Exposición Centroamericana

Costa Rica delegation in the 1897 Central American Expo1. From left to right: Carlos Bolio Tinoco, Luis Loria, Genero Castro and Anastasio Alfaro.[10]

Costa Rica sent four delegation members: Luis Loria was in charge of the Costa Rican educative system; by then, Costa Rica already had a system that for two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants had three hundred and sixty six public schools, which served ten thousand and three hundred children turning it in the most illustrated country in Latin America at the time.[11]

Anastasio Alfaro, San José National Museum director at the time, was in charge of the Zoology display. Alfaro had already been in charge of Costa Rica's pavilions in Madrid (Historical American Exposition) and Chicago Expos.[12] Carlos Bolio Tinoco was the president of the delegation, and was the San José governor at the time.

The United Kingdom sent admiral Leger Bury Palliser to give his respect in the name of the crown to the Guatemalan government.[13] The British colony in Guatemala gave a grand ball in their honor in the "Club Guatemalteco". In charge of the celebrations were Stanley MacNider, in charge of the telegraph installations in Guatemala, consul J. Frederick Roberts -who had distinguished service with the Royal Army in Africa- and second consul Carlos Fleischmann.[14]

• 
  Royal British Navy Imperiéuse cruise. Visited Guatemala in 1897 as goodwill Ambassador from the United Kingdom.
• 
  Imperiéuse crew during their visit to Guatemala.

(Germany) shared its pavilion with Switzerland's in the "Krupp" building, which had been brought from Chicago and was put together by Oscar von Polstchick. Among the products and industries the Germans showcased were: dynamite and explosive accessories by Sprengstoff Gesellschaft Kosmos, thru E. Ascoli y Co., their Guatemalan dealer; aniline colors and chemical products, cologne by Johann Marie Farina -who a Grand Prize award-, and beer. They also had a variety of paper and cardboard for bookstores and printers, watches, and others.[2]

The Belgian stand was dominated by weaponry exhibitions from "la Cartoucherie Belge", an ammunition factory. However, they also presented a zinc factory, a glass mill, a lingerie factory from Brussels and a company that produced bronze medals, trophies, sculptures and lamps; and finally, the showcased other fabric products, mainly wool.[2]

On 15 May the newspapers reported that Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua stands had not been opened yet because the cargo shipped to Guatemala was not delivered on time due to a scheduling conflict. Furthermore, the newspapers indicated that Argentina did not participate in the Expo because the diplomatic proceedings were not performed correctly.[15]

Dr. Ramón Salazar, La Ilustración Guatemalteca editor and journalist, presented a Literature stand where he showcased several historic pieces: the first newspaper ever printed in Guatemala in 1729, La Gazeta de Goathemala; Diario de Guatemala, the first daily newspaper in Central America; and La Sociedad Económica, the first commercial news bulletin. He also present a collection of several Guatemalan publishers and even writings from the old Franciscan convent, which then belonged to the Guatemalan National Library.[16]

The Northern Railroad was not finished on time for the Expo with only 90 miles to reach Guatemala City -but these were the most difficult miles to build given the high mountains on the way between El Rancho and Guatemala City. The unfinished railroad and the economical crisis meant that few nationals and even fewer visitors attended the Expo, which only had about 40,000 visitors in four months. On 1 September 1897, when it was undeniable that the Expo was a complete failure and the economic crisis was relentless, La Ilustración del Pacífico wrote briefly in its "Resumen Quincenal" (Biweekly briefing) that the Expo had closed its doors.[17]

Therefore, what should have been a major accomplishment for Guatemala, resulted instead in a complete failure that did not meet any of its goals: did not help the immigration to Guatemala and did not get any foreign investor interested in the national industry. Besides not accomplishing a Central American Union, it also pushed the country to the verge of economic collapse given the fall of coffee and silver international prices.

The Expo failure was a devastating blow to the Guatemalan economy:

1. Lack of any international investor -which was the last hope Reina Barrios had to recover the national economy- left Guatemala without sufficient funds to pay the large debt it had due to infrastructures projects.
2. When Reina Barrios tried to extend his presidential term, there were revolutions both in Quetzaltenango and Chiquimula. Although these were put down, the country remained in turmoil until British citizen Edgar Zollinger murdered the president on 8 February 1898.
3. The large debt with British banks president Manuel Estrada Cabrera inherited from Reina Barrios, forced him to seek both economic and military help from the United States in order to avoid a potential British invasion intended to get the debt paid.[5]
4. The Northern Railroad was not finished until 1908, thanks in part to the concession of the line to United Fruit Company (UFCO), but by then the interoceanic railway was not the critical way it had been; by then, the United States had defeated Spain and after several discussions with Nicaragua and Colombia, had chosen Colombia to build and interoceanic canal and causing the separation of Panama from Colombia when the latter had tried to increase the concession conditions to build the canal.[5] The American policy towards Central America in 1908 was focused on keeping the region as peaceful as possible, using for it American companies investments -e.g., United Fruit Company- and military interventions like the one in Panamá in 1903 and the ousting of Nicaraguan president José Santos Zelaya in 1911; all aimed to keep a swift and smooth construction of the Panama Canal.

Those individuals who participated in the Expo project were also impacted; Mexican interim ambassador Federico Gamboa tells in his memoirs that Spanish sculptor Justo de Gandarias, and elderly man when he met him on 20 June 1899, was still in Guatemala two years after the failed Expo because the government had not paid him for his services.[18] Two years after that, Gamboa met with the sculptor again, and this time he tells that Gandarias had lost all hope of ever getting paid and that was in Guatemala barely surviving by selling cigarettes in Guatemala City; Gamboa visited Gandarias at his home and tells how the sculptures place was in total disarray, but kept some old paintings and sculptures that he was hoping to sell if he ever went back to Spain.[19]