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Frank O. Mora and Jerry W. Cooney. Paraguay and the United States: Distant Allies .:Paraguay and the United States: Distant Allies. (The United States and the Americas.)

2008; Oxford University Press; Volume: 113; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/ahr.113.2.548

1937-5239

René D. Harder Horst,

Colonialism, slavery, and trade

This book is a long-awaited addition to the literature about an understudied country at the heart of Latin America. Frank O. Mora, a specialist in international studies, and Jerry W. Cooney, a historian, study the developing dialectic between the nations since Paraguay's independence. Their argument is that relations with the United States varied over time depending on U. S. attention to the Southern Cone and Paraguayan desires to capitalize on its northern neighbor's interest in the region. International events affected relations between these nations, but circumstances as seemingly insignificant as diplomats and their behaviors also made their interaction fluctuate. This book is packed with details that have previously not been readily available; despite having a specific focus, it informs continental developments. Scholars of political science, history, and Latin American studies will find it a useful teaching tool. At first glance, one might expect the relationship between Paraguay and the United States to have been one-sided, given the disproportionate power balance. Diplomats altered the relationship. Edward Hopkins, U. S. representative in the Southern Cone in 1845, mixed diplomacy with personal gain at a time when U. S. foreign policy was linked to commercial interests. Paraguay tried unsuccessfully to secure U. S. support during its war with Brazil and Argentina (1865–1869), and its disastrous defeat led to foreign speculation through ranching. By 1900, the United States sought to use Paraguay as a buffer state between Brazil and Argentina. American speculator Percival Farquhar built a syndicate of railroads, ranches, and packing companies to cut a rail route from Brazil through Paraguay to the Chilean coast. After purchasing a controlling interest in Paraguay's railways in 1910, Farquhar supported the Radical faction that took power in 1912 after a bloody revolt. The World War I economic slump ended the rail attempt and allowed Argentine and U. S. cattle barons to claim much of Paraguay's land for ranching.