Chapter 1485 Semi-colony
There is a reason why the East African government is interested in small countries like Bolivia. Small countries are much easier to manipulate than big countries. In South America, only Brazil and Argentina can be called big countries. Therefore, Brazil and Argentina have much more autonomy in foreign exchanges than other Latin American countries. Whether it is Britain, the United States or East Africa, they are more likely to win over these two countries than to suppress them.
With a size like theirs, if they are suppressed too harshly and directly join the enemy camp, it will be completely counterproductive. Therefore, even East Africa's diplomatic strategy towards Argentina and Brazil is to stabilize them as its primary goal. Conversely, Argentina and Brazil are also cautious about East Africa and the United States, and instead attach more importance to ties with European countries.
Since the 20th century, the development of Argentina and Brazil can be described as rapid. In addition, the two countries have the potential to become powerful countries. Therefore, not only world powers such as East Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom covet hegemony of South America, Argentina and Brazil also believe that they should become the leaders of South America.
…
Montevideo.
This is the capital of Uruguay. This city located on the Atlantic coast was built in the 18th century. It later became the focus of competition between the Spanish La Plata Colony and the Portuguese Brazilian Colony. It changed hands many times. This historical grievance later continued to Argentina and Brazil. In the end, the Brazilian Empire won and turned Uruguay into its territory.
Entering the 19th century, Uruguayan national consciousness had awakened. In 1825, Uruguay once again drove out the Brazilian colonists, formally declared independence, and Montevideo became the capital of Uruguay.
However, after independence, Uruguay fell into an internal power struggle. Under the turbulent political situation, Montevideo did not enter the fast lane of development until the mid-to-late 19th century.
In 1928, Montevideo had a population of about half a million, and thanks to its geographical location, it became the only city that could compete with Buenos Aires.
The two cities have prominent conflicts over trade dominance in the La Plata River basin, especially port taxes and conflicts on shipping routes, which has also provided an opportunity for East African capital to enter Uruguay.
Before the 20th century, the markets of Uruguay and Argentina were basically controlled by British capital. However, if given a choice between Montevideo and Buenos Aires, British capital clearly preferred the latter.
The situation changed after entering the 20th century. Since the end of the South African War, East Africa's economy and national strength have greatly improved, and it has begun to accelerate capital expansion into South America.
Montevideo has entered the sight of East Africa with its excellent port and geographical location. Unlike Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay welcomes investment in East Africa. The former two countries attach more importance to cooperation with European countries, mainly the United Kingdom, due to sovereignty issues. However, Uruguay has conflicts with both countries, which forces the United Kingdom to choose between the two larger markets of Argentina and Brazil.
Therefore, in order to balance Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay is not averse to economic ties with East Africa. In addition, with the help of East Africa, Paraguay's economy and population have recovered rapidly, which further strengthened Uruguay's good impression of East Africa.
As for East Africa's rampant bullying in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, this obviously cannot be generalized. After all, one conclusion can be drawn from these regions, that is, East Africa mainly targets black people and Arab religious forces.
Therefore, after the 20th century, East African capital gradually replaced Britain and became Uruguay's largest investor and trading country. In 1929, Montevideo's economy was more prosperous than in the past.
The post-war negotiations between Bolivia and Paraguay in 1929 were also held in Montevideo. East Africa led the meeting, and Argentina and Brazil also participated.
Montevideo International Convention Center.
The meeting was chaired by East African Ambassador to Uruguay, Mr. Filigue, and was attended by East African ambassadors to Paraguay and Argentina, as well as government officials from various countries in the region.
Filigue: "The war between Paraguay and Bolivia was caused by the dispute between the two countries over the Northern Chaco region. Based on history and the actual rule of the two countries over the Northern Chaco region in recent years, we finally determined that the Northern Chaco region was a no-man's land before 1929. In addition, since Paraguay was the victorious party in the war, the Northern Chaco region was officially incorporated into Paraguay in accordance with international practice."
"The Northern Chaco region, with a total area of 260,000 square kilometers, will officially become Paraguayan territory from today onwards. Do you have any objections?"
The Bolivian government representative, Del Estero, was the first to jump out and said indignantly: "Mr. Filigue, I object! You are shielding Paraguay. The North Chaco region is not a so-called no-man's land. It has always been our Bolivian territory since ancient times."
Filige didn't care about what Del Estero said. He said, "The objection is invalid, Mr. Del Estero. I know that Bolivia, as the defeated party, has not given up on the North Chaco region."
"But regarding the sovereignty of the Northern Chaco region, I don't think there is any dispute. Before 1929, the ownership of the Northern Chaco region was not recognized by the international community. Before the 20th century, neither you nor Paraguay had actual rule and investment in the Northern Chaco region."
"Even now, the residents of the Northern Chaco region are still Indians, so if we really want to be strict, the Northern Chaco region should belong to the local Indian land. So I identified the Northern Chaco region as unclaimed land, which is also in line with the international community's identification of unclaimed land over the past few hundred years."
"Therefore, whichever of you two countries can achieve military occupation of the Northern Chaco region, safeguard the rights and interests of the local Indians, and obtain their recognition, will be able to obtain this land. Now that Bolivia has lost the war, it is entirely the result of its own fault. After all, it was Bolivia that first provoked this war."
Here, Filigree set a tone, that is, the country occupying the Northern Chaco region must protect the rights and interests of local Indians. In this way, Paraguay must accept the Indians on this land as its citizens. This is in line with East Africa's consistent practice in the international arena and will further deepen Paraguay's national integration process.
A "white supremacist" country like Argentina is not welcomed by East Africa. After all, East Africa itself is not a purely white country.
Del Estero is certainly not aware of East Africa’s little calculations, and now, if he is not seeking territorial sovereignty over the entire North Chaco region, he is also forcing Bolivia to have a piece of the pie.
He said: "Mr. Filigue, although we in Bolivia did lose the war, I think it is unreasonable to include the entire Northern Chaco region in Paraguay. Bolivia can accept the restoration of the actual control line between the two sides before the war as the border between the two countries, but cannot tolerate Paraguay's seizure of all the territory in the Northern Chaco region."
Before Filigue could speak, Paraguayan representative Pirisar retorted: "Humph, Mr. del Estero, I wonder if you thought of this outcome when you invaded our control area in the Northern Chaco region of Paraguay."
"Bolivia's undeclared war on Paraguay was an unjust act. If we hadn't reacted quickly, Paraguay would have been destroyed long ago given its already weak national strength."
"Before the war, Bolivia's territory was several times larger than ours, and its population was twice that of Paraguay. Therefore, Bolivia's invasion of Paraguay was simply a case of bullying the weak and greed."
"So, you are still trying to stand on the moral high ground, which is simply ridiculous. Bolivia's performance in the war was completely inhumane and unjust."
"Moreover, since the 19th century, Bolivia has had territorial disputes with almost all of its neighbors, which fully proves that Bolivia is a warlike and barbaric country. Your greed for the North Chaco region also proves this."
It can be said that Pirisal's words had an excellent effect. Among the countries participating in the meeting, Chile, Peru, Argentina and Brazil also had territorial issues with Bolivia. They obviously could not stand on Bolivia's perspective and accuse Paraguay. After all, if they refuted Pirisal's words, then the territory they obtained from Bolivia would lose a bit of legitimacy.
Previously, their territorial issues with Bolivia were actually similar to the disputes in the Northern Chaco region, so the only one who was wrong was Bolivia.
At the same time, Pirizar packaged Paraguay as a "weak" country with a victim background. In this case, if Bolivia lost, it could only blame Bolivia's own army for its incompetence.
Of course, in order to further force Bolivia to accept reality, Pirisar added: "If, Mr. del Estero, you do not agree with the results of the meeting, that's easy to deal with. We Paraguay can give you a chance to continue the war. If you can take back the Northern Chaco region, then we Paraguay will accept it. But Bolivia must accept the consequences of continuing the war. By then, it will not just be a problem in the Northern Chaco region!"
Del Estero was so angry that his face turned red, but he couldn't utter a word. Pirisal's threat was a naked threat, but he had no way to deal with this Paraguayan.
With the end of the war in the Northern Chaco region, the war between Bolivia and Paraguay is still going on, and now the Paraguayan army has penetrated deep into the eastern territory of Bolivia.
With the collapse of the main force on the front line, although Bolivia tried its best to recover, it was powerless. In addition to the threat from Paraguay, local forces in Bolivia were also ready to move. If Bolivia was not careful, it might fall apart.
Helplessly, del Estero could only accept the consequences of defeat on behalf of the Bolivian government. In addition to ceding the Northern Chaco region, he also signed a series of humiliating treaties.
Paraguay's main gain is that its land area has reached more than 480,000 square kilometers, while Bolivia's area is only a little over 1 million square kilometers. The 260,000 square kilometers of land in the entire Northern Chaco region is not divided into two as in the previous life, shared by Paraguay and Bolivia.
As for other clauses, the actual benefits belonged to East Africa, such as war reparations, which were used to offset the war loans that Paraguay had previously borrowed from East Africa. This time, Paraguay purchased a large number of weapons in order to win the war...
In this way, both Paraguay and East Africa benefited, and only Bolivia was hurt. As for other countries, under the hegemony of East Africa, they dared not speak out, after all, Bolivia's fate was self-evident.
At the same time, during this period, they would not be able to counter East Africa even if they asked for help from other major powers, such as the United States, the supporter behind Bolivia.
Because in 1929, the American economic crisis broke out, and the United States was now in a state of panic, so it had no time to pay attention to the development of the situation in Bolivia. This is also an important reason why Bolivia lost so thoroughly.
Apart from the United States, the only country with relatively great influence in South America is Britain. However, Britain is now following in the footsteps of the United States, not to mention that Britain has long been in decline in South America and cannot compete with East Africa and the United States at all. As for the regional powers, Argentina and Brazil, they can only protect themselves at most. It is simply impossible for them to interfere in the decisions of major powers like East Africa.
With the signing of the Montevideo Protocol, the war between Paraguay and Bolivia came to an end. The Paraguayan army will withdraw from Bolivia and return to the Northern Chaco region, which is now the territory of Paraguay.
At the same time, East Africa also took this opportunity to completely open the door to Bolivia. Economically, because of war reparations, the East African government became Bolivia's creditor. Bolivia and East Africa subsequently re-edited the trade treaty and fully opened the market to East Africa.
In terms of transportation, the Asuncion-Lima railway, which is led by East Africa, will also start construction, and Bolivia will be fully incorporated into the East African economic sphere of influence. At the same time, East Africa will further dominate the construction of some subsequent transportation lines in Bolivia, thereby shifting its economic focus from the Pacific Ocean to the South Atlantic.
Militarily, East Africa has garrisons and passage rights in Bolivia, which also means that East Africa's military power has penetrated deeply into the heart of South America, with Bolivia as the center, further strengthening its influence on neighboring South American countries including Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina.
On the cultural level, although East Africa does not have too many requirements, it is obvious that German-speaking people will occupy an important position in Bolivia in the future. There are quite a few German immigrants in Bolivia itself, and its German-speaking population is basically composed of immigrants from the German region in the last century. Today, there are many mining areas in Bolivia with many German-speaking communities.
After this war between Paraguay and Bolivia, Bolivia was actually completely reduced to a semi-colonial country.
Its economic center of gravity will also shift eastwards, passing through Paraguay, and eventually connecting with the East African market through railways and shipping, becoming an economic vassal of East Africa.
Controlling Bolivia also indirectly hits the entire South American countries, especially countries like Argentina and Brazil. In the past, East Africa's deterrence against them mainly came from the ocean. As Bolivia became a semi-colony of East Africa and the East African army entered, East Africa's army in South America will also be strengthened in the future.
In addition, Peru and Chile, two countries on the Pacific coast, must pay more attention to their relations with East Africa in their considerations of national interests because of this change. Although East Africa has cooperated with Chile in the Strait of Magellan in the past, this sea route is controlled by Chile after all. Now, through Bolivia, East Africa can pose a threat to the Pacific coast from land.
(End of this chapter)
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