The Politics of Persuasion

External intervention peppers the history of Latin American and Caribbean national development. Often disguised within print media, which offer political and economic rationales for incorporating foreign initiatives in local contexts, these narratives found varying degrees of success among their readerships.

Created to convince readers to follow the examples laid out in their pages, print media often served a dual purpose: entertainment and persuasion. In 19th-century Latin America, literature with specific political viewpoints sought to convince readers of their authors’ positions. Some texts praised the advancements of national initiatives, such as abolition and railways, in the hopes that other countries would follow their lead. In each of this section’s texts, printmakers and publishers subtly, and sometimes overtly, construct diplomatic discourses that cite political and economic reasons for altering national structures.