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        {"code":"27812","sect":"Opinion","sect_slug":"opinion","hits":"511","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202505\/opinion\/27812","link_edit":"","name":"Lessons on Sovereignty, from Guant\u00e1namo to El Salvador","slug":"lessons-on-sovereignty-from-guantanamo-to-el-salvador","info":"History points to clear danger: When a country as powerful as the United States obtains jurisdiction over a territory, it is very difficult for it to relinquish it. But opposition movements reflecting the sentiment of vast majorities can change the course of history.","mtag":"Politics","noun":{"html":"H\u00e9ctor Lindo Fuentes","data":{"hector-lindo-fuentes":{"sort":"","slug":"hector-lindo-fuentes","path":"hector_lindo_fuentes","name":"H\u00e9ctor Lindo Fuentes"}}},"view":"511","pict":{"cms-image-000041844-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"41844","name":"cms-image-000041844.jpg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000041844.jpg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000041844.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000041844-jpg","text":"&lt;p&gt;On the left, a senior delegation of Salvadoran officials attends Nayib Bukele's meeting at the White House with Donald Trump on Apr. 14, 2025. Among the group are Venezuelan advisor and inner-circle political operative Sara Hanna, standing third-from-left; the ministers of defense and security to Hanna's left; and, immediately to Hanna's right, lobbyist Damian Merlo, one of Bukele's strategists to grow closer to MAGA in the United States. Photo: Press Secretariat of the Presidency of El Salvador&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EOn the left, a senior delegation of Salvadoran officials attends Nayib Bukele's meeting at the White House with Donald Trump on Apr. 14, 2025. Among the group are Venezuelan advisor and inner-circle political operative Sara Hanna, standing third-from-left; the ministers of defense and security to Hanna's left; and, immediately to Hanna's right, lobbyist Damian Merlo, one of Bukele's strategists to grow closer to MAGA in the United States. Photo: Press Secretariat of the Presidency of El Salvador\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000041845-jpg":{"feat":"1","sort":"41845","name":"cms-image-000041845.jpg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000041845.jpg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000041845.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000041845-jpg","text":"&lt;p&gt;U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., Apr. 14, 2025. The meeting comes as the White House faces pressure over the case of Kilmar \u00c1brego, a Maryland father wrongfully rendered and jailed in El Salvador. A U.S. court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate \u00c1brego's return, but both Trump and Bukele said they will not. Photo Brendan Smialowski\/AFP&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EU.S. President Donald Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., Apr. 14, 2025. The meeting comes as the White House faces pressure over the case of Kilmar \u00c1brego, a Maryland father wrongfully rendered and jailed in El Salvador. A U.S. court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate \u00c1brego's return, but both Trump and Bukele said they will not. Photo Brendan Smialowski\/AFP\u003C\/p\u003E"},"cms-image-000041846-jpg":{"feat":"0","sort":"41846","name":"cms-image-000041846.jpg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000041846.jpg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000041846.jpg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000041846-jpg","text":"&lt;p&gt;J.D. Vance (center) speaks during a meeting between Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., Apr. 14, 2025. To his left is top Trump diplomat Marco Rubio. The meeting comes as the White House faces pressure over the case of Kilmar \u00c1brego, a Maryland father wrongfully rendered and jailed in El Salvador. A U.S. court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate \u00c1brego's return, but both Trump and Bukele said they will not. Photo Brendan Smialowski\/AFP&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EJ.D. Vance (center) speaks during a meeting between Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., Apr. 14, 2025. To his left is top Trump diplomat Marco Rubio. The meeting comes as the White House faces pressure over the case of Kilmar \u00c1brego, a Maryland father wrongfully rendered and jailed in El Salvador. A U.S. court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate \u00c1brego's return, but both Trump and Bukele said they will not. Photo Brendan Smialowski\/AFP\u003C\/p\u003E"}},"pict_main__sort":41845,"date":{"live":"2025\/04\/14"},"data_post_dateLive_YY":"2025","data_post_dateLive_MM":"04","data_post_dateLive_DD":"14","text":"\u003Cp id=\"docs-internal-guid-10929db2-7fff-a849-5f97-f8a231b7f210\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\"\/es\/202505\/columnas\/27811\/reflexiones-historicas-sobre-guantanamo-y-el-salvador\"\u003ELeer en espa\u00f1ol\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EAccording to a recent report in the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/04\/11\/military-contractors-prison-plan-detained-immigrants-erik-prince-00287208\"\u003EU.S. news site Politico\u003C\/a\u003E, Nayib Bukele's visit to the White House may include discussion of a plan for El Salvador to cede part of its territory to the United States. This would allow the Trump administration to send prisoners to our country without the transfer constituting deportation. It is the same legal construct that allows for the use of prisons in Cuba\u2019s Guant\u00e1namo Bay, a territory leased in perpetuity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThis would be yet another reprise of the interventionism spurred by the two presidents whom Donald Trump saluted as heroes in his second inaugural address: \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202501\/opinion\/27716\/seen-from-el-salvador-trump-rsquo-s-heroes-lose-their-luster\"\u003EWilliam McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt\u003C\/a\u003E, who were behind the occupation of Cuba and the construction of the Panama Canal. U.S. intervention in Cuba culminated in the 1901 Platt Amendment, which signed off on interference in the island\u2019s internal politics for three decades; as well as in an agreement two years later, in 1903, to lease Guant\u00e1namo in perpetuity. That same year, Roosevelt facilitated the independence of Panama in order to carry out the construction of the interoceanic canal and established a jurisdiction of U.S. imperial power in the Canal Zone.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EDespite a revolution six and a half decades ago, the Cubans have not been able to recover Guant\u00e1namo. The Panamanians regained their territory after almost a century; Trump now wants to take it back from them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EExactly a decade after the Guant\u00e1namo release, President Woodrow Wilson and his Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, proposed a plan to impose similar terms on all the countries of Central America. The aim of this plan was to establish U.S. jurisdiction that would allow for the installation of a naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca. This occurred during the negotiations of what became the Chamorro-Bryan Treaty between the United States and Nicaragua. The opposition in El Salvador was massive.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EIn July 1913, \u003Cem\u003EDiario del Salvador\u003C\/em\u003E ran the sensational news: \u201cWilson and Bryan plan to establish a protectorate throughout Central America.\u201d The president of the United States, the paper added, approved of the project, in order \u201cto protect the Panama Canal\u201d. The newspaper commented that this was \u201ca rude slap to the face of weak countries by a strong country.\u201d The following day, Salvadoran President Carlos Mel\u00e9ndez told the New York Times that national opinion would reject treaties \u201cthat in any way undermine our sovereignty.\u201d Furthermore, the president knew that the Constitution was clear on the matter, stating that \u201cnone of the constituted powers\u201d could enter into or approve treaties that in any way affected \u201cthe integrity of the territory or national sovereignty.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E    \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=4000&ImageHeight=2668&ImageId=41844 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"On the left, a senior delegation of Salvadoran officials attends Nayib Bukele's meeting at the White House with Donald Trump on Apr. 14, 2025. Among the group are Venezuelan advisor and inner-circle political operative Sara Hanna, standing third-from-left; the ministers of defense and security to Hanna's left; and, immediately to Hanna's right, lobbyist Damian Merlo, one of Bukele's strategists to grow closer to MAGA in the United States. Photo: Press Secretariat of the Presidency of El Salvador\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E On the left, a senior delegation of Salvadoran officials attends Nayib Bukele's meeting at the White House with Donald Trump on Apr. 14, 2025. Among the group are Venezuelan advisor and inner-circle political operative Sara Hanna, standing third-from-left; the ministers of defense and security to Hanna's left; and, immediately to Hanna's right, lobbyist Damian Merlo, one of Bukele's strategists to grow closer to MAGA in the United States. Photo: Press Secretariat of the Presidency of El Salvador \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe events of the following days proved Mel\u00e9ndez right; Salvadorans were disgusted and incensed by the idea that a foreign power would want to attack \u201cterritorial integrity or national sovereignty.\u201d Thousands gathered outside the foreign minister\u2019s house in a demonstration that the U.S. ambassador described as \u201cformidable but orderly\u201d, demanding a strong response in rejection of Washington\u2019s wishes. The first week of August saw similar rallies across the country. The population of Santa Tecla, near the capital, was outraged and founded a \u201cCommittee for National Defense\u201d. The Diario del Salvador correspondent in Opico reported on the displeasure of the community in San Juan Opico. One of the people\u2019s concerns was the possibility of a naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca. The situation grew so tense that the U.S. representative asked his government to send a warship, the USS Denver, to a Salvadoran port to demonstrate his country\u2019s might.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EIn those days, the Senate in Washington was able to assert its constitutional role as a counterweight to presidential actions, rejecting the Secretary of State\u2019s proposal, including the idea of a Central American protectorate. But it was a partial victory; Bryan resumed negotiations for the treaty with Nicaragua in late 1913 and early 1914, again insisting on the idea of the protectorate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EPopular opposition emerged once more. Demonstrations in El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica against Wilson\u2019s plans were impressive. Ultimately, the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty signed on Aug. 5, 1914, was not followed by treaties imposing protectorates in other Central American countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EWhat was the reason for this change of direction? As the final stage of the treaty negotiations coincided with the start of the First World War, President Wilson feared that any insistence on establishing protectorates would increase instability near the canal, affecting his country\u2019s interests amid the European conflagration. He expressed as much in a letter preserved in the archives: \u201cIs it true that the Nicaraguan neighbors have been very upset with these proposals and that they have made coordinated protests in opposition to them?\u201d he wondered. The popular demonstrations, combined with the complex global political situation, led him to abandon the project to convert the Central American countries into protectorates.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E    \u003Cfigure class=\"pict pict_land pict_move_posc 0 cs_img cs_img--curr rule--ss_c\" data-shot=\"pict\" data-hint=\"pict\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"pict__pobj text-overflow\"\u003E\u003Cimg src=https:\/\/elfaro.net\/get_img?ImageWidth=4000&ImageHeight=2667&ImageId=41846 class=\"pobj\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" rel=\"resizable\" alt=\"J.D. Vance (center) speaks during a meeting between Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., Apr. 14, 2025. To his left is top Trump diplomat Marco Rubio. The meeting comes as the White House faces pressure over the case of Kilmar \u00c1brego, a Maryland father wrongfully rendered and jailed in El Salvador. A U.S. court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate \u00c1brego's return, but both Trump and Bukele said they will not. Photo Brendan Smialowski\/AFP\" \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E \u003Cfigcaption class=\"pict__text cs_img_caption folk_content typo_buttons line--ss_s0c line--ss_s0c--auto block full-width text-overflow rule--ss_l relative\"\u003E \u003Cdiv class=\"__content block-inline full-width align-top tint-text--idle relative\"\u003E J.D. Vance (center) speaks during a meeting between Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., Apr. 14, 2025. To his left is top Trump diplomat Marco Rubio. The meeting comes as the White House faces pressure over the case of Kilmar \u00c1brego, a Maryland father wrongfully rendered and jailed in El Salvador. A U.S. court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate \u00c1brego's return, but both Trump and Bukele said they will not. Photo Brendan Smialowski\/AFP \u003Cdiv class=\"photographer text_italic rule--ss_l tint-text--idle\"\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E \u003C\/figcaption\u003E \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EAfter this setback, the Secretary of State tried to negotiate a treaty with El Salvador to obtain a base in the Gulf of Fonseca. A secret telegram he sent to the U.S. ambassador said he was willing \u201cto buy a naval base from El Salvador\u201d, even if it was only to prevent another country from taking advantage of the strategic benefits of the site. A document from the Ministry of the Navy stated that the United States needed \u201ca place in the Gulf of Fonseca where ships could refuel in calm waters under U.S. jurisdiction.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ECarlos Mel\u00e9ndez tried to find a way to satisfy Bryan\u2019s wishes, but he did not dare sell Salvadoran sovereignty. The president knew that popular opposition was too powerful. He had acceded to the presidency after the assassination of Manuel Enrique Araujo and had just obtained the post in his own right after hardly clean elections. Once again, popular opposition prevented the great power of the North from obtaining jurisdiction in Salvadoran lands.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EWhile it is unwise to study history with the expectation that it will repeat itself mechanically, knowledge of the past can help identify perilous routes and possible alternatives. In this case, history points to clear danger: When a country as powerful as the United States obtains jurisdiction over a territory, it is very difficult for it to relinquish it. But opposition movements reflecting the sentiment of vast majorities can change the course of history.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Chr \/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #888888;\"\u003ESalvadoran historian H\u00e9ctor Lindo Fuentes, professor emeritus at Fordham University, is the author of \u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/ebooks.libreriauca.com\/library\/publication\/el-alborotador-de-centroamerica-el-salvador-frente-al-imperio\"\u003EEl alborotador de Centroam\u00e9rica: El Salvador frente al imperio\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #888888;\"\u003E\u201d (2019, UCA Editores), an investigation of El Salvador's popular anti-imperialist struggles. He has written about the same topic in English for Cambridge University\u2019s\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/journal-of-latin-american-studies\/article\/abs\/el-salvador-vs-imperialismo-yanqui-191214\/8E061A596AE111F6B6FE8166F158F576\"\u003EJournal of Latin American Studies\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: #888888;\"\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E"}

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