Part 2: A Hard Look At Latin America

THE UNITED STATES“RE-CONQUEST”

Part 1: A Legacy of Inequality - was posted June 30, 2011

The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 warned European powers not to intervene in the Americas any longer. Instead of supporting Independence in Latin America, the United States made itself the new master of millions of Indigenous people. In the Mexican War (1847-48), the U.S. seized one-half of Mexico’s territory; in the Spanish–America War (1898), the United States seized Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spain. Between 1890 and 2004, the U.S. intervened militarily in Latin America fifty-five times.

Under the pretext of “maintaining stability,” the United States foreign policy protects and promotes inequality. Dictatorships and military governments have served U.S. business interests well. In return, the local elites share in the plunder, and get United States support for their privileged social position.

In Latin America, the main job of police and military (much as it is here in the U.S.) is to protect the ruling classes from their own people. United States military aid to them is often categorized as “Foreign Internal Defense,” an admission that we are helping these governments defend themselves from their own citizens.

The U.S. has a long history of support for repressive governments. In Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, United States backed military governments have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands. In Columbia, where civil war raged for over forty years, the government survives only with massive military aid from the U.S.

In violation of the United Nations Charter and International Law, the United States has toppled democratic governments that resist U.S. control. The cases of President Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954, and of Chilean President Allende in 1979, are well known. The failed 1961, “Bay of Pigs,” invasion attempt to overthrow President Fidel Castro is also well known. Most recently, the United States deposed the government of Haiti, and supported a failed 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.