of infrastructure, rather than being implemented, was often
resisted. For example, the development of a port on the
Suchitepéquez coast, bordering the Pacific Ocean, was
one of the proposed projects. At the time the only proper
ports were on the Caribbean coast, and these were
controlled by the Consulado. The Consulado did nothing on
the Pacific side because a port in that region would have
provided a much easier outlet for goods from the highland
towns of Mazatenango and Quezaltenango, and access to
a different market for these goods would have undermined
the Consulado’s monopoly on foreign trade. The same
logic applied to roads, where, again, the Consulado had
the responsibility for the entire country. Predictably it also
refused to build roads that would have strengthened
competing groups or would have potentially undone its
monopoly. Pressure to do so again came from western
Guatemala and Quezaltenango, in the Los Altos region. But
if the road between Los Altos and the Suchitepéquez coast
had been improved, this could have created a merchant
class, which would have been a competitor to the
Consulado merchants in the capital. The road did not get
improved.
As a result of this elite dominance, Guatemala was
caught in a time warp in the middle of the nineteenth
century, as the rest of the world was changing rapidly. But
these changes would ultimately affect Guatemala.
Transportation costs were falling due to technological
innovations such as the steam train, the railways, and new,
much faster types of ships. Moreover, the rising incomes of
people in Western Europe and North America were
creating a mass demand for many products that a country
such as Guatemala could potentially produce.
Early in the century, some indigo and then cochineal,
both natural dyes, had been produced for export, but the
more profitable opportunity would become coffee
production. Guatemala had a lot of land suitable for coffee,
and cultivation began to spread—without any assistance
from the Consulado. As the world price of coffee rose and
international trade expanded, there were huge profits to be
made, and the Guatemalan elite became interested in
coffee. In 1871 the long-lasting regime of the dictator
Carrera was finally overthrown by a group of people calling