Afrasianet - The United States has imposed  its tutelage over Latin America since the beginning of the 19th century, based on what it called the "Monroe Doctrine" and used it as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of the countries of the region, which Washington has long considered its "backyard," justifying its behavior under various pretexts, including protecting U.S. interests, preventing potential threats to national security, maintaining regional stability, and promoting democracy in the region.

A study by the University of Oxford in March 2019 reported that the number of US interventions in Latin America from 1800 to the end of the second decade of the 21st century amounted to thousands of times.

These interventions have included outright occupation, domination of local governments, the direct overthrow of rulers, the use of soft intervention tactics to change regimes, as well as limited short-term interventions.

An investigative report issued by Harvard University's Revista magazine (2005), which specializes in Latin American affairs, monitored at least 41 cases in which the United States succeeded in changing the regimes of the countries of the region, between 1898 and 1994.

These cases involved 17 direct interventions, involving U.S. military forces, intelligence services, or local citizens working for U.S. government agencies. Other changes were implemented indirectly by the United States, by supporting and encouraging local actors to play active roles.

The report did not include instances in which the U.S. government failed to achieve its goals, nor did it exclude those in which the U.S. supported existing regimes to counter domestic attempts at change or coup.

The Historical Development of U.S. Interventions in Latin America

The historical hegemony of the United States has passed through several stages, which can be defined by the following points:

The Monroe Doctrine of Latin America

The Latin American countries had barely begun the march of national independence in the early 19th century, after nearly three centuries of European colonialism, until the United States was quick to impose itself as a power authorized to intervene in the affairs of those countries.

The first foundations of the doctrine of American intervention in Latin American affairs were laid through the "Monroe Doctrine," promulgated by US President  James Monroe in 1823.

The principle stipulated that European countries were prohibited from expanding their colonial influence towards the Americas, except for the existing colonies, and any such attempt was considered an act of hostility against Washington, in return for which the latter committed not to interfere in European affairs. 

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States carried out a series of interventions, most notably the period of territorial expansion that lasted from 1811 to 1897.

This phase saw the United States seize 55 percent of Mexican territory between 1846 and 1848, which made up about seven U.S. states: California , Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, parts of Colorado and Wyoming, as well as Texas, which had fallen under U.S. control the previous year.

Roosevelt's Doctrine. Military influence and regime overthrow

The United States saw that the Monroe Doctrine was not taken seriously enough, and that it was repeatedly violated by European powers in the 19th century, so in 1904 the late President Theodore Roosevelt revived and expanded its scope through what was known as the "Roosevelt Doctrine."

Under the new principle, not only was the Monroe Doctrine defensive, but the United States was also granted the right to intervene in the affairs of the countries of the Western Hemisphere, under the pretext of the weakness and wrong practices of some of these countries.

The following decades marked the culmination of the wave of U.S. military occupations in Latin America, extending its control over a number of countries, including Puerto Rico, which remained a U.S. colony, Nicaragua (1912-1933), Haiti (1915-1934), the Dominican Republic (1916-1924), and Cuba (1906-1909 and 1917-1923).

With the outbreak of the Cold War (1947-1991), the United States intensified its interventions in Latin American countries and supported many coups in the region, under the pretext of protecting them from external threats and preventing communist expansion in them.

Those coups have often caused serious damage to local communities, most of which have suffered from prolonged periods of instability, political repression and economic hardship.

In addition, the conflicts that followed the coups have torn the social fabric apart, and widespread killings and human rights violations have been committed, according to an October 2024 report by the US Center for Irregular Warfare.

Soft Coups

Although the frequency of U.S. interventions in Latin America declined at the end of the Cold War, Washington did not abandon its policy of imposing its influence in the region, but instead adopted soft intervention strategies that use subtle and indirect methods.

These strategies constitute an integrated system that aims to distort and incite against the targeted regimes by employing the media, the economy, aid, big corporations, and think tanks, as well as right-wing parties and businessmen.

The United States relies on mobilizing popular forces in anti-government marches and protests, providing funding to fuel them, and mobilizing the media and social media to disseminate information related to governments on topics such as human rights, democracy, freedom, and corruption, provoking anger and mass mobilization against the targeted regimes. 

Economic warfare is also the most powerful means of success for soft coups, as the imposition of sanctions and an economic blockade on a country leads to growing resentment against its government, leading for years to a mass coup against it, and later losing it at the ballot box.

In the first quarter of the 21st century, the United States has conducted dozens of soft interventions to destabilize the governments of countries in the region, including its ongoing attempts to change regimes in  Venezuela , Cuba, and Nicaragua.

U.S. Motivations for Regime Change in Latin America

The United States' interest in Latin America is centered around three main axes: protecting political interests, maintaining regional security in the service of U.S. national security, and ensuring economic interests.

Economic interests and enhanced access to natural resources and markets are often seen  as the main drivers of U.S. interventions in the region and regime change, despite the clear influence of other factors.

Although Latin American countries do not pose an actual security threat to the United States, U.S. policymakers with the region in the twentieth century used the term "potential future threats."

The United States used the term aggressively after the end of the Cuban Revolution in the early 1960s, supporting the overthrow of nine governments, which were later replaced by military repressive regimes that were mostly pro-American.

Interactions within the American political arena play a prominent role in this context, and the "Rivista" report showed that American domestic politics is a crucial element in guiding intervention decisions, as internal US documents revealed that the late US President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the sending of troops to the Dominican Republic in 1965 not because of a real threat, but because of internal political pressure and his sense of threat from Republicans in Congress.

Political rivalry within the United States has been a key driver of many U.S. presidents' decisions to interfere in the affairs of the region.

The previous study by the University of Oxford confirms that the motivations for U.S. interventions were complex, and included regional expansion, cultural supremacy, resource exploitation and market search, competition with major powers, ideological conflict during the Cold War, and the American perception that part of the country's internal problems originated in Latin America.

Topple the regimes: Direct U.S. interventions

The United States has used its military power and intelligence services, along with affiliated organizations and individuals, to carry out dozens of coups to overthrow the governments of Latin American countries, most of them through fair elections.

The most prominent of these coups are:

•    Overthrow of the Guatemalan government in 1954

After his democratic election in 1950, the late Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz approved a series of political and economic reforms, which Washington considered a threat to its interests in the country and to the detriment of American companies, especially United Fruit.

In August 1953, the U.S. Operations Coordination Council  assigned the CIA  with responsibility for overthrowing the Arbenz government, arguing that Guatemala posed a serious threat to solidarity in the Western Hemisphere, a threat to U.S. security in  the Caribbean, and that the Guatemalan government was hardline and anti-American, directly targeting U.S. interests in the country.

According to detailed data for the operation, which was revealed on the website of the US State Department's Historical Office, the US government allocated $3 million for this operation, and directed the Departments of Defense, State and other government agencies to support the CIA in carrying out this mission. 

The United States conducted paramilitary operations, trained and armed the rebels, exerted diplomatic and economic pressure on Arbenez, drove military leaders and politicians to defect, and waged a full-scale  psychological warfare in the country.

According to the Revista report, everyone involved in U.S. decision-making regarding this operation had personal or family interests with United Fruit, with the exception of the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

After the overthrow of the Arbenz government in 1954, a dictatorial military government led by Carlos Castillo Armas took power, and the country entered a 36-year civil war, in which about 200,000 Guatemalans were killed and missing, and that period witnessed widespread human rights violations.

•    Civil war and overthrow of the Nicaraguan government (1981-1990)

In April 1981, the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan suspended  economic aid to Nicaragua, accusing it of being involved in supporting rebels against the government of El Salvador, and asserting that the Sandininista government in that country posed a threat to Central America and U.S. national security.

According to the U.S. State Department's historic office, Reagan supported the rebels "Contras," secret gangs that gathered in Honduras and began attacking Nicaragua's democratically elected government.

U.S. support for the force included training and weapons, as well as financial assistance, with Congress approving $100 million in grants to the Contras in 1983, which was revealed to have been used for acts of sabotage in Nicaragua, including port mines and the destruction of an oil facility.

However, according to the same data, Congress approved another $27 million in 1985 for the Contras, and $100 million in 1986, 70 percent of which was for military aid.

The conflict between the government and the U.S.-backed rebels lasted nearly a decade, with tens of thousands of casualties and a full-blown economic decline. In 1990, internationally supervised elections were held, in which Violeta Chamorro was elected, ending Sandinista rule.

 The overthrow of the President of Panama in 1989

The late President  George H.W. Bush ordered the  invasion  of Panama in December 1989, and the United States deployed more than 26,000 troops to carry out a military operation dubbed "Just Cause" that overthrew then-President Manuel Noriega, according to the U.S. Army History Center.

Noriega had U.S. support in the past, but relations between the two sides were strained in the 1980s, and Washington began to accuse him of political corruption, money laundering and drug trafficking to the United States, as well as an inability to maintain security around  the Panama Canal.

During the operation, Noriega was arrested and transferred to the United States, where a US court sentenced him to 40 years in prison, and the sentence in Panama was handed over to a government loyal to Washington, which was responsible for protecting American interests and ensuring control of the canal.

•    The overthrow of the President of Haiti in 2004

The United States, in cooperation with France and Canada,  supported a coup in February 2004 that ousted Haiti's democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and forced him and his family to leave the country.

According to a report by Global Policy published in March 2004, since taking office in 2001, the Bush administration has sought to destabilize Aristide's rule, weakening Haiti's economy by freezing U.S. and international humanitarian and other aid.

Another report published on the same website in November of that year said that some U.S. funding programs, such as the International Republican Institute, had helped opponents of Aristide and individuals who had participated in organizing demonstrations against him.

Aristide asserted in March 2004 that he had been removed from power by a coup orchestrated by the United States and France, noting that the US ambassador to Haiti, James Foley, had "kidnapped" him and "deluded" him into being the victim of a coup that needed to be taken to safety, then flown on a US plane and flown to the Central African Republic  without his knowledge.

Toppling Regimes: Indirect U.S. Interventions

The United States has practiced indirect or declared interventions, which have contributed significantly to the overthrow of many governments in Latin American countries, most notably:

•    Assassination of the Dominican President in 1961

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo became president of the Dominican Republic in 1930, and was a dictator known for his policies of repression and abuse, especially the opposition, but he nevertheless enjoyed the support of successive U.S. administrations because of his anti-communist stance.

As the opposition and internal unrest escalated late in his rule, the United States saw the need to get rid of him, while replacing him with another loyal government.

In 1960, Eisenhower agreed to provide covert aid to Dominican dissidents with the aim of overthrowing President Trujillo's regime, while his administration tried to persuade him to step down but refused.

In 1961, the CIA secretly sent weapons and ammunition to some anti-Trujillo elements and helped assassinate him.

His son, Rafael Trujillo, came to power shortly afterwards, but the country was in turmoil and political chaos, with several interim governments in succession for years.

Although CIA officials have denied any involvement in Trujillo's assassination, several reports have proven the agency's involvement in the operation.
•    The overthrow of the Brazilian president in 1964

The United States allied with Brazilian Army Chief of Staff Umberto Castillo Branco to carry out a military coup that toppled President João Goulart, and Washington financed anti-government demonstrations and provided fuel and weapons to the Brazilian military.

According to the Library of Congress' website, the United States launched Operation Brother Sam to provide logistical support to the Brazilian military during its control of the country, with the aim of ensuring a pro-Washington government and preventing the expansion of communist influence in the region.

For more than two decades after the coup, Brazil has been under a dictatorial military rule that suppresses freedoms, eradicates leftist opposition movements, and commits widespread human rights abuses.

•    The coup against the Argentine government in 1976

Washington supported a military coup led by General Jorge Videla that overthrew Argentina's democratically elected president Isabel Perón in 1976.

The US National Security Archive published declassified documents in 2021, revealing multiple contacts between the coup plotters and US officials.

The documents show Washington's tacit support for the coup and its willingness to recognize the new government, despite the coup plotters informing it of their intention to establish a long-term military rule and U.S. leaders expecting it to be punctuated by human rights abuses.

After the coup, Fidela seized power until 1983, during which time the country was under dictatorship, witnessing horrific human rights abuses, including the deaths of between 15,000 and 30,000 people, the imprisonment of thousands without trial, torture and enforced disappearance. 

•    The overthrow of the Chilean president in 1973

The U.S. government used secret funds in Chile during the 1970 election period to prevent  left-leaning Salvador Allende  from winning, according to official U.S. sources.

Nevertheless, Allende managed to win more than a third of the popular vote. After coming to power, he carried out numerous social and economic reforms, established a socialist economic system, and nationalized many companies, especially mining companies.

The United States considered these policies to be detrimental to its economic interests, as well as fearing Allende's close relationship with then-Cuban President Fidel Castro, and secretly supported a coup led by the Minister of Defense and the commander of the Chilean army, General Augusto Pinochet , that ousted Allende.

That support was revealed  by a 1975 U.S. Senate investigation that concluded  that the U.S. carried out covert operations in Chile in the 1960s and 1970s related to the conduct of the election, and that there was evidence linking the U.S. government to the Pinochet coup.

After Allende's death during the coup, Pinochet came to power and established a repressive regime, dissolving Congress, banning many leftist political parties, abolishing the constitution, and engaging in serious human rights abuses, and according to official estimates, the regime left more than 40,000 victims, including torture, execution, arrest, and disappearance.

Toppling Regimes: Failed U.S. Interventions

The United States has contributed to organizing hundreds of interventions that have not achieved its endeavor, some of which ended in a failed coup attempt, while others have been limited to demonstrations and internal popular unrest that have not risen to the level of a full-fledged coup.

Among the most prominent failed coups that have been linked to support for the United States are:

•    An attempt to overthrow the Castro government in 1961

Former Cuban President Castro, after coming to power in 1959, adopted new economic decisions that the United States considered detrimental to its national interests, nationalizing some American companies operating in the country and buying oil from  the Soviet Union, which angered Washington and led to the severing of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The United States subsequently recruited an army of Cuban exiles opposed to Castro, and trained by the CIA. In 1961, the "army" landed in the Bay of Pigs with the aim of overthrowing the government in Cuba, but suffered a dismal loss, killing and capturing many of them.

•    A coup attempt to overthrow Hugo Chávez in 2002

Since he came to power in 1998, the United States has considered Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to be anti-American, as his political orientations did not satisfy the U.S. administration, including his rapprochement with socialist regimes such as the Cuban regime.

He also retaliated against his economic reforms, regaining control of the national oil company and imposing double taxes on foreign oil companies in Venezuela, most of which were U.S. companies.

Chávez accused the United States of being directly involved in a failed military coup against him in 2002, saying he had evidence that U.S. military personnel had met with the coup plotters before it happened, but the United States has denied responsibility.

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