Did your country had a fight with its current best friend?

>Did your country had a fight with its current best friend?
Yes.
>What Happened?
Panamá and Costa Rica had a territorial dispute that end up in a war in 1921. The belic confrontation is known as "Gurra de Coto".
In the end, Panamá got Bocas del Toro and Costa Rica got the Coto reguion.
Now days, both countries have good relationships with one another. Non of them have army now.

I still don't know why you guys aren't united as a single country

>same language
>same demographics
>same culture

We really should. We would probably be one country if it wasn´t for our separed history. Costa Rica was part of Nueva España and Panamá was part of Nueva Granada.

Add to that a similar socio-economic status. (Way above the rest of central america..., well, it's not saying much, but you get the idea)

With that said, I'm ashamed to admit I completely forgot about this "war" (at the time and place, combat consisted mostly on drunk farmers payed to yell and pretend to know how to use a weapon)

Not many would oppose the idea... outside of our politicians.

almost every south america country.

Oh I see,so how do you guys view other spanish speaking South Americans? I mean there isn't much differences between culture and demographics right.

>imagine the unity between the whole South Americans though

You are right. The Coto "War", was hardly really a war.
The idea of becoming one country is not a bad one. I really wish we could be one country, but it seems quite dificult at this point of history.
I do think that we could form some sort of region of free circulation between both countries. Probably even use the same currency and have sort of a unified economy. All this while respecting both nacional identities and sovereignties.

Wouldn't this also apply to Canada, New Zealand, and Australia?

Surprisingly enough, there is A LOT of difference. To put it short, 3 big situations make our cultures considerably different:

- Size of the indigenous populations: In some countries are nearly extinct in others not so much. These people really don't integrate much in our countries and tend to be marginalized... something that spells problems at some point.

- Cold war: You guys have no idea, but the cold war was devastating for the region, in ways not many know outside of the area. Some countries didn't suffer much, others were destroyed by it.

- Specific history: Well kinda obvious that some stuff happened that is not related to the previous points that did shape they the country is today.

Naturally, some countries are far closer and can easily integrate (Panamá and Costa Rica are very similar) But in other cases, the integration is very difficult. (For example: Nicaragua and Costa Rica)

Yes
We have had wars or major skirmishes with America in 1775, 1812-1814, and 1867-1871.

If we're connected in a huge landmass, I bet we would have unite under a single country dude.

Pretty shame that the cold war really make a huge mess in the Americas. Imagine how it would've been like if it weren't for US intervention in the region. I bet most of the region would be like Chile or something

Yeah, at this point it's impossible. Even an open border with Panama seems unlikely thanks to the current fiscal situation of the country.

Perhaps in a future...

Yeah, in the future perhaps.

Still it would benefit you to put all that aside and think of the future. A single united Central America would have a population the size of Colombia or Argentina and would like become a relevant economic and cultural power. Sure, integration should follow stages as not to destabilize the most prosperous economies but as a project to have say Panama become the financial and service center for the region while Costa Rica becomes the media/education capital would certainly be advantageous position if you were willing to concede others should get their fair share out of any deal.

No matter how prosperous smaller nations are more subject to volatility and instability, unlike the smaller nations in Europe you people don't have larger patron nations comited to your well being.

Alianza del Pacifico is a good step for you guys but it really isn't going to be enough, at least not in any foreseeable term.

Hard to tell how we would be without all that external intervention. However, it's always better to suffer your own made problems than "exported" ones.

You are correct, but it's just no possible at the moment. While, again, Costa Rica and Panama could integrate easily. The gap between these 2 countries and Nicaragua is considerable, and that difference is small considering the situations of countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

I must admit, it would be nice to have a country of that size since it opens many doors... but again, today is not the day for that.

Also, for reference, Central America was an alliance long ago... but it was broken for several reasons.

what happened in 1867-1871

we dont have a best friend

aww

NZ had the option to join Aus at federation (and at other times) but declined.

also:
Yes. Pic related.

Fenian raids.

>Short story (American version)
A bunch of deluded Irish-Americans thought they could invade kidnap Canadian colonies and ransom them for Irish independence

>Long story (Canadian version)
Following the Civil War the U.S. was in reconstruction mode. One way of reuniting the North and South would be to have them fight a common enemy. However, following a grisly and expensive war the target would need to be cheap and easy, Canada required no overseas war and was thought of as a weak power. In addition the U.S. was really pissed at Britain for their pseudo-support of the Confederacy and over the humiliating Trent Affair during which Lincoln basically had to suck Brit cock in order to keep them from opemly declaring for the Confederacy. To test Canada and Britain's willingness to fight the U.S. armed, supplied, and sent battle hardened Irish Union veterans into Canada. They lost

wouldnt a united central america be a big pain in the ass for mexico?

They were united about 180 years ago, they had so many problems in their own territory that Mexico never cared about them until they dissolved.

Joining countries never work out

See: Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia...

>Joining countries never work out

See: the USA, Australia, Germany, your cunt...

Not him but what?
What 2 or more countries merged to form Canada?

He probably meant the colonies you fucking sperg. It used to be just Ontario and Quebec before you perfidious cunts conned everyone else in British North America into joining.

Well they weren't technically countries, but independent territories of the UK. Still they had their own governments, laws, borders etc.

I see, thank you

Not that guy but thanks for sharing user, I never knew about this. Very interesting

You bet

Actually it would be, Mexican corporations do a lot of business in the region and are very dominant in some areas, it's a lot easier for us to compete with them divided and to exercise a good degree of political and cultural influence, which is in a way important for us as their nationalists tend to be as anti-Mexican as ours are anti-American.

Having said that we are discussing what's best for them, my opinion is they've always fared better when they work as a group and I see unity as a good antidote to an almost chronic cultural low self esteem in the lower classes, particularly in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Ironically I think long term it would benefit our relations that they can assert themselves as a union, especially as given the difficulties involved this would be a real acomplishment, and it would allow them to put forward their own identity in the world as the other Mesoamerican cultural complex, one uniquely non Aztec and more importantly non Mexican. There were also Chibcha in Costa Rica as well as Panama, so in a way they are the bridge, not just physical, in between the cultures of Northern South America and Mexico. Say something like Poland in between Germanics and Slavs, if they do eventually absorb the Dominican Republic into their sphere, and even Caribbean nations like Belize (in identity) or Haiti they could become something really special. As someone who does believe in eventual integration of Latin America I thik they would fare better even then as a single nation than as a flock of minnows.

>more canadians died
>canadian victory

ok

>Germans won World War II

>if they do eventually absorb the Dominican Republic into their sphere, and even Caribbean nations like Belize (in identity) or Haiti they could become something really special.

I was with you until here

The Dominican Republic is growing fast. I mean, they are still in a pretty bad state. But if they continue to grow at this rate for 15 to 20 years more, they might become a decent country.
Maybe I'm been too optimistic, don't know.

I went on holiday to the Dominican Republic awhile back. It's obviously poor but overall I found it to be a very nice country.

Why would CR or Panamá join with the Central American countries? We dont even have anything in common in terms of culture, besides the language, Im not even talking about the sociocultural differences.

México shares the same cultural sphere with them, and even if you would say they should merge in a same country, we are talking about Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, the poorest countries of America, way poorer and underdeveloped than Bolivia and Paraguay (the less developed countries of Latin America. So yeah, Méxicans and Central Americans may be the same in terms of culture and ethnic groups, but they would literally became a burden for the current Mexican states.

Also, using "culture" to make countries doesnt make sense desu, Costa Rica shares a lot with Colombia and Jamaica, does that means we should merge with them? Of course not. Costa Rica and Panamá are basically the same in terms of development and economy, should we merge for the sake of it? No.

Costa Rica is right. The social, cultural and economic distances between the south and north of Central America is just to much at this point.
Even countries like Panamá and Costa Rica, which are very close a various senses, won't unite into a single state given that both have developed separate identities.