Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by NoonIcarus (talk | contribs) at 05:18, 4 January 2020 (→Venezuela: WP:BOLD. Proposing version with brief introduction of the presidential crisis, funding of Guaidó's cabinet and sanctions. Discussion at talk page). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

It has been suggested that this article be merged into United States involvement in regime change. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2020.

Involvement of the United States in regime change in Latin America most commonly involved US backed Coup 'd' etats aimed at replacing left-wing leaders with right-wing, usually military and authoritarian regimes. It was most prevalent during the Cold War in line with the Truman Doctrine of containment, although some instances occurred during the early 20th century "Banana Republic" era of Latin America history to promote American business interests in the region.

History

Argentina

In Argentina, military forces overthrew the democratically elected President Isabel Perón in the 1976 Argentine coup d'état, starting the military dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla, known as the National Reorganization Process, resulting in around 30,000 forced disappearances. Both the coup and the following authoritarian regime was eagerly endorsed and supported by the United States government with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger paying several official visits to Argentina during the dictatorship. Among the many human rights violations committed during the period were extrajudicial arrests, mass executions, torture, rape, disappearances of political prisoners and dissenters, and illegal relocations of children born from pregnant women (both pregnant before their imprisonment or made pregnant by the continuous rape). According to Spanish judge Baltazar Garzón, Kissinger was a witness to these crimes.

Brazil

Brazil experienced several decades of authoritarian governments, especially after the US-backed 1964 Brazilian coup d'état against social democrat João Goulart promoted, according to then President John F. Kennedy, to "prevent Brazil from becoming another Cuba".

Cuba

Chile

After the democratic election of President Salvador Allende in 1970, an economic war ordered by President Richard Nixon, among other things, caused the 1973 Chilean coup d'état with the involvement of the CIA due to Allende’s democratic socialist leanings. What followed was the decades-long US-backed military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. In 1988 a presidential referendum was held in order to confirm Pinochet’s ruling for 8 more years. The oppositional Concertation of Parties for Democracy endorsed the “No” option, winning the referendum and ending Pinochet’s rule democratically. After that free elections were held in 1989 with Concertation winning again.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica was the only country in Latin America that never had a long lasting authoritarian government in the 20th century. Its only dictatorship during the period was after the 1917 Costa Rican coup d'état led by Minister of War Federico Tinoco Granados against President Alfredo González Flores after González attempted to increase tax on the wealthy, and it lasted only two years. In fact, the US government lead by Democratic President Woodrow Wilson did not recognize Tinoco's rule and, despite the fact that the United Fruit Company was one of the affected companies by González' tax reform, helped the opposition that quickly overthrew Tinoco after a few months of warfare.

Years later Christian socialist medic Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia of the National Republican Party would reach power through democratic means, promoting a general social reform and allied to the Costa Rican Communist Party. Tensions between government and the opposition, supported by the CIA, caused the short-lived Costa Rican Civil War of 1948 that ended Calderón's government and led to the short de facto rule of 18 months by José Figueres Ferrer. However Figueres also held some left-leaning ideas and continued the social reformation. In any case, after the war democracy was quickly restored and a two-party system encompassed by the parties of the Calderonistas and Figueristas developed in the country for nearly 60 years.

El Salvador

After several peasant and workers uprisings in the country against the oligarchic and anti-democratic governments, often under the control of powerful American companies' interests like the United Fruit Company. With the appearance of figures like Farabundo Martí who lead these social revolts and were violently crushed, efforts to take power democratically were often thwarted by US intervention. Civil war spread with US-endorsed governments in El Salvador facing guerrillas.

Guatemala

Peasants and workers (mostly of indigenous descent) revolt during the first half of the Guatemalan 20th century due to harsh conditions and abuse from landlords and the government-supported American United Fruit Company were brutally repressed. This led to the democratic election of Jacobo Arbenz. Arbenz was overthrown during the US-backed 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état leading to authoritarian governments endorsed by the United States. and nearly 40 years of civil war in the Central American country. United States president Ronald Reagan, who sought to prevent the spread of communism in Central American countries near the United States, officially met with Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, accused of crimes against humanity, in Honduras, giving a strong support to his regime.

Nicaragua

After the Sandinista Revolution that overthrew pro-American dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Nicaragua fought the Contra guerrillas supported by the United States.

Panama

Panamanian de facto ruler Omar Torrijos' unexpected death in a plane crash has been attributed to US agents in collaboration with Manuel Noriega. According to John Perkins's book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man the motive behind it was Torrijo's negotiations with Japanese businessmen to expand the Panama Canal excluding American firms. Torrijos was also a supporter of the anti-Somoza FSLN rebel group in Nicaragua which stained his relationship with Reagan. Torrijos was succeeded by more pro-American dictator Manuel Noriega, who sided with the US interests during Torrijos government.

However, increasing tensions between Noriega and the US government also led to the United States invasion of Panama which ended in Noriega's overthrowing.

Paraguay

Conservative Colorado Party in Paraguay ruled the country for 65 consecutive years, including the American-supported brutal dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner that lasted 35 years, from 1954 to 1989. Paraguay is one of the poorest countries of South America. This dominant-party authoritarian system was temporarily broken in the 2008 Paraguayan general election, when practically the entire opposition united in the Patriotic Alliance for Change and managed to elect former Bishop Fernando Lugo of the Christian Democratic Party as President of Paraguay. Lugo's government was praised for its social reforms including investments in low-income housing, the introduction of free treatment in public hospitals, the introduction of cash transfers for Paraguay's most impoverished citizens and indigenous rights.

Peru

Alberto Fujimori and Vladimiro Montesinos's Peruvian regime was supported by the CIA.

Uruguay

After 150 years of traditional democratic governments in Uruguay, a civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay backed by the United States started after the military-led 1973 Uruguayan coup d'état that suppressed the Constitution of Uruguay of 1967, empowering President Juan María Bordaberry as dictator. Trade union leaders and political opponents were arrested, killed or exiled, and human rights violations were abundant. Democracy was restored in the 1984 Uruguayan general election.

Venezuela

On 23 January 2019, the President of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, was declared the acting President of the country by the body, disputing Maduro's claim and sparking a presidential crisis. Guaidó was recognized as the legitimate president by several nations, including the United States. A memo obtained by Agence France-Presse described that the US Agency for International Development would divert $41.9 million to the crisis in Venezuela, for uses including "interim government staff salaries or stipends, work-related travel and other costs necessary to ensure full deployment of a transparent financial management system and other activities necessary for a democratic transition."The New York Times reported that the new sanctions imposed by Donald Trump in August 2019 were part of "his campaign to remove Nicolás Maduro from office."

See also

• American Empire
• Anti Americanism
• Foreign relations of the United States
• List of free trade agreements
• List of United States military bases
• United States and state terrorism
• Foreign interventions by the United States
• Latin America–United States relations
• United States involvement in regime change

References

1. "Military Take Cognizance of Human Rights Issue" (PDF). National Security Archive. 16 February 1976.
2. ^ "Kissinger approved Argentinian 'dirty war'". The Guardian. 6 December 2003. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
3. "Transcript: U.S. OK'd 'dirty war'" (PDF). The Miami Herald. 4 December 2003.
4. ^ Goni, Uki (22 July 2016). "How an Argentinian man learned his 'father' may have killed his real parents". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
5. "CNN.com – Spanish judge seeks Kissinger – April 18, 2002". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2015-02-22.
6. Skidmore, Thomas. The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil, 1964-1985.
7. http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nsa/2014%20Annual%20Report.pdf
8. Peter Kornbluh. "Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973".
9. McSherry, J. Patrice (2011). "Chapter 5: "Industrial repression" and Operation Condor in Latin America". In Esparza, Marcia; Henry R. Huttenbach; Daniel Feierstein (eds.). State Violence and Genocide in Latin America: The Cold War Years (Critical Terrorism Studies). Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-0415664578.
10. Cite error: The named reference p. 2232 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
11. "CIA Activities in Chile — Central Intelligence Agency". Cia.gov. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
12. Corte revoca mayoría de procesamientos en caso Riggs, El Mercurio, 3 January 2007 Template:Es icon
13. Pinochet family arrested in Chile, BBC, 4 October 2007 Template:En icon
14. Cobertura Especial: Detienen a familia y principales colaboradores de Pinochet, La Tercera, 4 October 2007 Template:Es icon Archived 11 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
15. ^ "How Costa Rica Lost Its Military". bailey83221.livejournal.com. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
16. ^ Lorenz, Christopher Michael. "COSTA RICA AND THE 1948 REVOLUTION DECEMBER 7, 2001 ETHICS OF DEVELOPMENT IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT TERM PAPER". El Espíritu del 48. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
17. Francesca Davis DiPiazza. El Salvador in Pictures. p. 32.
18. (No author.)"Supply Line for a Junta," TIME Magazine March 16, 1981. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
19. CIA World Factbook. Accessed online February 21, 2008.
20. Doyle, Kate; Osorio, Carlos (2013). "U.S. policy in Guatemala, 1966–1996". National Security Archive. National Security Archive Electronic. George Washington University. Retrieved 18 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
21. "CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents". George Washington University NSA Archive (Republished).
22. "With Friends Like These: The Americas Watch Report on Human Rights and U.S. Policy in Latin America" Cynthia Brown, Pantheon Books, 1985, p. 202
23. Menjívar, Cecilia (2006). "When States Kill: Latin America, the U.S. and Technologies of Terror". Journal of Latin American Studies. 38 (2). Cambridge University Press: 432. JSTOR 3875517.
24. "Noriega Strategy Unfolds Attorneys Hope To Drag Past U.S. Role Into Trial." By Warren Richey. Sun Sentinel, May 1, 1991.
25. "Soviet "Active Measures": Forgery, Disinformation, Political Operations" (PDF). Inside the Cold War. United States Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs. October 1981.
26. Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2004. See pages 156–157 regarding Roldós' alleged assassination.
27. Holly Sklar. Washington's War on Nicaragua (South End Press), p. 24.
28. Koster, R.M.; Guillermo Sánchez (1990). In the Time of the Tyrants: Panama, 1968-1990. New York City: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-02696-2.
29. Priestley, George (1986). Military Government and Popular Participation in Panama. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8133-7045-0.
30. Richard S. Sacks. "The Stronato". In Hanratty, Dannin M. & Sandra W. Meditz. Paraguay: a country study. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (December 1988). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
31. Stanley, Ruth (2006). "Predatory States. Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America/When States Kill. Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror". Journal of Third World Studies.
32. Hogg, Jonas (2006-10-11). "Exiled professor advocates equality, democracy". The Collegian. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
33. "History of Paraguay, The Stronato". motherearthtravel.com. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
34. http://www.rabobank.com/content/images/Paraguay-201101_tcm43-105909.pdf
35. "PARAGUAY: Mixed Results for Lugo's First 100 Days – IPS". Ipsnews.net. 25 November 2008. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
36. "BTI 2012 Paraguay Country Report". Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
37. "The boy and the bishop". The Economist. 30 April 2009.
38. "The Bishop of the Poor: Paraguay's New President Fernando Lugo Ends 62 Years of Conservative Rule". Democracynow.org. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
39. Center for Public Integrity, U.S. Shrugged Off Corruption, Abuse in Service of Drug War, archived from the original on 2007-12-08
40. Golden, Tim (November 6, 2000), "C.I.A. Links Cited on Peru Arms Deal That Backfired", New York Times
41. Latin American Dictators of the 20th Century: The Lives and Regimes of 15 Rulers
42. "REAGAN RIGHTS POLICY CALLED WEAK IN 4 LATIN NATIONS". The New York Times. 17 April 1983.
43. "To Save Dan Mitrione Nixon Administration Urged Death Threats for Uruguayan Prisoners".
44. Lessa, Alfonso (1996). Estado de guerra - de la gestación del golpe del 73 a la caída de Bordaberry. Editorial Fin de Siglo.
45. "Remembering the 1984 elections". Retrieved 2012-05-17.
46. "US says it now backs Venezuela opposition". BBC News. 2019-01-24. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
47. "US diverts Central America aid to boost Venezuela's Guaido". AFP. Yahoo News. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
48. Crowley, Michael; Kurmanaev, Anatoly (2019-08-06). "Trump Imposes New Sanctions on Venezuela". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-02.

v t e Foreign relations of the United States
Bilateral relations Africa Central Angola Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Equatorial Guinea Gabon São Tomé and Príncipe East Burundi Comoros Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Rwanda Seychelles Somalia Somaliland South Sudan Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe North Algeria Egypt Libya Morocco Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Sudan Tunisia Southern Botswana Eswatini Lesotho Namibia South Africa West Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Côte d'Ivoire The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Liberia Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria Senegal Sierra Leone Togo Americas Caribbean Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Haiti Jamaica St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago Central Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Northern Canada trade South Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Asia Central Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan East China Hong Kong Macau Japan Mongolia North Korea South Korea Taiwan South Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan military Sri Lanka Southeast Brunei Cambodia East Timor Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Western Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Georgia Iran Iraq Israel military Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates Yemen Europe Eastern Belarus Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary Moldova Transnistria Poland Romania Russia Slovakia Ukraine Northern Denmark Estonia Finland Iceland Ireland Latvia Lithuania Norway Sweden United Kingdom Special Relationship Bermuda Cayman Islands Southern Albania Andorra Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Cyprus Northern Cyprus Greece Holy See Italy Kosovo Malta Montenegro North Macedonia Portugal San Marino Serbia Slovenia Spain Western Austria Belgium France Germany Liechtenstein Luxembourg Monaco Netherlands Switzerland Oceania Australasia Australia New Zealand Melanesia Fiji Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands Vanuatu Micronesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru Palau Polynesia Cook Islands Samoa Tonga Tuvalu Former states Artsakh Grand Duchy of Baden Kingdom of Bavaria Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg Federal Republic of Central America Greater Republic of Central America Congo Free State Czechoslovakia East Germany Republic of Genoa German Empire Kingdom of Hanover Hanseatic Republics Hawaiian Kingdom Grand Duchy of Hesse Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Duchy of Nassau North German Confederation Grand Duchy of Oldenburg Orange Free State Ottoman Empire Papal States Duchy of Parma Prussia Russian Empire Ryukyu Kingdom Kingdom of Sardinia Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe Soviet Union Republic of Texas Grand Duchy of Tuscany Kingdom of the Two Sicilies United Arab Republic Kingdom of Württemberg Yugoslavia
Multilateral relations Africa Arab League Asia East Asia European Union Latin America Middle East United Nations C5+1 Major non-NATO ally Third Border Initiative International organizations
Doctrines, policies, concepts Presidential doctrines Proclamation of Neutrality Monroe Roosevelt Corollary Good Neighbor policy Truman Eisenhower Kennedy Johnson Nixon Carter Reagan Clinton Bush Obama Other doctrines Lodge Corollary Stimson Kirkpatrick Weinberger Powell Rumsfeld Wolfowitz Policies and concepts Blowback China policy Containment Domino theory Foreign aid Middle East policy Non-interventionism Progressive realism Rollback Special Relationship

• Articles to be merged from January 2020
• Changes in political power
• History of South America
• Latin American history
• United States–South American relations
• United States–Central American relations
• United States–Caribbean relations
• United States involvement in regime change