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End of Spanish American War 1898: The United States are able to acquire the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and annex Hawaii. At this time, Theodore Roosevelt’s position was Secretary of the Navy. Along with their new acquired territories, Roosevelt persisted that the United States Navy needed easy access to the Atlantic and Pacific. The idea of building a canal through Central America comes to surface.

Assassination of President William McKinley 1901: On September 14th,1901, President William McKinley is assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States. The United States poses the idea of building a canal through Central America to Great Britain. Great Britain supports this construction and see it as an opportunity to extend trading and traveling. The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty is created and signed on November 18th 1901, allowing the United States to build a canal through Central America.

Approval of Panama Canal 1902: The idea of constructing a canal through Panama is presented to the United States Senate for approval. Once approved by the Senate, the government begins handling the financial details and responsibilities that come with building this canal. On June 28th 1902, the United States formed the Spooner Act. The Spooner Act authorized the United States to purchase the land needed from Panama in order to build the canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.

Conflicts with Surrounding Countries 1903: Countries surrounding the desired construction area were not pleased with the construction of the canal. The United States had to compromise with Colombia, repositioning the Hay-Herran Treaty. With the adjustment, Colombia was now promised 10 million and $250,000 annually for a six mile zone. To much surprise, Panama citizens decide to rebel against Colombia to gain their independence. After gaining their independence, Roosevelt is thrilled and recognizes the new Republic. Roosevelt is content because he knows this will secure the construction of the canal and make his execution easier.

Progression 1904: In 1904, Panama adopts the U.S. dollar as its currency. The United States makes a deal with Panama and acquires the wanted Panama Canal Zone for 10 million dollars. The French had previously attempted to build a canal within the same area but failed. Therefore, the United States offered the French 40 million dollars to purchase any supplies, workers, and equipment that can be used.

Turmoil 1904: Construction on the Panama Canal begins. Theodore Roosevelt appoints  John Findley Wallace as head engineer. The conditions of the canal zone is not as expected. The area is overgrown and remaining equipment from the French is barely usable. Wallace is mainly concerned with the living and sanitary conditions. Housing, sewage systems, and roads are very scarce. Dozens of workers and civilians are dying from malaria an yellow fever. These conditions scare off Wallace and he resigns from his position as head engineer.

New Beginnings 1905: Theodore Roosevelt is able to replace Wallace with a new engineer, John F. Stevens. Stevens arrives to Panama and decides to prioritize living conditions. In on year, Stevens has 1250 housing institutions built to guarantee his workers are safe and healthy to execute the canal to the very end. Stevens hires William Crawford Gorgas as Chief of Sanitization. Gorgas is hired to handle the Yellow Fever dilemma, in one year he realizes the origin of the disease and gains control of it.

Theodore Roosevelt’s First Visit 1906: President Theodore Roosevelt plans a 17 day trip to canal site. Roosevelt decides to do this so he can physically see the area and the progress that has been made on the construction of the canal. President Theodore Roosevelt makes history by becoming the first United States president to make an official visit outside of the United States.

The Final Stretch 1907-1913: A new engineer is appointed by the name of George Washington Goethals. Goethals sees the construction of the canal to the very end and is appointed as the first governor of the Canal. The crew begins work on Gatun Dam. This Dam will be the canal’s main water supply ensuring water is always flowing through. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson fires an explosion created an entry way for Atlantic and Pacific waters to finally merge.

Up and Running 1914: On August 15th, 1914, the canal is finally complete and ready for travel. SS Ancon becomes the first boat to travel through the canal. The Panama Canal becomes one of the United State’s biggest accomplishments and construction projects to date. Throughout history, this canal will be internationally used making trade and travel more efficient for all.

“Building the Panama Canal 1899-1913 .” U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian , history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/panama-canal.

“The American Era: Construction Period.” Panama Canal Museum > Timeline > Americaneraconstruction, Panama Canal Museum , cms.uflib.ufl.edu/pcm/timeline/americaneraconstruction.aspx.

Works Cited:

1. Dawson, Alexander. Latin America since Independence : A History with Primary Sources, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/baruch/detail.action?docID=1779185.

2. Rice, Mark. “Populism” .29 October 2020. Lecture.

https://www.wtma.com/news/report-us-war-on-drugs-in-latin-america-needs-overhaul/

The war on drugs was originally declared by Richard Nixon in 1971, where he addressed our country’s drug problem as a “serious national threat”, and our “public enemy No. 1.” In 1973, the Drug Enforcement Administration, more commonly referred to as the DEA, was established to work together with other federal agencies to combat the large amount of drugs funneling into the US by Latin America. Harsh penalties are used against those purchasing, selling and using drugs. Fast forward to 1976, Jimmy Carter campaigns to decriminalize marijuana and drop federal charges against those with possession. It wasn’t until Reagan’s administration, beginning in 1981, decided that “drugs are bad, and we’re going after them.” In doing so, he punished both domestic and foreign affairs with Latin America, where many crops of illegal substances were being grown.

Reagan sought to eliminate drugs at their source, which included the use of aerial herbicides to be spread over Latin American countries, Peru and Columbia being among their top priority, in order to eradicate opium, marijuana and coca crops. This caused tension within Latin America, and Peru and Columbia were seeing far left-leaning Guerrilla groups, notably responsible for much of these drug crops, rising to power and seeking to create stronger armed forces to combat the US. With the growing human rights movement that was also taking place in Latin America, both wanting stronger armed forces, the two movements grew and found alternative ways to supply their drugs since the demand was still so high. The abuse against the Latin American people by the United States has lasted long to this day, five decades later, with no resolve.

As the article states, the use of cryptocurrency and the dark web amidst tough financial and economic times allows for the large amounts of drugs to continuously find their way into the country. The higher the stress our country’s population is put under, with the increasingly difficult ways to access healthcare, medication and coping resources, allocates for a much higher demand in illegal drugs, which the US has failed time and time again to put a cap on. Biden’s plan to advance Latin America’s financial aid, diplomacy and ethical human rights looks like it might give a promising approach to helping resolve, or lessen the impacts, of the illegal drug trade.

Module 4

Article Title: “In Peru, Protests and Turmoil Over Impeachment, Ouster of its Popular President”

Source: NBC News

Political leaders across the world have been severely reprimanded and criticized on their handling of the COVID-19 virus. As positive virus cases continue to increase, countries facing high infection rates are beginning to crumble under pressure. President Martin Vizcarra of Peru is facing possible impeachment due to his poor handling of the virus. Peru stands as the country with the highest mortality rate due to COVID-19 and his fellow officials are not happy. Even though Peru has struggled with the handling of the virus, Vizcarra is very respected and liked amongst the Peruvian people. Therefore, the citizens of Peru have not taken his impeachment lightly. Vizcarra came into office after Peru’s previous president was removed and now the cycle continues. Political officials outside of Congress do not agree with the decision to remove Vizcarra and encourage citizens to view his replacement as illegitimate. Congress claims Vizcarra is not only being removed due to COVID-19 but also for prior allegations of corruption. There is little no evidence convicting Vizcarra of these allegations, therefore officials are warning this decision may put Peru’s democratic system at risk. “To go after a president and destabilize the country’s democracy in the middle of this type of crisis for no serious reason is beyond reckless”, says Harvard specialist Steve Levitsky. Many are concerned with what may happen after having Vizcarra removed during this unprecedented time. Peruvian citizens have undergone enough chaos and turmoil during the rising severity of COVID-19, it is unfair for their president to be taken out of office in the middle of the pandemic.

The opinions of the Peruvian people are being disregarded due to the alarming hatred towards Vizcarra. Officials continue to place all the pressure and responsibility on Vizcarra for the deaths of Peruvian people due to COVID-19. According to NBC news, 922,333 citizens have been infected in a country with only 32 million citizens. Peruvian lawmaker Maria Cabrera said “This is something I can never forgive”. Unfortunately, Congress holds the power and despite the opinions of others, it seems that Vizcarra has accepted his defeat and is ready for his removal.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/peru-protests-turmoil-over-impeachment-ouster-its-president-n1247233

Soviet nuclear warheads inhabited Cuban territory for 59 days. The United States had little to no knowledge of large cargo held on Arkhangelsk. The ship carried in total 98 tactical nuclear warheads for a variety of missiles including FKR-1, Luna launcher, and 6 nuclear bombs. These numbers do not include missiles that had arrived to Cuba but were never unloaded.

The entirety and exact details of the Cuban Missile Crisis have remained a mystery to many for decades. However, documents written by Major General Igor Statsenko and Lieutenant General Nikolai Beloborodov in the 1990’s depict an accurate illustration of the events that took place in Cuba.

The original Soviet plan for Operation Anadyr was approved on June 10th, 1962. This plan allowed the Soviet Group of Forces in Cuba 80-land based front cruise missiles. About four months later, Khrushchev extended the limit and added 12 tactical Luna launchers with 12 warheads and 6 nuclear bombs. The strategic missiles known as R-12 and R-14 could not be fired without direct orders from Moscow. These missiles were very fatal and dangerous. Therefore, just having them, posed a huge threat to the world because many people believed Soviet commanders had the capability to launch them without the official order.

The entire world sat on edge as the Soviet’s infiltrated Cuba with large amounts of nuclear weapons. On October 28th, Khruschchev gave his word to withdraw the nuclear weapons from Cuba. Prime Minister Anastas Mikoyan was sent to Cuba to supervise the removal of the missiles and work with Cuban officials to negotiate a peaceful future for both nations. Mikoyan’s main job was to remove all “offensive weapons” from Cuba. When he realized this was easier said than done, he decided to handle the situation with a different approach. To keep Cuba as a Soviet ally, Mikoyan wanted to strengthen Cuban defenses while decreasing Soviet presence.  Mikoyan proposed that the Cuban personnel be trained by Soviets and with time, the operation of all approved weapons would be transferred to Cuban operators. At the same time, on his own, Khrushchev agreed to different terms with the United States. The Cubans began taking their fury out on Mikoyan and the U.S. Castro ordered the Cubans to shoot a low-flying U.S aircraft, sending an intense message to all. Mikoyan realized that their Cuban ally had a mind of it’s own and would not always follow the Soviet’s playbook. Mikoyan, Khrushchev, and the rest of the Soviet’s came to the realization that it would be too risky and dangerous to follow through with the original plan of transferring the nuclear weapons to Cuban operators.

At Mikoyan’s last meeting with Castro, he explained that the weapons could not be transferred. Castro desperate for power begged Mikoyan to transfer the weapons. Castro proposed diabolical plans such as hiding the weapons in caves. The Soviet’s did not give in, and continued with the removal of the weapons. Finally, on November 25th, the Soviet troops began removing the warheads from Cuba. Arkhangelsk departed Cuba on December 1, 1962 putting an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB449/

The United States originally established diplomatic relations with Guatemala in the late 1840’s after declaring their independence from Spain.  Shortly after the ending of World War II, the Cold War began and threat of communism spread throughout the US. To the United States, Guatemala was being too soft on communism and soon it would begin to spread throughout the country. This lead the United States to fund, train and equip a rebel army of Guatemalan exiles on land owned by the United Fruit Company in Honduras. By 1960, this rebel group had completely overthrown the Guatemalan government and had now established military control over the country while remaining in close relations with the United States.  The attached letter is from an unknown source to the CIA station located in Guatemala stating that any “insurgent” deaths to happen at the hand of Guatemalan security forces should be made to look as if they were provoked. Although most of the contents are blacked out of the document, there is a line that also states the necessity of a judge to be called to the scene of an “encounter” to confirm the ruling of the death as provoked, or confirm the fabrications.

Files like these were concealed to limit the liability or known US involvement in the military-like control taking place in Latin American countries. As the letter stated, these precautions of concealing deaths were followed to avoid “unfavorable publicity”, all while the US provided air support to the Guatemalan army. The United States backed military control because they felt that as long as there wasn’t communist control, they would be winning the Cold War. It was, in a sense, the lesser of two evils, despite civil war breaking out during the 30 years of Guatemalan military control.

LatinAmericanHistoryColdWarFiles