The Hopes of Independence

No armed struggle was necessary to end colonial rule; the Spaniards were too busy trying to retain Mexico and its wealth to pay much attention to the poor region of Central America. For the civic leaders of the colony the outcome of the war in Mexico was crucial. The success of the Plan de Iguala helped to decide the fate of future relations with Spain. In the words of Manuel Montúfar, a minister in the first federal government and an early advocate of independence:

In 1821 the Kingdom of Guatemala was peacefully subjected under the Spanish government; the authorities and the people were preoccupied only with the novelties introduced by the constitutional system. The freedom of the press and the exaltation of the parties, born from the popular elections, spread opinions in favor of independence. Under these circumstances Guatemala learned about the Grito de Iguala, and from April to September the opinion [in favor of independence] spread even more. Independent leaders held meetings in Guatemala, but they did not have the resources or the courage necessary to revolt against the government; they expected everything from the progress of the Plan de Iguala in Mexico.^[1]

Montúfar may have exaggerated the peaceful subjection of the peoples of Central America, but the fact is that independence came without bloodshed. After the news came that the Mexican independence was a fact, a meeting was held on the fifteenth of September with all the authorities of the colony and, after deciding in favor of independence, an act to that effect was written and signed. The fear that Iturbide's troops could come to "liberate" Central America certainly helped to concentrate people's minds on the problem at hand. Central America gained independence as a single country, and not until 1839 were the individual states going to separate.^[2] This seemingly effortless independence, however, was no indication of things to come.

A newly independent country had been signed into existence, but the new leaders did not quite agree on what to do with it. The treasury was empty, and the Viceroyalty of New Spain was no longer there to send situados , which once amounted to more than 25 percent of the budget.^[3] The very first government, still strongly influenced by the conservatives, allowed the Spanish nationals who worked for the colonial regime to leave Guatemala with a two-month severance pay. The new authorities, by and large the same as the old, showed great understanding for the emigrants and allowed them to take their fortunes. The result was a significant capital flight. Mule trains loaded with gold and silver left Guatemala. After public outcry they were charged a small tax

that was often avoided.^[4] The payment of severance pay, capital flight, and the emigration of capable public servants had immediate consequences. No one was left to collect custom duties. When the government tried to appoint judges in the provinces it realized that there were no resources to pay their salaries.^[5] There were new authorities ready to decide on the future but there were no resources to carry out the decisions.

Moreover, the end of Spanish rule left a power vacuum that horrified Guatemalan merchants. At the same time, the possibility of a Mexican invasion was still present. The Marquis of Aycinena, the most prominent merchant, had established contacts with Iturbide.^[6] After all, if Central America became a part of Mexico it would be possible to avoid the civil wars that were plaguing South America and, more importantly, the Guatemalan elite would be able to keep its preeminence.^[7] Others, like José Cecilio del Valle, one of the foremost Central American intellectuals of the period and author of the Act of Independence, had questions about the practical viability of the new state because of its "lack of population, lack of ports, distant and insalubrious coasts, without a fleet, with little trade, so far backward in every aspect."^[8] His misgivings were very understandable. Central American leaders felt that they had no exact knowledge of the population or resources of the region, the territory was not well known, there were no accurate maps, no one knew how much food was produced or how rich the cities were.^[9] To others the problem had a more direct political dimension. In the discussions held by the Junta Consultiva Provisional , the first governing body of the independent nation, Gabino Gaínza, the last jefe político and first president of the junta, supported the union with Mexico arguing that it was important to preserve the union of the provinces.^[10] In short, some of the same people who had signed the Act of Independence were willing to give it up in the hope that Mexico would fill the void left by Spain. Iturbide obliged; an invitation to join Mexico arrived.

Independence, however, brought into the open deep divisions that had existed since the late eighteenth century. The bitter struggle between liberals and conservatives acquired new strength.^[11] The resentments created by the heavy-handed practices of the Guatemalan merchants were translated into resentments from the provinces against Guatemala. The aquiescence of the provinces was not guaranteed. The Ayuntamiento of San Salvador refused to unite with Mexico. In June 1822 the Guatemalans, who supported Iturbide's claims, invaded San Salvador with an army of one thousand men and soon were joined by the Mexican general Vicente Filisola, who arrived with six hundred more. This army could not defeat the Salvadorans and retreated. Reactions followed, and Central American divisions became apparent. In

Nicaragua, the cities of León and Granada had a war of their own provoked by the same issue, and Granada ended up victim of pillage and robbery.^[12] In 1821 Chiapas declared its independence from Spain and Central America and its union with Mexico. It declared that it would never again belong to Guatemala even in the eventuality that Guatemala united with Mexico.^[13] Later that year the Honduran city of Comayagua declared itself free from Spain and from Guatemala as well.^[14] Mexican troops invaded San Salvador for a second time and forced the state into submission. The Mexican episode lasted less than two years; it collapsed after Iturbide's fall in Mexico. The number of people involved in the military operations, the pillage, and the other means used to finance the armies were enough to deplete the almost empty coffers of the new nation. Guatemalan, Mexican, and Salvadoran troops had been mobilized from March of 1822 until February of the following year. The two invasions represented a serious disruption of the economic activities of the state of San Salvador. In Guatemala the funds of the mint were looted to finance the military campaigns, and the federal government had to pay for the return of Filisola and his army to Mexico.^[15] Rather than filling the power vacuum created by independence the Mexican invasion helped to expose the divisions that would plague Central America for two decades and gave a hint of the costs of instability.

The first one and a half years may have been troubled, but independence was still expected to bring great prosperity. One of the main burdens of being a Spanish colony was the restrictive trade policies imposed by Spain. The economic potential of Central America had not been developed. Untapped resources were waiting, many liberals thought, for a free market to operate and transform them into holders of tangible wealth. The period immediately after the Mexican invasion was a period of hope, soon to be followed by frustration.

It is impossible to measure hope or to weigh the optimism that prevailed after independence, but there is a curious document that illuminates this aspect of the early years of the federation. England had been engaged in trade with Central America during the last years of the colonial period and was ready to take advantage of the commercial possibilities opened up by the new political situation.^[16] In order to be prepared to carry out its policies and protect its interests, the Foreign Office asked George A. Thompson "to collect detailed intelligence respecting the present state of that country."^[17] Among the sources on which he based his report there is a document written by Juan de Dios Mayorga dated in Mexico, January 12, 1824. Mayorga, an early leader of the independence movement, was sent to Mexico in 1822 as a delegate to the Mexican congress to negotiate the annexation of Central America to Iturbide's empire. His document is remarkable for being an exercise

of imagination more than a statistical study. He wrote it after a two years' absence in Mexico, part spent in jail and at a time when statistics on production had not been kept because of the political changes that were taking place. Mayorga himself recognized the shortcomings of his report:

The produce of Guatemala and the quantities thereof are herein only expressed so as to give a general idea by way of approximation because, for want of actual data, it is impossible to give the exact amounts, and the same are, therefore, stated as more or less. Our object has been to form a calculation of the several articles of produce, both as articles of barter or of consumption, by the growers themselves, because undoubtedly both contribute to augment the riches of the country.^[18]

Adding up the value of all the products included in Mayorga's document, a figure of 52,529,450 pesos is obtained, which suggests a production per capita for all of Central America of around 26 pesos.^[19] This is certainly a high figure if compared with estimates of the income per capita for El Salvador alone; and it would have been higher if Mayorga had included investment and government expenditures.^[20]

Despite the fact that Mayorga's estimates are high, the precariousness of the Central American economy is still apparent in his account. It portrays a rural economy where most of the energies are devoted to produce food. Agricultural production accounted for more than 80 percent of total production, maize and beans roughly 20 percent, and food in general 40 percent. Even with so much energy devoted to maize production the yearly per capita consumption of maize implicit in the estimate was only 197.3 kilograms. It was a sad diet made more depressing by the fact that the yearly consumption of country brandy was estimated at only two bottles per head. Manufacturing, much of which was a product of Mayorga's fantasy, accounted for little more than 15 percent of the product, and it included things like "articles for the chase such as bows, arrows, lances." All manufacturing, with no exception, was at the level of the most basic handicrafts: palm hats, baskets, country earthenware, straw mats, and the like. Tool production was estimated at only 20,000 pesos (0.3 percent of the total), a smaller figure than the estimate for musical instruments of all sorts (50,000 pesos) and certainly far smaller than the value of articles of embroidery (1.5 million pesos). Together with somewhat realistic figures on indigo production (3 million pesos, still an exaggeration), Mayorga provided data on the production of exotic items such as pearls, coral, mother of pearl, chamomile, flowers, opium, and the like. Much of these data on exotic items were apparently provided in the hope of stimulating British interest in Central American products. The fact that we know that Mayorga's report

has much of the optimism of a nineteenth-century public relations man only highlights the fact that the economy he tried to embellish was very poor indeed. However high the hope for prosperity the point of departure was extremely low.

The optimism of official and semiofficial reports on the economy can be explained in part by the desire of the federation to issue bonds to sell in the English market, but the optimism was genuine nonetheless. The expectations of an economic bonanza were so high that the rulers of the new nation felt free to borrow, because they had little doubt about their ability to pay in the future. These hopes were based on the belief that by lifting the restrictions imposed by Spain on trade and by lowering taxes, trade would be encouraged and economic growth would follow. By opening all ports to international trade and thus putting an end to monopolistic practices and restrictions on the mobility of factors of production the rulers of the new nation expected to bring prosperity to its inhabitants. The first years of independence had not been free of problems. The depression of the last colonial years had been severe and the Mexican invasion added uncertainty, caused destruction, and disrupted economic activities. It was not a propitious environment for recovering from a long depression, but after overcoming its first crisis the federation leaders felt certain that prosperity was just around the corner.