by Jerry Lawright

Initially, after Latin American independence from Spain in the 1820’s, U.S. policy towards its neighbors to the south was one of noninvolvement, guided by the Monroe Doctrine. This simply stated opposition to any foreign powers’ ambitions to re-colonize Latin America; the real clout behind it was Britain’s’ Royal Navy and that country’s desire to keep Spain or any other perpetual enemy from regaining a foothold in the Americas.

The United States itself had little interest in interaction with Latin countries for the first thirty years of their independence. In the 1850’s that would change. The history of Nicaragua and the United States intertwined for the next hundred and fifty years. While at times this association has involved armed conflict, at most others it was largely economic. The era around the turn of the last century embodied that, and the term first coined by President William Taft- Dollar Diplomacy – was heard.