The Good Neighbor policy and Colombia-United States relations

Abstract

Relations between Colombia and the United States began the 20th century with the seizure of Panama, which opened a new stage in the Monroe Doctrine, that of the Big Stick. With the signing of the Urrutia-Thompson Treaty, the Colombian leadership accepted the facts, and a gigantic U.S. investment began in the 1920s. But the modernization of the country was amalgamated with the growing Latin American nationalism fed by the bad taste of the Big Stick, to which was added the Crisis of 1929 and the rise of fascism in Europe. This number of imponderables led the United States to propose a new deal towards the region, the Good Neighbor, which sought to strengthen economic and political ties with the region and with a mediumsized player, Colombia, where anti-American winds were notorious within a sector of the ruling elite.