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Essays on the united states intervention in latin america
Essays on the united states intervention in latin america
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The Central American country of Guatemala fought a bloody civil war for over 36 years. The internal conflict began in November of 1960 and did not end until December of 1996. The key players that fought where the Guatemalan government and the ethnic Mayan indigenous people that where extremely leftist compared to the Guatemalan government. The indigenous persons where joined by other non-government forces known as the Ladino peasantry and other rural poor. This civil conflict would escalate to a bloody series of events that inevitably would see the Guatemalan government regime held responsible for acts of genocide and other human rights violations.
Guatemala held democratic elections in 1944 and 1951, they resulted in leftist government groups holding power and rule of the country. Intervention from the United States and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) backed a more conservative military minded regime. A military coup took place in 1954 to over throw the elected government and install the rule of Carlos Castillo Armas. Carlos Armas was a military general before the coup and with the CIA orchestrated operation he was made President from July 8th 1954 until his assassination in 1957. Upon his assassination, similar militant minded presidents rose to power and continued to run the country. Due to the nature of military dictatorship, in 1960, social discontent began to give way to left wing militants made up of the Mayan indigenous people and rural peasantry. This is the match that lit Guatemala’s Civil War, street battles between the two groups tore the country and pressured the autocratic ruler General Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes to fight harder against the civilian insurrection. Similar to the government Abductions th...
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...y records from August of 1982 connected the General to Operation Sofia. These documents detailed a series of counterinsurgency sweeps though Guatemalan regions to kill the enemy guerillas and destroy their bases with extreme force.
The prosecution proved with evidence that General Rios Montt was guilty of 1,771 indigenous people, forced displacement of 29,000 people, at least nine cases of sexual violence and various cases of torture (Burt 2). The violence was overwhelming when described in court and included powerful testimonies that showed indiscriminate massacres, rape, infanticide, destruction of crops to induce starvation, abduction of children (Burt 2). The use of defense patrols was also produced as evidence against the General, citing that these where used as methods to undermine local populations and instill fear amongst the citizens of these villages.
During the genocide of Guatemala , the government said one of the biggest lies to their people. They had said 40,000 people had “disappeared” from unknown causes. They didn’t disappeared , they were killed, annihilated from the face of the earth, all because they were different. Very similar to the Holocaust that occurred in Europe.
Before reading this, I, like I am sure so many others, had no idea of the magnitude of injustices that can occur during these conflicts. Also, this was not very long ago, nor far away, and it speaks volumes of the differences in government ideology and politics. El Salvador is an extreme case of how a government will treat its citizens. Massacre at El Mozote truly was an eye-opener and I doubt I will soon forget it.
When focusing on Nicaragua one will need to pay close attention to the rebel group called the Sandinistas who took over Nicaragua’s previous dictator, Anastasio Somoza in 1979, in which the United States Congress decided it would be best to provide them with aid that lasted till 1981.1 Nicaragua’s geographic location made it a big concern for President Reagan based on his philosophy that surrounded the Reagan Doctrine. At that point, President Reagan ended the aid deal and adamantly advised that support be sent to those who were trying to over throw the new socialized, Sandinista leadership.2 Furthermore, the Nicaraguan’s were dealing with some of the worst warfare ever, by the mass killings that took place, which were at the mercy of death squads.3 This gruesome realization allowed President Reaga...
Even after the strong pressure by US Secretary of State, the Organization of American States resolves to condemn what they believed was communist infiltration in the Americas. Under the control of Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, he received a strong financial and logistic support from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to prepare his Army in Honduran territory to attack Guatemala. The CIA's involvement had been approved by Eisenhower as a way to stop what they considered a spread of Communism in the Americas. In June, 1954 the troops of Carlos Castillo crossed the Honduran-Guatemalan border and began their attack against Arbenz government. By this time not only was Arbenz internationally isolated but he had also lost much support from his own army and peasant population. Most of the Guatemalans felt they were in a very weak position compared to the invading army, after they heard from an ally radio that reported a larger invading army and the bomber that dropped some bombs around Guatemala City. The demoralized population simply resigned to be defeated by Castillo. Arbenz himself was hard hit when the invasion began. When he realized that any kind of resistance would only bring more deaths and very little success for his movement he decided to do what was best and decided to announce
The Civil War in El Salvador lasted from 1980 to 1992, and the El SAlvadoran government was doing their best to minimize the threat of their opposition. Their main opposition, The Frente Farabundo Marti Para La Liberacion Nacional; otherwise known as the FMLN, was a guerrilla group that was organized to fight the corruption in the country. 175). One of the main goals of the organization was to create a new society that is not degrading its citizens and promotes equality. Throughout El Salvador’s history, one organization to the next would run the country through repressive actions and social injustice. One of the main reasons that the FMLN fought the acting government were due to these social restraints on the lower- class citizens in El Salvador.
Let me provide some background and supporting information as I give my reasoning about the insurgency rise in his presidency. Rafael Trujillo rose to through the ranks in the Dominican Republic military and was trained by the United States Marines that occupied the country during the World War I era. Rafael Trujillo made such a great impression according to Diederich Bernard he stated, “Seeing opportunity, Trujillo impressed the recruiters and won promotion from lieutenant to general and commander-in chief of the Army in only nine years”.
Beginning in the late 1970s Liberation Theology, Marxism, and U.S. Cold War policy collided in El Salvador culminating in a civil war that lasted over a decade and ultimately produced democratic political institutions that persist into the 21st century. Despite the prejudices against the church on behalf of government and media organizations in the U.S. and El Salvador, religious actors fought for human rights and the implementation of democratic institutions throughout the period of conflict. The Salvadoran Civil War, which occurred in the context of the Cold War, was one of the bloodiest and longest events in the history of Latin America after the Guatemalan Civil War. The conflict lasted from 1979 to 1992, left approximately 75,000 people dead, and a country in ashes. The conflict started after the fraudulent elections of the Coronel Arturo Armando Molina (1972), who focused his term on repressing the communist political parties that wanted to work for a social reform. This aroused the anger of the popular sectors, which started to organize groups and demonstrations demanding fair election and improvement of social conditions. The government responded to their demands with savage violence, focusing primarily on the oppression of campesinos because they were the ones who supported the revolutionary leftist forces. These actions alienated the Salvadoran population even more and caused many people in the Catholic Church to start denouncing the government’s actions. Thus, as the Civil War started to rise, the church started to radicalize and to and spoke up against the government’s actions. One of its most fervent advocates was Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, who during his short time as the Archbishop of San Salvador manifested hi...
This essay will study the Central Intelligence Agency’s intervention in Guatemala, and how they assisted Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas in the coup d’état against Jacobo Arbenz. It will describe the reasons of the intervention, the United States’ interest in Guatemala, and how it affected Guatemalans. Such events help explain much about the role that the United States has in their own migration. The paper argues that the United States’ political interest in Guatemala played a fundamental role in the migration of Guatemalans to its borders. As a result of this intervention, Guatemala suffered one of its worse political periods in their history. Guatemala experienced a period of political instability that led the country into social chaos, where many Guatemalans opted to migrate to the United States.
On one hand knowing the back-story could help in understanding this book fully. But knowing who the leadership of the government and military are not totally important to understand what happened in Dos Erres. It is possible to read this book and only learn whom the subjects of the book were. But if you want to gain a true understanding of the situation informing yourself of other facts could be an asset. Although the court cases are depicted in detail by the end, as a means to talk about the long search for justice, it takes a long time and pain to get to this point. That is exactly what is intended. Louisa Reynolds gives enough detail that there is no need to look at other sources to understand what happened in Dos Erres and what happened to the individuals. Her first person accounts of individuals interview for this book were written in an compelling narrative form. For each person, such as the old man Tranquilino Castañeda, our first encounter with this seventy-year-old man begins with a description as seen by the author; “Tranquilino Castañeda has trouble walking as he suffers from arthritis in his right leg, but he does his best to maintain himself upright. By doing so he might be able to cheat Death so that it doesn’t come knocking on his door before he can embrace the son that he believed to have lost.” Reynolds expanded on the court system by dealing with the important fight for justice. She did an excellent job in describing the system and the people involved in the search for justice. In one case Judge Valdez’s verdict expanded on the events and the facts so that the truth could come out. She expanded on personal stories such as Manolo Vela Castañeda who clearly demonstrated the guilt of those who perpetrated these vast crimes. The judge mentioned the survivors and witnesses had “clearly demonstrated how the same state that had encouraged
War and violence in Central America is a result of governmental injustice due to the United States’ foreign policies. The United States supported El Salvador with weapons and money throughout the civil war. As a result of enforcing these policies, El Salvador’s poverty, population and crime rate increased. The books “…After…” by Carolina Rivera Escamilla and “The Tattooed Soldier” by Hector Tobar give us a glimpse of the issues Central Americans faced.
to collect and analyse information on threats to US security as well. to perform other functions, which was by undermining the enemy by covert means of a. During the Truman presidency the CIA powers were rarely used, but once Eisenhower came to office this attitude changed and the The CIA expanded its operations greatly under the influence of Eisenhower. The biggest success of the CIA is said to have been the overthrow of the left-wing government in Guatemala, 1954 and also the overthrow of the left-wing government of Allende in Chile, 1973.
As with many a war, there is a problem with no real solution in sight. This leads the citizens of that nation to cause a war. According to PBS, land was allocated from the people of Mexico and was given to the wealthier landowners, additionally no Mexican was able to own land without the proper legal documents. The Mexican Revolution started in 1910 when citizens began to doubt their dictator, Porfirio Díaz. In 1908 he stated in an interview that by the year 1910, the people could expect a clean election. Therefore Francisco I. Madero, a rich landowner, gathered a sm...
All throughout the 20th century we can observe the marked presence of totalitarian regimes and governments in Latin America. Countries like Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic all suffered under the merciless rule of dictators and military leaders. Yet the latter country, the Dominican Republic, experienced a unique variation of these popular dictatorships, one that in the eyes of the world of those times was great, but in the eyes of the Dominicans, was nothing short of deadly.
When I was a toddler, I had blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin, and still presently do. My parents are Guatemalan, however they fit the stereotype of a Guatemalan, small, a bit chunky, and tan. My siblings also carry the same genes as my parents, but yet I stand out like the moon in a night sky. But just like the moon, the public looks at me different. Growing up in a hispanic community and having a Latino family I gained numerous titles for my abnormality. “Canche” is the George Clooney of my nicknames, it means white boy.
The Mexican- American War began about two years before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. In May 1846, the war began over a territorial argument that involved Texas. President James Polk requested War on Mexico when he sent General Zachary Taylor to claim territory along the Rio Grande River. At that time Mexican officials had claimed it was part of Mexico. The war ended when troops under Winfield Scott’s command moved into Mexico City. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848 in the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo; hence where the peace treaty obtained its name. The treaty ended the Mexican- American War and transferred about 500,000 square miles of land from Mexico to the United States while