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ChapterOne
TheFirstHalfofthe19thCentury
TheUSrelationswithLatinAmericanandtheCaribbeanregionduringthefirstdecades
ofthe19thcenturyweremarkedbytwotendencies.Thefirstonewastheattemptat
establishinginitialcooperationbetweentheUnitedStatesanditsyoungerneighborsin
thesouth.Bothsideswereconvincedaboutthecommoninterests,amongwhichthemost
importantwastheefforttakentostrengthentheirsecurityandtominimizethedangerof
aEuropeanintervention.Thesecondonewasgrowingdivisionsbetweenthedeveloping
UnitedStatesontheonesideandtheLatinAmericancountriesthatweremostly
immersedininternalchaos,ontheother.Thisiswhyinthefirstyearsofindependence
themutualperceptionwaspositive,howevertheconsciousnessofdifferenceswere
quitestrong.ThiswasalreadymentionbySimonBolivarinhisLetterfromJamaica.He
pointedouttheimportantroleoftheUnitedStatesininspiringtheideaofindependence
amongthecitizensoftheSpanishcoloniesinAmerica.Simultaneously,hewroteabout
thedifferencesbetweentheUSandLatinAmericannations.Thistextreachedthestatus
ofoneofthemostimportantintheperiodofstatesformationsinLatinAmerica.Dueto
thosedifferences,Bolivardecidedtonotinvitethe“northernbrothers”tothePanama
Congressin1826.
AstheUnitedStateswerestillquiteaweakcountry,theirauthoritieswerelookingfor
anysolutionsthatwouldhelpensurenationalsecurity.Becausethemilitaryandeconomic
potentialwasnotsufficient,effortsweretakeninthediplomaticareatoeliminateany
dangerofEuropeaninterventionintheWesternHemisphere.Thiswasthegoalofthe
MonroeDoctrine.TheterritorialexpansionoftheUnitedStatesalsohaditsimpacton
USrelationswithLatinAmerica.Naturally,itdirectlyonlyimpactedMexicoasadirect
neighbor,howeverconflictswithMexicosignificantlydamagedtheimageoftheUSin
theeyesofotherLatinAmericancountriesanditscitizens.TheManifestDestinyandits
latermodificationsconstitutedtheperceptionoftheUnitedStatesasahegemonicrival
thattendstodominateintheWesternHemisphereamongmanyLatinAmericans.The
warwithMexicoin1846-1848onlydeepenedthegrowingdivisionbetweentheUnited
StatesandtheLatinAmericancountries.
Thefirsthalfofthe19thcenturywasnotatimeofintensivemutualrelations.
However,alreadyinthefirstdecadesofthatcenturysometendenciesthatwerepresent