In Mark Danner’s book, The Massacre at El Mozote, he argues United States policy toward Latin America was an indirect result of the massacre in El Salvador. After reading his book, I do agree with the following statement. Not only did the United States aid the military government, it also denied any of the killings that occurred which allowed the military government to continue the massacre of innocent peasants. The United States covered up or discredited several news sources and human rights organizations in order to continue aid to El Salvador. The fact that The United States discredited news sources also allowed them to sign the certification, all because the United States didn’t want to have a communist country on their side of the hemisphere. It is very clear at the end of this book that the United States actions toward the massacre of El Mozote and the neighboring hamlets was all for their own benefit. The massacre which occurred at El Mozote is to say the least, gruesome. In the end, about 370 people were killed at El Mozote. While the total count for all the hamlets that were attacked, was about 767 people, El Mozote makes up about half of those dead during El Salvador’s Dirty War. Even though El Salvador’s government did most of the dirty work, they had assistance doing it. The United States were beginning to worry as time passed that the left-wing parties would win, and since the guerrillas were striking back, it seemed more of a reality as time went by. Therefore, President Reagan, “doubled economic aid for El Salvador, to a hundred and forty-four million dollars, increased military aid, from twenty-six million dollars to more than thirty-five million…” (Danner, p. 40). Although the United States government, “had stepp... ... middle of paper ... ... well. The United States policy focused primarily on keeping the left-wing parties from rising, and they were successful in some aspects. While the U.S. prospered because they were doing everything they could to defeat left-wing parties from rising, innocent peasants were being killed. In the end, the financial aid the U.S. gave El Salvador allowed the military government to buy the weapons that essentially killed the peasants. The way the U.S. also discredited and presented facts had a major impact on why there was little done to help and stop the military government. Finally, the certification program, which allowed the continuation of funds to El Salvador’s military government, had a big impact. The United States policy had an indirect impact on the massacre of El Mozote, all because they refused to allow a communist country to be on their side of the hemisphere.
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...
As stronger nations exercise their control over weaker ones, the United States try to prove their authority, power and control over weaker nations seeing them as unable to handle their own issues thereby, imposing their ideology on them. And if any of these weaker nations try to resist, then the wrath of the United States will come upon them. In overthrow the author Stephen Kinzer tells how Americans used different means to overthrow foreign government. He explains that the campaign & ideology of anti- communism made Americans believe that it was their right and historical obligation to lead forces of good against those of iniquity. They also overthrew foreign government, when economic interest coincided with their ideological ones (kinzer.215). These factors were the reasons behind America’s intervention in Iran, Guatemala, South Vietnam and Chile to control and protect multinational companies as well as the campaign against communism with little or no knowledge about these countries.
It is no secret that the United States has a history of economic and political interventions in countries around the world, especially in Latin America. By comparing the lives of the characters in Tobar’s novel, The Tattooed Soldier, to events that occurred in Latin American history, this paper will focus specifically on how U.S. imperialism, political and economic interventions in the central American countries of Guatemala and El Salvador forced many to flee and immigrate to the United states. Where the newly immigrated Central Americans faced lives of hardships and poverty compared to other Latin communities such as the Cubans who had an easier migration due to their acquisition of the refuge status.
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.
America had begun to indulge in the unilateral environment afforded to it during the Cold War. As the Soviet Union began to collapse in the 1980s, the United States was on its way to becoming a solo super power. This acquisition of complete power would inevitably lead the country into new problems, including those foreign and domestic. One of the main issues that came around in the 1980s for the Unites States was the Iran-Contra Affair, which involved the Reagan Administration. With the United States readily inserting influence across the globe, the Iran-Contra Affair proved how foreign intervention can lead to scandal and disgrace in the modern world. Along with detrimental scandals, the Iran-Contra Affair showed how America’s imperialistic behavior in South America was beginning to catch up. In order to remain a dominant influence in South America, the United States had no choice but to topple governments that did not align with American ideology. Using guerillas like the Contras insinuates America’s cornerstone of doing what is necessary in order to satisfy foreign interest.
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...
In 1979 Jean Kirkpatrick published Dictatorships And Double Standards, an article dealing with U.S. foreign policy under Jimmy Carter, including policy toward the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Kirkpatrick argues that Carter “abhors only right wing autocrats” ((43) and that he ignores the primary goal in foreign policy which should be U.S. interests. In her world view, the end justifies the means and stability should be sought over any sentimental notions about democracy for, or sovereignty of foreign nations. She argues that Latin America is not fertile for democracy and that, in the long run, supporting right wing dictatorships will lead to a better chance at this goal, to be achieved at a later date. In her Machiavellian prescription for Nicaragua she downplays the horrors of Somoza and misrepresents the character of the Sandinista revolution. The violence that occurred under the Reagan administration in the eighties can be seen as the realization of the Kirkpatrick school of thought and the results were extremely negative for Nicaragua.
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.
...icies from past Presidents. Furthermore, it was strongly detrimental to Latin America, for the reason that it eliminated the possibility of increasing Latin American exports to the United States, thereby destroying the hopes of Latin American countries focused upon President Nixon’s policy of “trade rather than aid.” During this time, the government justified itself by proclaiming that the United States needed to focus on avoiding involvement and learning from the mistakes made in Vietnam. All in all, over the course of the presidencies of Monroe, Roosevelt, FDR, and Nixon, the U.S. intervened in Latin America numerous times. Now, was it the right thing to do? At those specific points in time, the government thought so. Various arguments can be forged over the suitability of the actions of the U.S. during these times; however that is a discussion for another time.
In 1961, in response to the success of the Cuba’s Communist Revolution, President John F. Kennedy initiated the Alliance for Progress to discourage Marxist revolutions and to promote economic and social cooperation through democracy between the United States and Latin America . All throughout Latin America during the 1960’s Marxism had become the central philosophy and the future of democracy in the region appeared to be greatly threatened. Chile was viewed by the US as the ideal model for the Alliance for Progress program due its long history of constitutional democracy dating back to the nineteenth century. The Cold War fears of the Communist threat infiltrated the Chilean military when the United States funded a training school called the School of the Americas that specialized in teaching counterinsurgency techniques to Latin American militaries in order to combat guerilla warfare . Throughout these Cold War years the United States’ fear of Communism seemed dominate over rationality causing the US to act against their claimed beliefs in freedom, democracy, and basic human rights. That hypocrisy is most greatly evidenced by the United States foreign policy toward Chile during the 1960’s-the 1990’s.
THESIS : “ The United States didn’t want to get involved in the Spanish-American War, but was dragged into it due to yellow journalism, they wanted to control the seas, and wanted complete control over Cuba.”
In 1895, American citizens took notice of a Cuban revolt against their corrupt Spanish oppressor. The Cuban insurgents reasoned that if they did enough damage, the US might move in and help the Cubans win their independence. Not only did Americans sympathize with the Cubans upon seeing tragic reports in the newspaper, but they also empathized that the US once fought for their own independence from Britain. If France didn’t intervene, the Americans probably would not have won their freedom. As if this did not rally enough hate for the Spanish among the American Public, fuel was added to the flame by the Spanish General (“Butcher”)
The tropical island of Cuba had been an object of empire for the United States. Before the Missile Crisis, the relationship between Castro and the US were strained by the Bay of Pigs occurrence in 1961. This was where counterrevolutionary Cubans were American funded and tried to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. However, the counterrevolutionaries failed. Castro then found an alliance with the Soviet Union and an increase of distrust that Castro had on the US. On January 18, 1962, the United States’ Operation Mongoose was learned. The objective would be “to help the Cubans overthrow the Communist regime” so that the US could live in peace. Consequently, Castro informed the Soviet Union that they were worried about a direct invasion on Cuba, thus longed for protection against th...
American foreign policy directed and influenced its activities in Chile. United States although contradicted its firm belief of democr...