In 1884, Chile emerged from the
War of the Pacific as a potential threat to the
hegemony of the United States in the Western Hemisphere. The
Chilean navy, then the strongest fleet in the Pacific, was able to confront American policy. In 1882, Chile refused US mediation in the War of the Pacific. During the
Panama crisis of 1885, when the United States Navy occupied
Colón, then part of
Colombia, the Chilean government sent its most powerful protected cruiser (which represented a serious threat to the wooden American warships) to
Panama City, and ordered it not to leave until after the American forces evacuated Colon. Finally, in 1888, Chile annexed
Easter Island, located some west of
Valparaíso, and joined the ranks of imperial nations. applied the theories of
Alfred Thayer Mahan to secure the growing influence of the United States in Latin America by the usage of shows of force using the now expanded navy. During the
Chilean Civil War, the American government supported the forces of President
Jose Manuel Balmaceda and enforced a ban on exports for the congressional forces that was supported partially by the
United Kingdom. Those and another circumstances troubled relations between the United States and the victorious congressional side, which defeated the presidential forces in 1891 to take power in Chile. Just before the end of the Civil War, the United States sent a group of ships, including , to force the Chilean congressional cargo ship
Itata, which had illegally loaded arms in
San Diego for the congressional forces, to return to San Diego. The US ships reached Iquique before
Itata. The new Chilean government ordered the ship back to San Diego to face outstanding charges. During the war, the American-owned
Central and South American Cable Company, by order of the Balmaceda administration, restored submarine telegraph cable service between Santiago and
Lima, and sundered the cable connection to the congressional headquarters. In addition, the United States minister in Santiago,
Patrick Egan, gave diplomatic
asylum to various insurgent congressional leaders during the war, and to Balmaceda's supporters after the war. The victorious side called upon Egan to surrender those supporters to them but was refused. From the point of view of the congressionals, the United States had tried to stop them from purchasing weapons, denied them access to international telegraph traffic, spied on their troops, and refused to surrender war criminals. ==USS
Baltimore incident==