章 15: Chapter 15: The Latin America of Congress, Part I.
The Latin America of Congress, Part I.- The Early Republican Years.
"The sword of the Libertators must be, from now on, subject to the laws of the Republic"
-Colombian Generalisimo, Francisco de Paula Santander.
Congress Latin America is how the period after the Congress of Cucuta (1816) until the Colombo-Peruvian War (1830) is generally called. Other sources say that it started after the declaration of Agustin I as Emperor of Mexico (1819), when all of Latin America truly became independent, and lasted until the Congress of Cartagena that dissolved the American Union giving way to the start of the Competition Years. Yet other sources state start dates as late as the Brazilian Independence and finish dates as early as the Coup d'Etat in Peru (1828).
Congress Latin America was characterized by the efforts of the new nations to gain recognition in the international stage and rebuild themselves after years of war. Colombia was the nation best positioned to do so, as they had miraculously managed to capture the main cities (Santafe, Caracas, Quito, Guayaquil, Cartagena) almost intact, and also build a close relationship with the United Kingdom, which, after the War of 1814 turned to them as their ally to retain control in the continent
After the war was over elections were called in Colombia. A tacit agreement was put in place, and Miranda won with overwhelming majority, becoming the President of the Republic of Colombia. Those elections were historical, as for the first time in history the people of one of the former Spanish colonies were able to vote for their leader. Similarly to the US, however, suffrage was limited to males with certain wealth. Unlike the US, Mestizos and Indigenas were able to vote. Truth to be told, hardly any of them had the necessary wealth and thus almost no one voted, but the fact that suffrage wasn't limited by ethnic or religious means was something revolutionary, the kind of big change the people hoped when the tricolor was first raised over Santafe, and helped to consolidate the young nation, as those two demographics, by far the largest, started to fear having their benefits taken away should they support any secessionist initiative. By contrast, the first elections in Chile were limited to Wealthy Catholic male Criollos, situation repeated in Mexico and La Plata.
Under Miranda, Colombia started a period of re-construction and grown. The early seeds of industrialization were planted as Colombian coal and the iron of Venezuela started to being exploited. Even when the deposits weren't as big as those in the United States, they were enough to start some first industry.[3] Colombia's first textile mills were imported from England, and thanks to that Colombia could mass produce clothes. While a Indigena artisan would take days to make a single layer of clothes, the new machines Colombia imported could do several ones in a much shorter time span. Thus, they were very cheap, and even more thanks to the American Union and shorter distances. Those mass produced goods sold well in the rest of Latin America, just like Colombian sugar, coffee, precious metals. Even steel and cement were produced in limited quantities. Obviously, the quality was dubious at best, but it improved slowly over time as British companies moved to build more factories themselves. By 1828 Colombia was able to produce large quantities of steel, cement and lumber, which were sold to great profit.
Other Latin American nations weren't as lucky, as they had to spend way more money in their own projects for rebuilding. For example, after the Guerilla Operations in Mexico, important cities like Veracruz, Monterrey or even Mexico City itself laid destroyed. Santiago, Lima, Buenos Aires were in similar conditions, and even in countries who saw far less combat (like Paraguay and the USCA) had economic problems, having to loan enormous quantities of money from the United Kingdom.
The first year of Congress Latin America was spent in relative peace, as the countries demobilized their armies, but keeping their navies ready for any Spanish attack. The Peruvian Protectorate, under Sucre, started to being organized into a functional Republic, while La Plata was in the middle of a cold peace between the different warlords. The launch of the Reconquista from Spain created a major problem, but the Spaniards were crushed by the Colombians in the Battle of Caracas, where a Spanish Army managed to land. Santander, who happened to be in the city organizing a garrison, led the defense and managed to encircle and destroy the Spanish troops, while the Colombian Navy under Captain Pablo Zambrano destroyed the Spanish Fleet.
All of this was thanks to the Colombian "Guyana Talks", in which Colombia had managed to convince the United Kingdom to give Guyana Essequibo back to her without cost, giving Naval Bases rights there, in Caracas, Cartagena, Guayaquil and Panama as means of paying the debt accumulated during the Independence War. This enormously increased the presence of the British in Colombia, thus increasing investment and migration and also allowing Colombia to find and hire a lot of veterans from the Napoleonic Wars. The Colombian Navy was expanded and modernized, although it remained too tiny to stand a chance against the Royal Navy. Nonetheless, it was powerful enough to decisively defeat the Spaniards. Other Spanish attacks to La Plata and Chile were similarly defeated.
The next important success came from the Caribbean, as Santo Domingo declared independence from the Spanish Empire as the Spanish Haiti Free State.
Santo Domingo had been a Spanish colony until the French took it over, only for the Spaniards to take it back later. It bordered Haiti, the second nation to reach independence in the Americans thanks to the only successful slave revolt in recorded history, thanks to the French Revolution and the Royal Navy preventing France from striking back. Both had huge problems.
Haiti was divided in two, the Kingdom of Haiti under Christophe I in the North and the Haitian Republic in the South under Petion. Isolated, economically ruined and poor, the future didn't seen bright for the ex-colony. Santo Domingo, meanwhile, wasn't in such a desperate situation, but Spain had shown little care to it, so the economy was stagnant and the people angry. It was in this situation that the declaration of independence took place, by the hand of Jose Nuñez de Caceres. Realizing his only chance of survival would be allying with someone powerful, he asked for annexation to Colombia, sailing in a ship to Cartagena and going from there to Santafe. In his meeting with Miranda, they agreed to the terms of the annexation, for which Santo Domingo would became a state of Colombia, with all the people there becoming Colombian citizens. Nuñez would be appointed as the first governor of the country.
Spain responded almost immediately, landing a force in Santo Domingo. They didn't care that much about the colony, with most of their focus being in Cuba, but it was a matter of pride. Loosing yet another colony would mean such a loss of face. So, they Spaniards landed a force in Santo Domingo, trying to "restore order". Colombian forces just arrived and, under the leadership of Santander and Bolivar, were able to repeat the results of Caracas, encircling and destroying the Spanish army
This prompted the Spaniards to sign the Truce of Caracas, so that they could focus in re-conquering Mexico. The Truce didn't mean that the Spanish government recognized the new nations, but was rather a sort of "we'll conquer you later, but for now let's not attack each other" compromise. Spain stopped raiding the convoys of the new nations, demanding that any cooperation with Mexico was forbidden in return. Colombia was the only not to fulfill their part, sending a lot of supplies and money to the Mexican patriots, especially Iturbide.
Following the annexation of Santo Domingo, Colombia was able to buy British recognition and help by opening their new territory to British investment and to the Royal Navy, whose only other major base in the Caribbean was Jamaica. Reactions in Latin America were mixed, from indifference in Chile and La Plata to some outrage in Peru; nobody could really do anything to prevent Colombia from taking Santo Domingo.
However, there was one nation which didn't like the whole ordeal: Haiti. Shortly before the annexation, Christophe died, allowing Petion to unify the country under his leadership. A long standing Haitian ambition had been the total control of Hispaniola, so he, under all advice, attacked the Colombian half. The Haitian Army, however, stood no chance against the Colombian troops, who were better equipped and supplied. The Colombian counterattack was quick and efficient, destroying the main Haitian force and occupying Port au Prince. Faced with the decision of what to do with the Island, Miranda decided to start what would come to be known as the "Benevolent Dictatorship" (La Dictadura Benevolente), with Haiti under a puppet government headed by the Mulatto Jean Leroy. It may seem like an oxymoron, but the system was surprisingly successful as it was actually a marked improvement over the previous situation in Haiti.
Under Colombian leadership the sugar industry in Hispaniola was rebuilt. The industry used to be dependant in slavery and thus couldn't compete with the production of Cuba, but no Latin American country was willing to trade with Spain. Thus, and thanks to the Union Americana, Colombia became the main source of Sugar to the region. Haiti was finally stabilized, with modest improvements in infrastructure, education and health being done. The economy, which laid in shambles before, became better. No country was willing to recognize Haiti or trade with it yet, but practically nobody cared if Colombia bought goods and then sold them to Haiti. Also, one of the main objectives of the Benevolent Dictadorship was gaining the support of the population, thus Miranda and Nuñez were sure to keep Leroy in check, with his rule being notoriously better than Petion's or Christophe's.[5]
Meanwhile, the situation in Cuba was changing. The island was pretty much the only colony Spain did care about, with heavy investment in the sugar industry and population there, thus the people remained loyalist just like the Peruvians. Cuba was untouchable by virtue of the Spanish Navy, which was still powerful enough to defend it though not to conduct offensives into the water of the new Latin American nations. It's worth of note that Bolivar, generalissimo of Colombia, asked for Miranda's permission to attack Cuba, but Miranda declined because it would be a logistical nightmare, break the Truce of Caracas and possibly upset the United Kingdom.
In the years following the Latin American revolutions, Cuba became more and more aware of the social injustices and the imperfections of the Spanish government, influenced by the success nations like Colombia were having and the apparent weakness of Spain. A society, looking for independence was created. Its name was "Soles y Rayos de Miranda"[6]. The society main goal was independence and a possible annexation to Colombia, but the fact that Cuba was easier to control and it had a larger Spaniard population prevented it from realizing this goal. The other Spanish colony that was left was Puerto Rico, and like with Santo Domingo the Spaniards had little care for it and the economy was bad. No independence movement could prosper there either.
Continues in Part II.
Note
[1]A marked improvement over OTL, as Quito, Bogota and Santafe were heavily damaged during OTL's Independence War. Also, the UK didn't care that much about the new nations in OTL, but they're friendlier here. I'll explain why in the next entries.
[2]In OTL the Independence didn't bring much social changes, really. The difference was that the Criollos were now in the top instead of the Peninsulares.
[3]Acutally, Colombia has the largest reserves of coal in South America, with some figures saying it has almost as much as Germany. Venezuela has a fairly good amount of iron, not as much as Chile or Brazil, but enough to quickstart industrialization.
[4]Happened in OTL, by the way. Yes, the petition to join Colombia too (it was even in the constitution of Santo Domingo). However, Haiti invaded and conquered Santo Domingo, with Bolivar too busy liberating Quito to do anything about it.
[5]In OTL Haiti conquered Santo Domingo and subjugated it during various years. Haitian rule was terrible, destroying the Domenican economy and leaving scars in the country for years to come. Also, OTL Haiti was characterized for being a succesion of horrible and ruthless dictators, so I think this situation is a marked improvement.
[6]It did exist, but was called Soles y Rayos de Bolivar instead.
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