José Santos Zelaya López (1 November 1853 – 17 May 1919) was the President of Nicaragua from 25 July 1893 to 21 December 1909.
Early life
He was a son of José María Zelaya Irigoyen, who was originally from Olancho, Honduras, and his mistress Juana López Ramírez. His father José María was married to Rosario Fernández.
Politics
Zelaya was of Nicaragua's Liberal party and enacted a number of progressive programs, including improved public education, railroads, and established steam ship lines. He also enacted constitutional rights that provided for equal rights, property guarantees, habeas corpus, compulsory vote, compulsory education, the protection of arts and industry, minority representation, and the separation of state powers. However, his desire for national sovereignty often led him to policies contrary to foreign investors.
In 1894, he took control of the Mosquito Coast by military force; it had long been the subject of dispute, and was home to a native settlement claimed as a protectorate by the British Empire. Indeed, Nicaragua (and before that Spain) had always claimed the Caribbean Coast, but "Zambos" pirates (former African runaway slaves mixed with local Indians) and part of the Misquito Indians (probably with the Sumos and Ramas as well), together with the military support of the British Marines, tried to create a free, English-speaking settlement under British protection. (Greytown, nowadays Puerto Zelaya). This is similar to the cases of Belize and Guatemala, except that Belize has been an independent nation since 1981. Zelaya's aggressive attitude paid off, and the United Kingdom, which probably did not wish to go to war over this distant land, recognized Nicaraguan seizure of the area. The strategic value of this land led to the name "Vía del Tránsito" ("Route of Traffic"). Both the United Kingdom and US wanted the control of this route, which connected the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Coast across the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua. At this point, the Panama Canal did not exist, and the US was rising as a new continental power.
Reelection, possibility of a canal, and response from the US
José Santos Zelaya was reelected president in 1902 and again in 1906.
The possibility of building a canal across the isthmus of Central America had been the topic of serious discussion since the 1820s, and Nicaragua was long a favored location. When the United States shifted its interests to Panama, Zelaya negotiated with Germany (who happened to be in the middle of a cold war with the U.S over Caribbean ports) and Japan in an unsuccessful effort to have a canal constructed in his state. Fearful that President Zelaya might generate an alternative foreign alignment in the region, and because of his heavy-handed repression of his opposition and his land seizures, he was opposed by the U.S.
José Zelaya had the project of reuniting the Federal Republic of Central America, with, he hoped, himself as national president. With this aim in mind, he gave aid to factions favouring this project in other Central American nations. This threatened to blow up into a full scale Central American war which would endanger the United States Panamanian canal and give European nations, such as Germany, an excuse to intervene to protect the collection of their bank's payments in the region or if failing that then demand a land concession.
The Zelaya administration had growing friction with the United States government, for example while the French government had inquired to the U.S. whether a loan to Nicaragua would be deemed unfriendly, the U.S. Secretary of State required the loan to be conditional on U.S. relations. After the loan was pending on the Paris stock exchange, the U.S. further isolated Nicaragua by pointing out any money Zelaya would receive "would be without doubt spent to purchase munitions to oppress his neighbors" and in "hostility to peace and progress in Central America." The US State Department also demanded that all investments in Central America would also need be approved by the U.S. as a means to protect U.S. interests, peace and liberal institutions. According to a French minister, there was also a desire to overthrow Zelaya.