There is nothing in the text to suggest that the Monteros are telling the truth about this support. However, it is exactly what the United States in 1904 would have done, and the fact that such support contradicts Holroyd's own is by no means inconsistent. At any rate, even the illusion of U.S. support reinforces Costaguana's (and Latin America's) status as helpless pawn of the great powers, such that Montero has to invoke the USA in order to inveigh against "foreign speculators."