Forty years after our nation won its independence, we boldly declared that European powers needed to stay out of the Western Hemisphere. It was definitely chutzpah! We did have two oceans but little military power. It was announced in an 1823 speech given by President James Monroe. (I guess that’s why it’s called the Monroe Doctrine).
Most South American countries had fought bloody wars and gained their independence from Spain, removing the shackles that had bound them for nearly 300 years.
The doctrine worked well for the remainder of the 19th century but under Presidents Taft and Wilson we began to exert financial pressures. The ‘Banana Wars pushed countries to comply with what America wanted. In 1946 President Roosevelt sought to improve hemispheric unity with the formation of the O.A.S., the Organization of American States.
Then it all went to hell! The umbrella of peace and stability that we’d provided to nearly half of the planet was our umbrella and if countries under that umbrella didn’t conform to our beliefs, we’d damn well put them in their place. What follows isn’t complete, that would take volumes. Looking back, however, we certainly displayed a hubris inappropriate for a nation based in democratic principles.
In the years following WWII, Europe struggled to rebuild. The Iron Curtain had descended across Eastern Europe, and the United States government felt the greatest world threat was the spread of Communism. In its infinite wisdom, they equated Socialism with Communism and worked diligently to prevent either form of government from being established in the Western Hemisphere, never understanding that few of these countries had the educated middle-class necessary for democracy to succeed.
Guatamala
By 1950 the United Fruit Company, an American mega-corporation owned vast plantations of bananas across the Caribbean and Central America. In Guatemala they controlled 43% of all the land as well as the nation’s telephone company. When Guatemala elected a left-leaning government and proposed redistributing the land, United Fruit and the CIA warned President Eisenhower. In 1954, Operation PBSUCCESS was launched. The country’s military, supported by the United States, staged a coup. The CIA jammed the country’s communications. American planes bombed Guatemala City. There would be no socialist government, not on Ike’s watch.
Chile
In 1970 a Socialist government led by President Salvador Allende was swept into office promising land reform, universal free education, and a redistribution of wealth. When the copper industry was nationalized, the U.S. cut ties with Chile. Allende then normalized relations with the USSR. ‘Not so fast’ America declared. In 1973 Allende’s government was declared to be illegal and a coup, once again supported by the CIA, forced a right-wing military government, led by General Pinochet, into office. In 1975, the CIA implemented Operation Condor. Its charter was to eliminate, by any means, individuals and organizations favoring left-leaning governments in the Americas. In Chile, thousands were executed, and more than 80,000 were tortured and interned. Another 30-50,000 were killed in Argentina’s coup that swept Peron into power.
Nicaragua
The largest country in Central America was in the midst of a Civil War and, once again, United Fruit and the CIA were intent on thwarting the leftist Sandinista government’s efforts to nationalize industries and redistribute the land. Better to support the Contras, rebel guerilla forces. But funding the Contras was counter to official American policy, per the Boland Amendment, passed by Congress.
The CIA’s solution…sell arms to a moderate group in Iran and use that money to fund the Contras. Clothed in a creative rationale that it might free seven American hostages, it was clearly illegal. And whether President Reagan knew what was going on, it was a major political scandal during his 2nd term.
Interference in the affairs of Cuba (a separate Snippet), Venezuela, and other countries continue. Monroe Doctrine has, indeed, morphed.