, overthrowing the president and reinstating one of their choosing. In the next 30 years of US funding 60,000 people were killed, 400 villages were exterminated, and corruption and oppresion were rampant.

El Salvador:
In 1985 the scare of socialism in neighboring Nicaragua led the US to pump 500 Million dollars into to their Govt. prolonguing the alreaddy bloody civil war, with the US trained military decimating countles villages.

Honduras:
by 1918, 75% of all Honduran banana lands were held by 3 major US companies. With each company backing their chosen political party, the Honduran Govt and its policies were basically controlled by banana company interests, hence gaining the title 'Banana Republic'. The US govt sent in marines to protect their interests and in 1954 the two Govts signed a pact, giving the US unlimited access to raw materials of the country should the need arise. In 1963 the persident was forced to resign after a scandal involving his acceptance of bribes from US fruit ccompanies.

In the 1980s the US set up a puppet Govt allowing the buildup of US troops in the country (once again due to the scare of socialism from Nicaragua.) It also covertly trained rebel Salvadorian Soldiers in refugee camps in Honduras to fight aagainst Nicaragua.

Belize:
Nobody wants it anyways.

Nicaragua:
The worst for last. Between 1912 ad 1932 the US dominaded Nicaraguan politics, installing presidents it favored and ousting those it didnt, using its marines as leverage. Supported by the USA the dictator Somoza rose to power and what followed was a 4 decade rule of family dynasty where he amassed a huge personal wealth, leaving the rest of the country in poverty. Roosovet reportedly said this about him: ''He may be a son of a bitch, but at least he's our son of a bitch''.

In the 1980s, with a rising Guerilla movement the US changed sides and funded the Guerillas to oust the Somoza dictatorship. In the late 1980s the US realized that these guerillas were socialists and they set up an army to fight them, called the Contras. In 1985 the US congress rejected military aid to the Contras, but the Reagan Admin secretly continued to fund them through a scheme where the CIA illegaly sold weapons to our friends in Iran at inflated prices, using the money left to fund the Contras. The US has been interfering in their politics ever since, with as recently as 2001 funding the succesful presidential campaign of Enrique Bolanos.

And I haven't even gotten to Panama yet...