This is a story that they don’t teach to school children in the USA.  But they do teach it in Costa Rica.  I think it explains a lot about the suspicion that people in Latin America have about the intentions of the United States.

This map will be in a exhibit at USD on April 21, 2010

In the 1850’s Manifest Destiny and ending slavery were the big issues like Islamic Terrorism and National Health Care are today.  Territory was in flux.  Texas had successfully broken away from Mexico in the 1830’s and the Mexican War which ended in 1848 had increased the size of the United States by a third.  Into this mix a charismatic young man from Louisiana named William Walker set out to become a hero.  He ended up dead and in the process showed the USA to be an imperialist country.

In 1853 he put together an army and invaded Mexico.  He took La Paz and Ensenada and declared The Republic of Sonora.  Mexico fought back and he returned, defeated to the USA.  He was tried for violating the neutrality act and acquitted by a jury in San Francisco.  Next he colonized Nicaragua took over the army and declared himself the President.  He openly declared that he would control all of Central America.  He was defeated by the Costa Ricans in 1856 and rescued by the US Navy.  In 1860 he was back in Honduras trying again to take over a country.  He was captured tried and hung by the Hondurans.  You can read the whole story of  William Walker on Wikipedia but you get the drift.  There is also a book “With Walker in Nicaragua” available on Amazon of course.