Latin America & the Cold War

U.S. Involvement in Latin America

● Cold War ideology drives U.S. Latin

American policy and involvement.

● The U.S. intervenes in many

countries civil affairs to advance their
own economic interests or in the
name of containing communism.

Overview: Guatemala

● U.S. & CIA sponsored coup in 1954.
● U.S. helped overthrow a

democratically elected president.

● Led to a series of U.S. backed military

dictators in Guatemala and decades
of oppression, civil war, and violence.

Overview: Guatemala

● United Fruit Company (UFCO): American

owned and run company.
○ Owned more than 40% of the land,

exempt from taxes, owned
transportation networks, supported by
many right wing, dictators in Guatemala

● A majority of Guatemalans resented the

UFCO, preventing the country from gaining
economic independence.

Overview: Guatemala

● In 1944, a revolution ended a dictatorship

and the first truly democratic election was
held.
○ There next 2 presidents promote

education and land reform, labor unions
and workers rights.

● Land is taken from UFCO and redistributed to

the poor. The U.S. is offered $1.6 million but
they demand $16 million which is refused.

Overview: Guatemala

● UFCO created a propaganda campaign to link the

President Jacobo Arbenz to a growing Communist
threat.

● In 1953, U.S. President Eisenhower authorized the

CIA to overthrow President Arbenz.

● The CIA handpicked Castillo Armas to lead rebel

forces in a coup to overthrow Arbenz.

● Over the next 30 years a series of military dictators,

supported by the U.S., ruled Guatemala with terror
tactics, violence, and oppression.

Overview: El Salvador

● El Salvador’s government was run by a series

of violent military dictators.

● Right wing death squads and military

officials would murder and torture any
opposition.
○ Violence was mainly directed at workers,

peasants, and students.

● By the end of the 1970s, the state and death

squads were murdering 800 people a month.

Overview: El Salvador

● In 1980 the Farabundo Marti National

Liberation Front (FMLN) was formed to
overthrow the U.S.-backed dictatorship and
build socialism.

● The U.S. funded the Salvadoran government

and military giving $6 billion in aid throughout
the 1980s to “combat communism.”

● The Civil War lasted 12 years with 75,000

deaths.

Overview: El Salvador

● The U.S. turned a blind eye to the various

human rights violations committed by
the Salvadoran military and death squads.

● The Massacre at El Mozote: A U.S. trained

and armed Salvadoran battalion executed
a village of more than 800 civilians.

● U.S. aid stops with the end of the Civil War

in El Salvador.