Pan Americanism

With Pan-Americanism which the are American respective continent pan-nationalism designated with origins in the 19th century. This includes movements with the aim of establishing political, diplomatic, social and economic relations and cooperations of common interest between the states of the American continents.

There are basically two different political strategies for a merger or common policy of the American states, the (Anglo-Saxon) inter-Americanism originating from the USA as the main forms and the (Latin American) Hispanic Americanism of South American states.

Hispanicism

Hispanic Americanism (also: Panhispanism) is based on ideas of European nationalism and romanticism . It encompasses various undercurrents such as paniberism , which denotes efforts to unite all Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries in Central and Central America, panlatinism , which also includes former French colonies, or Indian-Americanism . The term Hispanic Americanism only includes the Spanish-speaking areas of America in its origin, but is also used synonymously for all South American pan movements .

Anti-colonial phase

Hispanic American ideas are based on the political work of the South American independence fighter Simón Bolívar , who invited to the first Pan American conference in 1826/27 in order to achieve the confederative merger of the former Spanish colonies to form the United States of South America . In his letter Carta de Jamaica , written in 1815 , in which he called on European countries to support the South American struggle for independence, he formulated this idea of a Hispanic-American union. The main motive can be seen to protect the independence of Central American regions from the Spanish crown and other European powers. The Panama Congress , which was held at Bolívar's instigation in 1826, was a first attempt to bundle Hispanic American interests. The conglomerate of South American states (today's Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia), which was personally ruled by Bolívar, broke up in 1830 due to national interests. After 1838 the Central American Federation also disintegrated . Separatism and regionalism of the Latin American states opposed the Hispanic American concept. The Bolivian concept of Latin American integration, however, remained a model admired by many subsequent theorists.

Anti-imperialist phase

In 1891, in his essay Nuestra América (Our America) , the Cuban José Martí formulated a new, anti-imperialist Pan-Americanism, which was primarily directed against the USA, which was increasingly attacking Central America. He distanced himself doing of terms such Latinoamerikanismus or Hispanoamerikanismus and pleaded for the expression Nuestra América , the Iberian, Latin American and indigenous traditions should include. In their works in the first half of the 20th century, José Enrique Rodó , Blanco Fombona , José Vasconcelos and Pedro Henríquez Ureña emphasized the peculiarities of the mestizaje (the mixture of Hispanic and indigenous ethnic groups) and their independent, sometimes prominent, position compared to other peoples. Che Guevara later took up Martí's anti-imperialism. In the 1980s, on the initiative of some Latin American intellectuals, the Contadora group was formed to settle military conflicts in Central America without the involvement of the USA. The Rio Group emerged from it in 1986 , to which 22 Latin American countries now belong.

Inter-americanism

Inter-American theories deal with mergers at the level of the entire American continent. The term Pan-Americanism is sometimes used synonymously for this sub-form. Inter-Americanism is younger than Hispano-Americanism and sees its origins in the history of ideas in Simón Bolívar's Pan-Americanism .

American backyard politics

North American Pan-Americanism is often seen as a trailblazer for US intervention in Central America. Based on the Monroe Doctrine , the USA began an intensive interest policy in the Latin American "backyard" in the 1820s. In 1823 this policy prevented French intervention in favor of the collapsing Spanish colonial empire, in 1865 it forced the withdrawal of the French from Mexico and in 1903 ended the British-German-Italian naval blockade of Venezuela during the Venezuela crisis .

Organizational forms such as the Economic Bureau of American Republics or the International Bureau of American Republics , the Pan American Union and the Organization of American States (OAS) have existed since 1889 . Even Pan American conferences were conducted in cooperation with Latin American representatives, beginning in 1889 with the first conference in Washington. The US Secretary of State presides over the OAS (officially until 1923, since then in practice). In Central America and the Caribbean in particular , this policy led to numerous direct US military interventions and economic penetration. Pan-Americanism also includes the promotion of Protestant missions in Catholic Latin America under the pretext of necessary reforms and the overcoming of cultural differences.

US interventions in the Caribbean and Central America

Nicaragua: 1833, 1855-57, 1867, 1894, 1896, 1909-25 , 1926-33 , 1981-90
Mexico: 1845-48 , 1914, 1916-17
Honduras: 1863, 1896, 1903, 1905, 1907, 1911-13, 1917, 1919, 1924-29
Cuba: 1898 , 1901-03, 1906-09, 1912, 1917-19, 1921-23, 1933, 1961 , 1962
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, 2010
Costa Rica: 1919
Guatemala: 1920, 1954
Grenada: 1983
Puerto Rico: 1898

Current Pan Americanisms

Recently, a conflict has flared up over the American Free Trade Area (ALCA), which is supported by the USA, and the Mercosur regional merger, which is favored by Brazil, Venezuela and other South American countries . Mexico is already a member of the North American Free Trade Area NAFTA .

In Venezuela , President Hugo Chávez also declared in 1999 that the Bolivarian Revolution would continue in the Bolívar tradition. Together with Fidel Castro , he founded the Bolivarian Alliance for America (ALBA) in 2004 , which has set itself the goal of an economic union of Latin American countries without the USA playing a dominant role.

Individual evidence

↑ Gran Enciclopedia de España y América, Volume VI, p. 53.
^ Gregorio Recondo: El sueño de la Patria Grande. Ideas y Antecedentes Integracionistas en América Latina. Buenos Aires 2001, p. 77.
^ Latin America. In: Encyclopedia of contemporary latin american and caribbean cultures. Volume 2, pp. 836-837.

[1] Gran Enciclopedia de España y América, Volume VI, p. 53.

[2] Gregorio Recondo: El sueño de la Patria Grande. Ideas y Antecedentes Integracionistas en América Latina. Buenos Aires 2001, p. 77.

[3] Latin America. In: Encyclopedia of contemporary latin american and caribbean cultures. Volume 2, pp. 836-837.