From 1871 to 1920 Guatemalan Liberals looked upon improvements in transportation as one of the principal means by which they hoped to promote economic development. They were convinced that better roads, new ports, competitive steamship services, and the introduction of the railroad would draw the national economy more fully into the commercial system of the North Atlantic and cause a flow of capital, technology, and skilled manpower from Europe and North America to Guatemala. By 1871, however, the export of coffee from Pacific ports was already the key to Guatemala's participation in the Atlantic commerce. Although Liberals frequently lamented the extra expense of having to conduct their Atlantic trade by way of Pacific ports and the Panama Railroad, they nevertheless concentrated early transportation improvements within the coffee export sector centered on the Pacific littoral in the belief that only coffee could earn the foreign exchange that would finance development of a more diversified economy. Once in place, however, the Pacific transport system served to promote the continued growth of coffee production at the expense of domestic agriculture and retarded development of a national market In hope of breaking the cycle of dependence upon coffee and upon Pacific transportation monopolies, Liberals turned to Guatemala's own Atlantic shore on the more distant and less accessible North Coast. They promised that the establishment of a deep-water port on the North Coast and the construction of a railroad from the port to the national capital would free the nation from the grip of the Pacific Mail Steamship and Panama Railroad monopolies, bring foreign immigration and investment to the undeveloped Northeast, and promote a greater economic diversity and development of the national economy. Following the establishment of Puerto Barrios and the completion of the Northern Railroad in 1908, however, these goals were not realized. Although a shift of trade from Pacific ports to Puerto Barrios did occur, the foreign syndicate that completed the Northern Railroad soon exploited the favorable terms of its concession to gain control over Guatemala's entire railroad network. In general, Liberal transportation policies exerted a regressive impact upon the Guatemalan economy rather than contributing to true economic development / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_23486 |
| Date | January 1985 |
| Contributors | Anderson, Wayne Foster (Author) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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