Gunboat Diplomacy At Cartagena : "La Bolsa O La Vida" Being an Account of Four Imperialist Aggressions Against the Republic of Colombia [Paperback]

Eduardo LeMaitre (Author), K. Wetherell (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2005

"The only thing we have gained is liberty, but at the cost of all else" was the verdict of the Liberator. The recently emancipated republics in Latin America emerged in a parlous condition economically and socially. Astute European powers who had helped, sub rosa, in the battle for independence sought to bring the new countries into their orbit of influence, if not by armas then by money. --- In this book Lemaitre details four conflicts between Colombia and European countries during the nineteenth century. In each case, the Europeans sought to impose their will by dispatching a naval force - the conventional threat of the period - to Cartagena. At the time Cartagena was, to Europe, the accessible face of Colombia; most other cities were inland and to reach the capital, Bogota, involved two weeks travel up the Magdalena River in a paddle steamer followed by two days on a mule. --- Eduardo LeMaitre (1914-1994) graduated as a lawyer from the Universidad Nacional and studied Literature and Humanities in Europe. He was variously employed as a politician (both Deputy and Senator for his native state Bolivar), diplomat, journalist and academic, but his true vocation was as a historian. This represents the first English translation of Lemaitre's work, La Bolsa O La Vida. The translator, K. Wetherall, has also published translations of Lemaitre's works "Panama y su Separacion de Colombia," about the origin of the country of Panama, and "Rafael Reyes," a biography of the former president of Colombia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Alden Group; 1st English language edition edition (2005)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000B78WYI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,365,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)