The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 779 - 581: Chaos in Central America, War Every Day_2

Which of the remaining Central American countries would stand up against the United States? Honduras is the first to be ruled out, after all, a portion of its territory had been occupied by the United Kingdom, and Honduras harbors a hatred towards the United Kingdom that is far more severe than its animosity towards the United States.

That leaves Guatemala and El Salvador. El Salvador is a region coveted by Australasia, and being a country with small influence, it won’t have much impact on the United States.

In contrast, as one of the largest countries in Central America, if Guatemala were to erupt into civil war again, it would completely destroy the U.S. dominance in Central America.

With this in mind, the British Government hesitated no longer and directly contacted the resistance forces in Guatemala.

The finances of Guatemala were still controlled by that same United Fruit Company.

One has to admit the cunning of the American people. Merely by leveraging a single company, they could easily control the economy and politics of many Central American nations.

But the American-supported governments were mostly military dictatorships, which did leave some local dissatisfaction.

It was this dissatisfaction that presented the British with an opportunity.

Manuel Estrada Cabrera, the current President of Guatemala, was a dictator who should have been overthrown by an armed uprising a few years ago.

Although not yet deposed, the discontent within Guatemala towards Manuel Estrada Cabrera had been deepening gradually.

The opponent of Manuel Estrada Cabrera that the British found was actually Carlos Herrera y Luna, who historically had overthrown Manuel’s dictatorial rule.

Carlos Herrera y Luna was considered the most outstanding politician and businessman in Guatemala since the 19th Century. Although he had not yet become president, his business acumen was already extraordinary.

He founded the Pantaleón Sugar Mill and acquired the El Baúl Sugar Mill at the beginning of the 20th century. He was visionary and tenacious, developing crop and machinery production during his tenure. His Pantaleón Sugar business controlled a far greater share of the Central and South American market than the American sugar companies, ranking in the top ten.

Being able to exceed the capital of American companies within the same industry, Carlos Herrera y Luna’s business talent was evident.@@@@

As one of the largest businessmen in Guatemala, Carlos Herrera y Luna held a significant weight in the country.

No matter what the rebels had originally thought, now, there must be the shadow of other powers behind them.

This was also why it was unrealistic for the Americans to want to resolve the Central American rebellions alone—America could not possibly counter all the powers with just one country, unless its navy and army were very strong, which was not the case in reality.

The present United States was strong in industry and economy, like an old man with only property, posing no threat to these robust powers.

If one looked closely, the military strengths of these powerful nations generally matched their economies and sometimes even exceeded them.

Only the United States, a country with a natural geographic advantage, had a very strong industrial and economic development, but its military strength did not match its economy.

The Foreign Affairs Department of Australasia acted quickly and soon made contact with the forces opposing the government in El Salvador.

These Central American governments were all influenced by the American government, and Arthur would definitely not woo them.

Compared with wooing the government of El Salvador, Arthur preferred to seek out those in El Salvador’s civilian population who opposed the government and start from scratch to nurture a government in El Salvador that was friendly to Australasia.

Because a new government like this had one advantage—the rulers had no political foundation and therefore were highly dependent on assistance from Australasia.

This would greatly strengthen Australasia’s control over El Salvador and was far better than supporting the current government.

As for the current government of El Salvador, who would care or pay attention? After all, they were close to the United States; if there was any caring to be done, let the Americans take care of it.

In the two months of February and March, including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador, four countries all erupted into civil wars, instantly igniting most of Central America and drawing the attention of the whole world, also turning the American government into the world’s laughingstock.

At the same time, Panama, with an even greater American military presence, was not at peace. Panama was not satisfied with the Americans’ direct partitioning of the Panama Canal, turning it into a country within a country in Panama.

Moreover, Panama had only recently gained independence from Colombia, and it was well-known that Colombia aspired to reclaim Panama.

At the moment, there was frequent troop movement along the Colombia-Panama border, which was no longer just a possibility of the Americans losing Central America—it was highly likely that they could lose the entire Panama Canal.

And the chaotic situation in Central America during those two months caused the people of European countries to joke about it: "Chaotic Central America, war every day!" and they collectively referred to the numerous internal conflicts of the Central American countries as the Central America Wars.