El Salvador played a pivotal role in shaping US foreign policy during the early twentieth century as it moved to expand its economic hegemonic control of Central America and the Caribbean. Arguing that diplomacy was not solely the purview of the diplomats and politicians, the author positions grassroots activism as pivotal to the reversal of the most extreme elements of US plans for the region as it actively contested questions of empire—the Bryan-Chamorro treaty (1914), a protectorate for all of Central America, the opening of the Panama Canal, and a naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca. Urban, working-class activism forced Salvadoran political elites to turn from their tendency toward cooperation toward resistance of US foreign policy. Using their transnational worker and populist associations, Salvadorans galvanized support across the region, as well as advocating directly to US politicians concerned with their country's hegemonic tendencies, essentially mitigating the worst implications of the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. These are the political machinations that Héctor Lindo Fuentes outlines in this critical new book.
El alborotador (the troublemaker) is constructed to demonstrate the layered and complex geopolitical landscape that connected internal politics far beyond the borders of the tiny Central American country whose influence has generally been understood to be dwarfed by the “colossus of the north.” Through six chapters, Lindo Fuentes builds a case for the influence of Salvadoran activists. The book begins by outlining El Salvador's fertile soil for activism, including high literacy rates among the country's urban population, fueled by a large cadre of young female educators; large numbers of workers’ associations that were connected across Central America; and an active journalist community which disseminated political ideas. Although it was not an industrialized country, a large urban, artisan middle class existed. In it, women dominated the markets and played a vital role in Central American unionism and anti-imperialist circles. Employing Erick Ching's identification of political clientelism, Lindo Fuentes argues that while El Salvador was a distinctly undemocratic region, elites competed with one another and were therefore susceptible to public pressure by these groups (20).
Effectively arguing that this anti-imperialism was fueled by political factors beyond the threat of superpowers (64), Lindo Fuentes points to an expanding and politically conscious populist movement developed at the turn of the twentieth century. With growing apprehension, Salvadorans witnessed the United States invade Cuba and develop business interests across Central America which threatened economic if not political sovereignty. This fear was further fueled by imperialist tendencies from neighboring Guatemalan dictator Manuel Estrada Cabrera, who harbored dreams of regional domination. Inspired by exiled Mexican dissidents in El Salvador and visiting Latin American intellectuals, the perception that El Salvador was malleable to US interests rapidly shifted.
The US invasion of Nicaragua in 1912 precipitated a diplomatic crisis for Salvadoran president Manuel Enrique Araujo (1911–13). Activists responded to the threat using their worker associations, while others joined the armed struggle against US marines in Nicaragua. The anti-imperialist movement was supported by even the poorest Salvadorans, who emptied their purses to fund journals and pamphlets (115–16). Araujo's impulse to acquiesce to US interests was mitigated by internal populist pressure, which might have become a problem for US policy makers, the author argues, except for his mysterious assassination in 1913 (quietly believed among US diplomatic circles to be the work of Guatemalan Estrada Cabrera) (98).
The resolution of events in Nicaragua known as the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty was so influenced by Salvadoran internal politics that US State Department Minister William Heimké called El Salvador the troublemaker to the peace of Central America and an implacable enemy of the United States. Although many had hoped that Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan would attenuate its imperialist tendencies, the initial version of the treaty included Platt Amendment-like clauses which included making protectorates of the five Central American countries. Always fearful of European intervention should these countries default on their debt, the treaty was a placation of Wall Street banks that demanded economic and political stability in exchange for their loans. The final form of the treaty, however, was reformed due to the activism exercised by Salvadoran artisans, workers, students, teachers, and intellectuals, which forced the Salvadoran government to resist. This activism was coordinated with activists across Central America. However, the activists also contacted those within the US Senate and public who were wary of the growing US hegemonic impulses. In this activism, Lindo Fuentes argues they demonstrated initiative, ability, and imagination (277).
Positioning El Salvador's political history within the context of US imperialism, Lindo-Fuentes argues convincingly that internal political resistance indeed shifted the final outcomes of treaties during the early twentieth century, complicating traditional understandings of diplomacy in which political elites determine the outcome. As such, the book begins to fill a large gap in the existing historiography on Central American diplomatic history. If at times the volume of names and details makes for slow reading, it accurately depicts the complexity of an ambitious work that demonstrates the level of agency Salvadorans exercised, despite their historically disadvantageous position.
