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The Impact of US foreign policy in Latin America
The proceeds informed US foreign policy in Latin America during the cold war of the Second World War. Perceptively, the Second World War had led to the rise of other world powers. The United States and Soviet Russia were inherently in a power struggle that would elevate the winner to world domination. The establishment of the CIA in 1947 by law officially marked a beginning to numerous foreign policies that would enable the US to stamp their authority to the rest of the world. Otherworld powers such as the UK and Japan concentrated on making allies to support their political agenda and international security should the need arise. In Latin America, the US had stakes in mining and the exploration of the various resources available for their economic prosperity.
The Cold War
The Cold War period was a necessary period that defined US foreign policy in other countries and the politics that followed. During the First World War, the mention of Latin America was slow and impactful. Inevitably, some countries were affected by the growing influence of the United States in the country and in the manner in which their economy was run. There were rebellions in countries such as Nicaragua and Cuba, but the information of the same was significantly scarce. Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Cuba are located in Latin America. These countries expose much of the US foreign policy and how the same affected the country. The Cold War was a period of political antipathy between the Soviet Union and the United States from 1945 to 1990. Although the main contention was between the two major powers of the world, other countries in Latin America were inevitably roped in.
US Foreign Policy
After World War II, the rise of the Soviet Union became synonymous with sharing their agenda with the rest of the world. While the US was keen on spreading the capitalistic nature of economies around the world, the Soviet community was spreading communism. Beginning in the late 1950s, the US effectively started limiting the growth of communist ideals in Latin America. The 20 countries in Latin America are diverse populations with the power of self-determination. However, the United States still maintained an influence over the region based on the business ideals and models that had been operating pre-cold war. Latin America remains one of the significant suppliers of oil to the United States, with a large number of strategic alliances between the countries that had been affected.
To stamp out the growing communist influence in Latin America, the United States came up with various international protocols, recommendations, and policies that will keep the citizenry in Latin America towed. For instance, the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (the Rio Treaty) of 1947 was signed by more than 20 Latin American countries to foster the protection of Latin American interests in the region and the US at large. The treaty was protective (Holdon & Zolov, 99). Essentially, the objective of the treaty was to curve down on the influence of other communist powers and guard their entry into Latin America. From the treaty, it was established that an attack on any Latin American country was an attack on all of them. As a result, it was essential to look at the influence of other countries in Latin America to understand the interests of all parties for conclusive decision making. The Bahamas is the latest entry to the treaty, having signed up in 1982.
The hemispheric defense is outlined as the purpose of the Rio Treaty. All Latin countries came together to form a formidable union that is intended to oust the influences of a foreign power and communist ideals in their region. The intentions of the US were such that no communist was allowed to move into Latin neighborhoods, both in the United States and in Latin America (Williams 14). The Western Hemisphere is a precious recourse geographical area where the United States gains immensely from the activities in the region. To effect their interest, the United States propped in different Latin American leaders to help in guaranteeing a capitalistic nature of economic growth. Seeing as it was the cold war, it was necessary to take specific actions, even though the United States might have been using compromised leaders.
Indeed, a majority of Latin American leaders were dictators during the Cold War. The United States, however, was keen on keeping a tight grip over the Latin American region as it was a strategic location for carrying out various US interests. Most of these leaders became outright dictators, with a majority of them engaging in human rights abuses and other atrocities against their people. US support of Latin American leaders meant that they became untouchable to any powers that were trying to bring sanity into the situation (Holdon & Zolov 104). Many of these leaders, much like African leaders, became very wealthy, usurping their countries’ resources for self-aggrandizement. As a result, citizens in many countries became agitated as time went by. Many revolutions were sparked in a majority of Latin American countries to fight for equality and fair administration and justice. Various countries were affected by US foreign policy during the cold war. These are discussed below.
Guatemala
The Guatemala revolution had been brewing for over 36 years. The majority of citizens felt short-changed by their leaders, who were amassing wealth in an unprecedented manner. During Jacob Arbenz’s reign in Guatemala, more than 20,000 people were killed fighting the government for a better country. However, US policy was only intended to keep their capitalistic interests. In the example of Guatemala, the United States foreign policy was strictly applicable to countries that followed the promise of the Rio Treaty (Reeves 44). According to the CIA Act, the formation of the CIA gave powers for executing different actions to keep US interests in tandem. For instance, the CIA was allowed to collect, disseminate, and use intelligence to advance their interests. With communist preferences, the United States wanted to oust Jacob Arbenz. The United States first evaluates the powers entangled in their political wars to deduce their most appropriate actions. Decisively, the US-backed up a group of rebel military officials that wanted to effect the change in Nicaragua (Pettinà & Román 41). The revolution was thus won by US-allied officials to take over the country. The war between the factions went on for a long time, with the US only paying attention to what served their interests. A peace deal was signed between the military officials and the communist rulers in 1996, putting an end to over 36 years of political tensions in the Latin American country.
During the Cold War, a country facing similar circumstances with Guatemala was Nicaragua. One of its frontline leaders during the Cold War was Augusto Sandino. Augusto Sandino had communist leanings in his rule. The United States policy was contrary to the practice of communist ideals, which meant that an individual who would push the US’ agenda was needed. Anastasio Somoza was chosen as Nicaragua’s official leader. There are other countries that the United States out rightly sought to control in terms of toeing the line between communist and capitalist ideals. For instance, Ecuador and Panama lost their presidents because of heightened tensions between communist and capitalist ideals. As presented by Perkins (145), the United States did not hesitate to carry out an act of violence, no matter the repugnancy of such law. The narrative of implementing US policy in Latin America flows through a trail of violent acts, usurpation of power, and the control of politics to give the US an upper hand to foster their economic and security position as compared to other countries.
US policy in Latin America during the Cold War was intended to stop the spread of communist influence in Latin America. Through dubious methods, the United States installed leaders, committed atrocities in the countries, and ensured that all necessary means were taken to spread the US’ grip on the power of the different countries. The influence, in most times, did not yield positive results and economic growth. On the contrary, the methods served to usurp any opportunities for growth that have left Latin Americans among the poorest people around the world.
Works Cited
Holden, Robert H., and Eric Zolov. “Latin America and the United States.” A Documentary (2000).
Perkins, John. Confessions of an economic hit man. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2004.
Pettinà, Vanni, and José Antonio Sánchez Román. “Beyond US hegemony: the shaping of the Cold War in Latin America.” Culture & History Digital Journal 4.1 (2015): 001.
Reeves, Michelle Denise. Extracting the eagle’s talons: the Soviet Union in Cold War Latin America. Diss. 2014.
Williams, Mark Eric. “Revisiting the Cold War in Latin America.” Latin American Research Review 52.5 (2017).