USA involvement in Latin America
The Bay of Pigs was one of the most significant political decisions in the history of the cold war threat to the USA. The effects of the failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro are still felt to date. The fact that the decision was taken by the most powerful institution in the country indicated that the USA was and is not entirely perfect. The plan was not properly thought out and the subsequent global embarrassment was a big price to pay for the failure. The plan was initiated by President Eisenhower who mandated the CIA to train Cuban exiles and help them set up a resistance movement within Cuba and eventually topple Castros regime. The Cuban force was to be aided by American forces but the plan failed to materialize. The main reason for the invasion was to counter the spread of communism onto the American soil. The plan was to provoke a counterrevolution so as to destroy all traces of communism in Cuba. This proofed difficult as the Cuban government was generally popular among its citizens making the spread of propaganda against it very difficult. In the end, the Bay of Pigs revolution failed and the USA problem with Cuba intensified as it failed to stop the threat of communism in the country. Cuba increased its relations with the USSR leading to the infamous Cuban missile crisis. For many years, the USA has tried to overthrow Castro without success and the only remedy is maybe to wait for another regime that might be more democratic (Jones, p 75).
The Bay of Pigs is just one example of how the USA has tried to control the Latin American countries over the years. The increased USA involvement in Latin America can be traced from Monroe Doctrine, which started the continued colonization of the South American region by European powers, would be viewed as an act of aggression. The policy has been modified over the years with the intention of controlling the political events in the region. From the 1950s, the USA grew increasingly apprehensive about the possible takeover of communist governments in the Latin America region. The country tried to move closer to the Latin America dictators who could guarantee stability in the region and welcome more USA investors. These leaders included Somoza, Trujillo, Batista and Marcos Perez. In Guatemala, communist influence was countered by deposing the government of Jacob Arbenz and replacing it with a dictatorship dominated by Carlos Armas. These led to hostility against the USA in the region as the public was very unpopular with the USA support of dictators in the region.
The coming to power of the socialist republic under Castro confirmed the United States fears and only intensified efforts to counter the situation. The USA administration increased economic assistance in the region in order to counter the anger and the resentment. The Alliance for Progress was established to channel billions of dollars through investment programs in the region. The aim was to improve the living conditions of the masses so as to undermine the anti-USA wave and the rise of socialist governments. In 1965, President Johnson sent USA forces into the Dominican Republic where a Cuban style regime was on the rise. In the 1970s, the CIA helped in the overthrowing of the democratically elected government in Chile under President Salvadoran Allede who had tried to introduce nationalist policies. In the coup, military officers led by General Augustino Pinochet killed the president and many other people (Schoultz, p 332).
During Carters presidency, the administration tried to focus more on human rights issues and reduce cooperation with dictators but this proved difficult to accomplish. It also tried to improve relations with Cuba but this equally proved futile. The situation in Nicaragua was complicated by the victory of Sandinista who toppled the Somoza dictatorship. The Reagan administration became more aggressive in fighting the spread on communism in Latin America. The USA once again intensified its efforts to undermine revolutions in Nicaragua and El Salvador. In Nicaragua, it supported the Nicaraguan Contra rebels which became a major talking point in the United States. Although economic assistance was used to undermine the spread on communism, most of the efforts involved clandestine and military operations (Schoultz, p 350).
Over the years, the USA supported the status quo in Latin American countries even though the governments acted against the moral principles of democratic tenets. It was hell bent on preventing the occurrence of communist revolutions even when they were occurring in peaceful settings. As President John Kennedy declared, those who make peaceful revolutions impossible make violet revolutions inevitable this was the case in the Latin America region. In many ways, the USA policies in Latin America were major setbacks to economic, social and political development in the region and this mainly affected the ordinary people. Human rights and democratization were not given top priority and this let to violent reform in the region. The USA preferred to support anticommunist military dictators rather than weak democracies that supported leftist ideals. This created a long period of conflict and military rule in the region led by the traditional elites. On the other hand, the communist insurgents resorted to armed conflict over electoral competition in order to achieve their aims which led to over two decades of civil wars in the region (Schoultz, p 316).
Question 2
Comparison of the history of Cuba and Chile
Cuba
Cuba was the last Spanish colony to gain independence after Spain relinquished control of the country to the USA in 1896. The USA granted Cuba independence but retained right to intervene where necessary. For many years, the country was ruled by dictatorial military and political personalities who acquired power by force. In the 1950, Cuba was faced by a viscous power struggle among its leaders. In 1933, Fulgencio Batista organized a non-commissioned officer revolt and held considerable power until he was elected president in 1940. He lost the presidency in 1944 but regained power in 1952 after a bloodless coup with the support of the army. He crushed an uprising led by a young lawyer named Fidel Castro in the Oriente Province and was reelected unopposed in the 1953 elections after other candidates withdrew. He ruled by decree and this fuelled increasing revolt leading to the rise of popular resistance groups. In 1955, he restored to constitutional rule and freed all political prisoners including Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro fled into exile in Mexico and formed the 26th of July movement with the aim of overthrowing the Batista government. He launched guerrilla warfare and with time gained massive public support. The government was eventually overthrown by the rebels led by Fidel Castro and Batista fled the country (Staten, p 50).
On 1 January 1959, Castro declared the country a socialist republic and used his control over the military to suppress all forms of dissent. The USA reduced the amount of sugar imported from Cuba and imposed other trade embargoes that remained in force until the year 2001. This led to frosty relations with the USA as Cuba cultivated close relations with the USSR with the tension peaking during the Bay of Pigs invasion and Cuban missile crisis. The USA set up a naval blockade around the island to prevent any further shipments of the weapons from reaching the island. The policies of the government led to increased isolation by the other Latin America countries and Cuba was accused of fomenting communist rebellions in other countries (Staten, p 107).
Over the years, the economy in Cuba has been organized on socialist principles where most of the enterprises are owned and controlled by the state. After the 1959 revolution, private properties were expropriated by the state and only a small percentage of the population was engaged in private business (MacEwan, p 65). The country mainly depended on the USSR and other soviet bloc countries for financial aid and joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Cuba entered a period of economic restructuring marked by food and fuel shortages and energy crisis since the USSR was the main trade partner. In 1993, the country legalized the dollar as the medium of exchange and allowed its citizens to engage in self-employment (Staten, p 125).
Chile
From the 1920s, the middle class in Chile gained political recognition as they influenced the political events in the country. The military coup of 1924 led to political instability in the country that ended in 1932 with the return to constitutional rule. The Radical party which was dominated by the corking classes played a major role in coalition governments between 1932 and 1952. The period saw increased state control of the economy and increasing popularity of leftist parties in Chile. By 1964, it had become clear that either a centre-left or far-left candidate will emerge victorious in the elections. The top contenders were Eduardo Frei of the Christian Democrats and Salvador Allende of the Socialist party which had been formed way back in 1933. Allende had been a candidate in the 1952 and 1958 elections coming forth and second respectively. Frei won the election by an absolute majority after which he initiated major reforms under the slogan Revolutionary in Liberty. The new administration embarked on extensive social and economic projects especially in the education, housing and agricultural sectors. However, by 1967, there was increasing opposition from the leftist groups who held that the reforms were not adequate while the conservatives termed them as excessive. Consequently in 1970, Allende won the presidency with a narrow margin to lead the broad coalition of Socialists, Communist, Radical and Social-Democratic parties (Rector, p 155).
He embarked on a massive nationalization program of the private enterprises, banks, land expropriation and collectivization. The United States was not happy with his election and even tried to prevent the formation of the coalition. His economic programs seemed to be successful at the beginning of his tenure but soon the economy was in disarray due to massive inflation. Within three years of his presidency, the country was heavily polarized with serious divisions between his supporters and the opponents. The potential of a civil war was eminent as military actions and movements began to emerge in the countryside. Subsequent events led to the coup in which Allende was killed and the government taken over by military officers led by Augustino Pinochet. The army established a military Junta to rule the country which lasted for sixteen years until 1990 marked by oppressive repression of the opponents. The Junta abolished civil rights, disbanded the national congress, prohibited union activities like strikes and collective bargaining by workers and reversed the agricultural and economic policies put in place by Allende. Political parties were abolished and most of the opposition figures jailed or forced into exile (Rector, p 185).
During the military rule, the state reduced its control of the economy. It favored free-market policies which led to increased domestic and foreign investments. The administration embarked on a huge program of liberalization and privatization which included reduction of tariffs, welfare projects and deficits. The drive to restore the market economy was faced by serious problems due global inflation. The consumer price index skyrocketed, the state currency depreciated and the reduction in state expenditure led to a depression. The growth in the industrial and agricultural sectors stagnated as employment level increased. Fortunately, from 1976, the economy started to pick, fueled by increased investment through foreign loans with rapid growth rates registered for the subsequent five years. The main copper mining industry was controlled by the government but other mineral deposits were left to the private firms. The capitalist culture increased as the welfare and social sectors were privatized including healthcare and education. On the other hand, inequitable income distribution was very serious as only a small percentage of the population benefiting from the rapid growths. The new policies also destroyed the small business groups due to decreased demand, lack of loans and increased monopolies by the big businesses. The international financial institutions were the major beneficiaries as they disbursed huge loans to the administration and received interests and repayments (Collier, p 330). The fixing of the exchange rate in the 1980s led to increased imports but was detrimental to the domestic industry. The domestic economic troubles coupled with the world recession led to a series of protests to topple the regime without success. After the economic crisis of the early 80s, further liberalization programs were initiated that stimulated economic development. The rate of inflation dropped greatly and the volume of exports increased as the gross domestic product improved considerably. In 1988, the country returned to democracy after the defeat of Pinochet in the referendum and the constitution was amended to reorganize the political system. The market oriented reforms initiated by the Junta regime have remained in force over the recent years (Wesson, p 3).
The two countries experienced different historical developments politically which in effect impacted on the economic policies and development. Cuba has been ruled by communist regime which put in place socialist policies that curtained economic growth exacerbated by the international trade embargoes and the cold war struggle. On the other hand, Chile was able to shake off the introduction of socialist policies albeit through a military dictatorship which provided a favorable environment for economic development.
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