Focus of Project
This project will examine the role of the United States on Latin American issues since the 1950’s specifically US foreign policy and military intervention. The project will also explore the effects of these policies on US international relations with Latin America.
Historical Context
US foreign policy has historically been justified to defend the values of their constitution abroad. For example, one of America’s core values is the protection of human rights. With the rise of popular movements especially in Latin America, the US felt the need to act upon the situation to protect the individuals and ensure peace and stability in the region (Falk 1989). Although the US projects itself as the savior of instability, there are several events in Latin America that question not only the real motivations of US intervention but also the way they handle those problems.
Since the 1950s, US foreign policy was centered on “containment” of the Soviet expansion in Third World countries (Falk 1989). In Latin America alone, the US delivered $1.7 billion in military aid and 53,000 soldiers were trained (Sandos 1973). Along with the aid and military training, the US proposed a plan to secure the Western hemisphere from Soviet spread with the Mutual Security Act of 1951. This act assured the governments of Latin America with enough military equipment to suppress insurgencies in exchange of securing strategic areas like the Panama Canal and Straits of Magellan (Sandos 1973). After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the US was under tremendous pressure because the Soviets finally had some influence in Latin America that could eventually lead to a “domino effect”. In response, the US established the Alliance for Progress in 1961 that along with military aid to suppress insurgencies, the US also focused on social development and economic growth (Sandos 1973). During Nixon’s presidency, the US shifted its strategy to a “low profile” but kept its vision of maintaining secured the region by reducing military aid and military missions but promoting investment (Sandos 1973). This change was done because the United States wanted to change Latin America’s view of the them as an imperialist nation.
During the first half of the Cold War, democracy assistance in Latin America was of low priority to the US because their sole motivation was to avoid communism in their sphere of influence. However, during the second half of the Cold War, the US started to shift its priority to promoting democracy. After their last direct interventions during the Cold War including Chile (1970-73), Nicaragua (1982-89) and El Salvador (1980-89), the US realized the changing environment of Latin America so, most of their policies started to focus on democracy assistance. (Scott and Carter, 2016). The US also started to view Latin America as a land of economic opportunity and decided to promote trade efforts and economic assistance like the North America Free Trade Agreement in 1993 (Scott and Carter, 2016). Post-Cold War also had its effects in Latin America that indirectly affected the US, one of them being drug cartels. Drug cartels and the drug war did not only affect American citizens but also revealed the instability and corruption of some Latin American countries. This problem demanded more focus from the US government so, during 1992-2002 over $1 billion were invested in democracy assistance in Latin American governments to tackle issues such as corruption. (Scott and Carter, 2016).
After the 9/11 attacks, the US government shifted its foreign policy plan of democracy help to other areas in the world but remained concerned towards Latin American issues like drug cartels and authoritarian governments (Scott and Carter 2016). For example, the rise of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela created tensions between the two countries since Chavez allied himself with other dictators such as Evo Morales (Bolivia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) and Fidel Castro (Cuba). Chavez influence was a threat to the US intentions of promoting democracy in the region because it was perceived as illegitimate intervention. (Scott and Carter 2016).
Definition and Scope
This project will dig into the effects of American foreign policy and intervention in Latin America. As such, this project will also focus on the motivation of the US to intervene in the region. The effects play an important role to determine the influence of the US over smaller countries and question the legitimacy of its acts. The intention of this project is to revive the debate between power and principle and to determine the role of the US in the Americas (Long 2015, 7). Furthermore, these analyses will also reveal the “two faces” of the US by showing positive effects of aid towards democracy but also being complicit of human rights violations like the ones in Central America in the 70s and 80s (Long 2015,7).
Besides relying on secrecy and “low profile”, the US used the common self-rhetoric of protecting the human rights of people in their foreign policy decisions (Falk 1989). This rhetoric was used to justify their actions that caused great harm to targeted Latino societies that can still be seen today (Falk 1989). Because motivations and circumstances were different in US foreign policy in Latin America, this project will be divided into three parts. The first part will discuss the Cold War in Latin America focusing on military intervention. The second part will examine Post-Cold War and the shift from “containment” to democracy assistance but also examine issues such as human rights violations and drug trafficking. The last part of the project will discuss contemporary Latin American-US relationships with respect to the effects of intervention and foreign policy in the previous two parts.
Particular Topics
Starting with the Cold War, this project will emphasize the multiple interventions that the US had in Latin America to avoid Soviet influence in the region. For instance, the project will include the CIA coup against Guatemalan president Arbenz in 1954 implicating the end of the Good Neighbor Era (Berk 2018, 284). This project will also include significant Cold War events like the Bay of Pigs and The Cuban Missile Crisis (Holden and Zolov 2011, X). The last events of the Cold War are also relevant to the theme and these include the human rights violations in Chile in the 1970s and the Civil Wars in Central America in the 1980s (Holden and Zolov 2011, XII). Pos Cold War events are worth mentioning like the North American Free Trade Agreement, Intervention in Haiti, the Drug War, and the Summit of the Americas (Holden and Zolov 2011, XIII). Last but not least, contemporary issues like Immigration and Venezuela can’t be left out because of their importance to the central theme and also because they reveal the continuous effects of American intervention in Latin America.