Mexico and the Spanish-American War
So wrote the foremost literary figure of Peru, Ricardo Palma, to Pedro Santacilia, Cuban patriot and son-in-law of Benito Juarez, just prior to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. The sentiment was echoed by the dean of the Latin American diplomats in Washington, Matias Romero, Mexican Minister to the United States, who expected the United States to annex Cuba.2 Fear of the Yankee menace was also reflected in the works of the Latin American poet Ruben Dario and increased by the ever-quickening Pan-Hispanism movement.3 As the war approached, Spain let loose a barrage of propaganda aimed at making herself "the polar star of a Latin American confederation. "4 Pan-Hispanism, which was strongly cultural in its emphasis, has been defined as "a Spanishled movement that aims at achieving solidarity among the Hispanic nations" and as a "conscious expression of the persistence of the idea of empire. "5 It was quite clear that the achievement of solidarity was in part "to be forged upon the anvil of Yankeephobia."6 Few Latin American countries felt the Yankee menace as keenly as did Mexico. No Latin American country was as close to the United States as Mexico. The outbreak of the Spanish-American War revealed in