Air Power, Insurgency and the “War on Terror” - Prof. Joel Hayward's ...

Chapter 5
bananas, <strong>and</strong> cattle for export. There was no industry to speak of, <strong>and</strong> very few valuable
natural resources. The nor<strong>the</strong>rn region of <strong>the</strong> Segovias was especially isolated. Much
of <strong>the</strong> area was mountainous <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>re were almost no roads. Travel was by horse <strong>and</strong>
mule or on foot. The largest towns had only several thous<strong>and</strong> people. The vast majority
were poor peasants who eked out a meagre livelihood while living in shacks that were
scattered throughout <strong>the</strong> mountains.
Despite Nicaragua’s poverty <strong>and</strong> underdevelopment, <strong>the</strong> US Marines would be ordered to
intervene three separate times during <strong>the</strong> beginning of <strong>the</strong> twentieth century. Nicaragua
stretched from <strong>the</strong> Caribbean to <strong>the</strong> Pacific <strong>and</strong> was seen as a potential site for an interoceanic
canal. Thus, <strong>the</strong> US interest was strategic, not economic. Even after <strong>the</strong> building
of <strong>the</strong> Panama Canal, <strong>the</strong> US was concerned about a competing canal through Nicaragua.
At <strong>the</strong> beginning of 1927, Robert Olds, <strong>the</strong> Assistant Secretary of State, wrote a telling
memo describing <strong>the</strong> official US view of Nicaragua:
The Central American area down to <strong>and</strong> including <strong>the</strong> Isthmus of
Panama constitutes a legitimate sphere of influence for <strong>the</strong> United
States. ... That we can never be indifferent to what happens in this
area is a principle of policy no less fully established than <strong>the</strong> Monroe
Doctrine itself. The Panama canal is a vital asset, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> effective
control of <strong>the</strong> only o<strong>the</strong>r potential water route between <strong>the</strong> Atlantic
<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pacific, through <strong>the</strong> Republic of Nicaragua, is equally vital to
our national interests. 163
Olds continued: “Until now Central America has always understood that governments
which we recognise <strong>and</strong> support stay in power, while those which we do not recognise
<strong>and</strong> support fall. Nicaragua has become a test case. It is difficult to see how we can
afford to be defeated.” Thus, <strong>the</strong> interventions were also a demonstration of US power
in <strong>the</strong> region.
Throughout Nicaragua’s history discord between <strong>the</strong> Liberal <strong>and</strong> Conservative factions of
<strong>the</strong> elite had led to several civil wars. While <strong>the</strong>re was little political difference between
<strong>the</strong> two, <strong>the</strong>y constantly fought each o<strong>the</strong>r to control <strong>the</strong> country. By <strong>the</strong> beginning of <strong>the</strong>
twentieth century <strong>the</strong> Liberals, led by Jose Santos Zelaya, governed <strong>the</strong> country. Zelaya,
while a dictator, considered himself a moderniser <strong>and</strong> was trying to promote <strong>the</strong> building
of a second canal through Nicaragua. In 1909, to help <strong>the</strong> Conservatives overthrow
Zelaya, President William Taft ordered <strong>the</strong> Marines to l<strong>and</strong> in Nicaragua. A pro-American
Conservative, Adolfo Diaz, became president. In 1912 <strong>the</strong> Liberals rebelled <strong>and</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s
<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror” 85