Diario las Américas., 1958-08-05
Know thv
NeighborI
By ANTONIO RUIZ

NlCARAGUA-In the year 1921.
authorities at Guatemala City de.
clared Central American indepen.
dence, but the governments of Nj.
caragua and Honduras agreed in
stead to be Incorporated to the new
Mexican Empire, under the terms
of the Plan of Iguala. an arrange
ment which lasted for little more
than a year.
The attempts at Central Ameri.
can union in 1880, under liberal
president Francisco Morazan, were
as unsuccessful as those that fol,
lowed his down fall. Neverthe.
less, in the thoughts of Central
American statesmen, union has re-
manned to this day an ideal even
tually to be realized.
From 1880 to 1860, Nicaragua
was frequently involved in war
with its neighbors, and in strife
between the conservative and libe-
raj factions within the country, and
the two forms of conflict aggra-
waited each other. The situation
was further embittered by the stub
born antagonism between Granada
and Leon. During the years of
agitation the executive and legis-
lative branches of the government
were in the habit of moving around,
sometimes together. and function
ing in whatever towns were con-
veniente at the moment.
In 1852, however, as a compro-
mise, the Acting President of Nj
caragua decreed that the official
residence of the executive should
be in Managua. The city's gradual
rise to prominence dates from that
time. During the years 1854 to
1860, besides civil war, there we're
melo-dramatic international episo-
des in connection with Cornelius
Vanderbilt's Accessory Transit
Company, which transported Cali
fornia-pound travellers across Nj
caragua, and with William Walker,
an adventurer fir o Tennessee.
Walker, who marched in with So
men and had himself made presi-
dent, succeeded in arousing the
hostility of Vanderbilt, both poll
teal parties, and Central America
in general.
After Walkers surrender and
death, following two other unsuc-
cessful filibustering expeditions,
conservatives and librals in Mica
ragua patched up their differences
and from 1860 to 1898, ~conserva-
tive government held office in Ma
nagua.
In these years a certain amount
of progress vas achieved in the
country, such as the establishment
of telegraph services, improvement
of lake and river transportation,
and the start of railroad conStruc-
ton, Political unrest, however, had
continued throughout Central Ame-
RIGA, and as always, during the dis
orders, lives and property of for
eigners had been lost, and claims
for damages accumulated.
1t was, therefore, with a view to
promoting peace and improving the
disorganized condition of finances
and thus removing possible cause
of international war, that the Unit
ed States was led in 1910 to in
tervene in Nicaragua. The inter-
vention, resented by Nicaraguans
and criticized at home as well as
throughout Latin America, was ex-
pressed in Managua from 1918
until 1925 by the stationing of
about one hundred Marine guards
at the United States Legation.
From 1927 to 1888 a larger force
of Marines was present to train a
new body of Nicaraguan National
Guard, and to supervise elections.
Central American policies were
worked out in conferences held
frequently during the first quarter
of the century. The wars between
the various republics had happily
been discontinued, bringing about
some political stability within Nj
caragua. Under the financial plans
of 1917 and 1920, the Nicaraguan
government in 1924 repaid its debt
to U. S. bankers, and bought back
the stock of the National Bank
and the Pacific Railway.
With the enunciation of the Good
Neighbor Policy by the govern
ment of the United States, under
President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
in 1888, the theory Of Intervention,
which had been loosing favor for
some years, was completely laid
aside.
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