The Monroe Doctrine was Alive and Well
The United States and Latin America have had tumultuous relationships since each won independence in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Following World War II, the world’s economy entered into a period of significant growth.
The Marshall Plan saw massive U.S. investment in war-torn Western Europe, which left Latin America feeling forgotten and resentful of the United States. U.S. intervention in Latin American political affairs, specifically in Guatemala, exacerbated these feelings during the 1950s. Through selfish policies and ineffective action, the United States could not foster the kind of positive relationship that seemed inevitable before World War II.
World War II was a boon for the Latin American economy. However, once World War II ended, U.S.-manufactured goods were available again, usurping those made in Latin America. U.S. economists urged a return to return to pre-Great Depression style import-export trade that involved Latin American raw goods exported to the United States.
In turn, Latin America would import U.S. consumer goods. Between 1946 and 1959, Latin America only received about 2% of U.S. foreign aid, while the United States invested heavily in Western Europe.
Through its policies and investments, the United States government actively sought to subordinate Latin America to the USA. Naturally, this created a sizeable anti-US sentiment throughout Latin America, comprised mainly of people who were tired of witnessing inequality and hypocrisy and armed with the trappings of Marxist ideology.
The United States government attempted to maintain governments responsive to its economic and political interests throughout the region. Through the Organization of American States (OAS), US administrations could assert dominance, by explicitly supporting brutal but loyal dictators throughout the region. The Cold War, of course, was a time of solid anti-Communist sentiment. By issuing the Declaration of Caracas, the US-dominated OAS declared Marxist ideologies “alien to the Western Hemisphere” and made any Marxist revolutionary an enemy.
Meanwhile, Guatemala, the only OAS nation to vote against the Declaration of Caracas, experienced a CIA-sponsored coup in 1954. Because the United States wanted to control everything within the Western Hemisphere but wanted to do so without being overtly interventionist and imperialist, they did not send conventional military forces.
The U.S. government’s desire for secrecy is evident in a declassified CIA message issued at the onset of the coup. The message, filled with propaganda for broadcast into Guatemala, is intended to appear to come from a fake organization and made no mention of its origin in the United States.
Instead, the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) created an opposition organization, recruited a proxy force led by former Guatemalan General Carlos Castillo Armas, and invaded from Honduras. The rebel force quickly ousted the government of Jacobo Arbenz thanks to the U.S. propaganda war’s influence on Army officers.
The US State Department declared this a “great victory for democracy.” Still, Guatemala ultimately descended into an autocratic military rule that murdered thousands of its dissidents. While technically successful in ousting the Marxist Arbenz, the CIA was more successful at creating further resentment throughout the region than stemming the tide of Marxist ideologies. This marked the first time the CIA ousted a democratically elected leader power , and it wouldn’t be the last.
Before the Second World War, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D-New York) had nurtured positive relationships with Latin American nations through his “Good Neighbor Policy.”
Unfortunately, despite efforts to control its hemisphere, post-World War II US Administrations only managed to foster further disenchantment and resentment by trying to dominate Latin America. Lack of economic investment, policies intended to keep Latin America poor and subordinate, and ill-advised U.S. intervention ultimately resulted in an inevitable wave of Marxist revolts.
