Examples of the application of the Big Stick Diplomacy against the nations of Latin America, only in the period before World War I, include:
-US support for the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903, when the Colombian government rejected Roosevelt's proposal to build the Panama Canal. Panama, then a small part of Colombia, was the focus of the interests of the United States. When French companies joined in the supply of materials for the construction of the canal, prices rose and the United States refused to pay it. So, USA "prepared" a revolution in Colombia, and on November 3, 1903 Panama (with the help of the US Navy) rose against the Colombian government. Panama became a new republic, receiving 10 million US dollars, which also received the rights to the channel "in perpetuity." Colombia tried by all means to reverse the situation, without success.
-The military occupation of the Dominican Republic between 1916 and 1924. The first American occupation of the Dominican Republic occurred between 1916 and 1924. It was one of the many interventions in Latin America made by the US military forces. On May 13, 1916, Rear Admiral William Banks Caperton forced the secretary of war of the Dominican Republic Desiderio Arias, who had held the position during the government of Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra, to leave Santo Domingo under the threat of bombing the city.
-The military occupation of Cuba between 1906 and 1909. The second US intervention in Cuba occurred when President Tomas Estrada Palma again requested US military intervention in Cuba on September 12, 1906. The United States government accepted the request. and on September 29, 1906, the Secretary of War of the United States, William H. Taft, assumed the position of provisional governor of Cuba.
-The military occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934. After the assassination of Haitian President Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam in July 1915, President Woodrow Wilson sent Marine troops to Haiti in order to restore order and maintain economic stability in the Caribbean. This occupation lasted until August 1934, when the last invading troops left the Haitian coast.
This policy was also applied at the end of the Russo-Japanese War in September 1905, when President Roosevelt strengthened his position as a strong but impartial leader, with the aim of negotiating a peace treaty between the two nations. "Speaking softly" earned Roosevelt enough prestige to win the Nobel Peace Prize the following year for his merits.
Subsequently, this doctrine continued to be applied. For example, in the 1980s with the founding of the Contras, anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua.
The phrase also refers to US interventions caused by the "disability" of local governments to resolve internal issues from the point of view of the United States government and protecting the interests of US citizens and entities. In that sense, Roosevelt postulated that the internal disorders of the Latin American republics constituted a problem for the operation of the American commercial companies established in those countries, and that consequently the United States should be attributed the power to "restore order", first pressing to the local leaders with the advantages that represented enjoying the political and economic support of Washington ("speak softly"), and finally resorting to armed intervention (the "big stick") in case of not obtaining results favorable to their interests.
