Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

The Fifth Freedom
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
100
American integrity which has come out of Washington.” For Roosevelt,
Connell-Smith comments, “the dominant position of the United States in
the western hemisphere was exactly like that of ‘the English speaking
race’ in South Africa. Both were in the interests of civilization.” 38
Colombia not being a civilized nation, the chicanery involved in the
Panama Canal robbery was entirely legitimate. The Colombians who
objected to Roosevelt’s maneuvers were, after all, nothing but “damned
dagoes,” as he explained, who had to be taught proper behavior. In the
words of one American historian, Roosevelt “made it clear how he would
deal with refractory Latin Americans; he would ‘show those Dagos that
they will have to behave decently’.” 39
Woodrow Wilson took matters a step further: “. . . as a Progressive
he thought a good system was one that was orderly and slightly
reformed—by which he came to mean replacing European concessions
with North American,” and so produced what LaFeber calls “the Wilson
corollary.” 40 Wilson issued a “Declaration” extending the Monroe
Doctrine to “European financiers and contractors” of whose acts he
disapproved, that is, to European financial as well as political and
military intervention. The Latin American order would rest on
cooperation with “those who act in the interest of peace and honor, who
protect private rights,” meaning in effect the rights of US business. A
case in point was control over oil, just becoming an important resource.
Britain was the major threat. Wilson’s State Department warned Costa
Rica that “Department considers it most important that only approved
Americans should possess oil concessions in the neighborhood of
Panama Canal. Amory concession [British, supported by Costa Rica]
does not appear to meet these requirements.” Guatemala was warned
that “It is most important that only American oil interests receive
concessions,” and US pressure ensured that this result was achieved in
the Western Hemisphere, despite some meaningless gestures designed