U.S. Foreign Policy and Latin America

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During the Cold War, the US invaded Latin America, Asia, and partly Europe. They used sneaky methods and propaganda to achieve their goals. At this time, in the Cold War, they were very devious and tactical in their mission. The US foreign Policy at that time was all about defeating Communism and keeping the balance of power in it’s favor but most importantly, for US’s own economic interest. Generally, the US foreign policy concerning Latin America was of course for the US' own benefit. If the person in power was trying to nationalize their country's economy, the US accused them of communism and proceeded to push them out, unofficially, under the pretext of national security. In Guatemala, United Fruit was the main corporation that had benefited America before Arbenz came into power. Arbenz was trying to nationalize the country's economy and this was what the US called Communism. The US proceeded to unofficially engage in a smear campaign, using propaganda but weren’t successful until the Alfhelm shipment. The Alfhelm shipment was a freight of armoury and ammunition that had been sent from Czechoslovakia. To the US, this was their definite proof of communist activity and intention as Czechoslovakia could not have sold weapons to Guatemala without approval from Moscow. Therefore, the US initiated a military coup and put Colonel Diaz into power because they were sure he would follow their policy. However once in power he offended the CIA cooperatives he had secretly been working with prior to Arbenz resignation and the US decided to depose Diaz, which he fought against , and this lead to an assault on the Guatemalan main military base. At which point Diaz was forced to resign, at gunpoint, by his colleague colonel Monzon. Monzo... ... middle of paper ... ...methods before. The US claimed that the dropping of the Hiroshima bomb was fundamental to achieve victory in the war in the Pacific. Ofcourse, the bombing was strategic because Hiroshima held the headquarters of the army which defended southern Japan. It was also a place of assembly for military troops, a storage point for weapons and artillery, and it had military factories too. Truman claimed that his intention when ordering dropping of the bombs was to resolve the war by inflicting destruction, and creating fear of further destruction. In other words, he was using the bombs to scare the Soviets and the Red Army. Ultimately, after carefully researching and reviewing the information concerning the US and it’s foreign policy, I can only come to the conclusion that the US’s policy is based on self interest and advancement, regardless of the destruction it might cause.

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