The history of Chinese immigration to Latin America is one that most people are not aware of. On Oct. 17, the departments of Latin American studies and Asian studies collaborated to bring guest speaker Benjamin Narvaez, a researcher on Chinese immigration to Latin America, to the Hill. His talk, titled “Race, Nation, and U.S. Imperialism: Understanding the History of Chinese Immigration and Exclusion in Latin America, 1890s-1940s”’ was held at Viking Theater.
When the event started at 7 p.m., the theater was packed with Oles and faculty members. Professor Kris Thalhammer from the Latin American studies department introduced Narvaez, who is a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and has given talks on Chinese immigration to Latin America across the world. The crowd filled the room with applause as Narvaez came in.
Narvaez started by giving context for how Chinese people were brought to the Americas: Chinese workers were tricked or coerced to come to the Americas as they were a source for cheap labor and could replace enslaved people after the abolishment of slavery. These Chinese workers were subject to extreme exploitation, tortured, and 36 percent of them died at sea during the transoceanic voyage. They were often whipped and tortured, tricked into lifelong servitude, and rarely paid. The state of California first started introducing anti-Chinese laws, as Chinese people were declared ineligible for nationalized citizenship, interracial marriages were banned, and Chinese merchants were forcibly expelled. Narvaez’s presentation included images of political propaganda cartoons that stereotyped Chinese people as opium addicts, immoral, carrying typhoid and smallpox, gamblers, and unhygienic people.
Narvaez spoke about two countries that were U.S. Protectorates: Cuba and Panama. The U.S. occupied Cuba for four years and wrote American policies into the Cuban constitution through the Platt Amendment. These laws benefited the U.S. economically and granted them the rights to military intervention and to have overseas bases in Cuban territory. Cuba reluctantly accepted, knowing that this was the only way the U.S. would leave the island alone. However, 15 days before leaving the island in 1902, the U.S. put its immigration policy into national law. They also sent in agents to ensure that Chinese people were being excluded and forced to leave. Anti-Chinese sentiment grew on the island as the post-colonial bourgeoisie felt threatened by the rise of Chinese people, who, after escaping their indentured labor, started to build new businesses. Today, most Chinese people on the island are no longer fully Chinese, as Cuban policies forced a lot of them to leave.
In Panama, this was very different. The leaders of the country carried a sinophobic sentiment in their leadership. The Panamanians feared that the US would bring Chinese workers to work in the construction of the canal. The sixth law ever passed, only four months after Panama separated itself from Colombia in 1903, was Ley 6, which banned Turkish, Syrian, and Chinese people from immigrating into the country. Ley 6 forced Chinese people to get new IDs every six months and forced them to pay extra taxes to make it impossible for them to stay. Anti-Chinese associations such as the Sociedad Anti-China advocated for these laws and made life harder for Chinese immigrants. Chinese people in Panama turned to the U.S. ambassador for help, but the U.S. did not help protect their rights.
Something similar happened in Costa Rica, though through a different lens. There were ideas of racial homogeneity, and Costa Rica viewed itself as a white nation. The president at the time said that West Indian and Chinese workers posed a threat to public health and racial purity. All Chinese people were banned from immigrating, which was a stark measure in comparison to the US, where merchants and students were allowed to immigrate.
In Mexico, there were large fears of “mestizaje,” or racial mixture. The government supported propaganda efforts that portrayed the Chinese as sickly, disease-carrying, and weak. This propaganda portrayed Mexicans as strong, and that they would abandon their Mexican wives who were drawn to them because of their “money.” Local politicians, notably the ones in the state of Sonora, actively deported Chinese immigrants, only giving them a 24-hour notice. A lot of these interracial families went back to China and struggled to find a sense of belonging there.
Despite these challenges, the Chinese Diaspora in Latin America was able to endure because of their strong community networks and mutual aid. They adopted certain measures to avoid being deported, such as marrying into local communities, converting to Catholicism, and adopting Spanish names. They helped each other transnationally, investing in each other’s businesses overseas and teaching one another how to circumvent deportation efforts. Moreover, they often made donations to national initiatives and exhibited patriotism so they would be accepted more. It is important to note that other countries — such as Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador — were not focused on in the talk but also had large Chinese communities.
