Learning Intention: To understand the impact of the Cold War on Latin American people.
We know we have learned this by comparing Latin American country's experiences and analyzing political cartoons.
Political Cartoon handout
We know we have learned this by comparing Latin American country's experiences and analyzing political cartoons.
Political Cartoon handout
The Cold War
What was the Cold War?
•The Cold War: the rivalry between the capitalist United States and the socialist Soviet Union that caused many conflicts around the world between 1945-1991
•U.S.’s Goal: defeat socialism and create a world where companies can trade freely in other nations
•U.S.S.R.’s Goal: defeat capitalism and achieve communism à economic equality for all people•
•U.S.’s Goal: defeat socialism and create a world where companies can trade freely in other nations
•U.S.S.R.’s Goal: defeat capitalism and achieve communism à economic equality for all people•
Why were the ideological origins of the Cold War?
The US and the Soviets were the two superpowers left standing after WWII. Both want to end imperialism and rebuild the world after WWII. However they had competing visions of what the world should look like. Due to their ideological differences, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. believed they could not coexist in the same world without one destroying the other.
How did the Cold War affect Latin America?
The American Hegemony and Violent Anti-Communism in Latin America, Asia and Africa
The United States had some trouble establishing alliances with newly independent nations. Since the U.S. were capitalist and had alliances with Western European nations who once controlled colonies, the U.S. was seen as too similar to the imperialists. Global South nations were more like to adopt socialism or be non-aligned in the Cold War. The U.S. government’s espionage agency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), figured out a new way to get allies by sponsoring violent anti-communism. U.S. supported for dictators because they provided table governments while being very repressive, as long as they were overtly anti-communist. The U.S. government and CIA covertly, or secretly, would support right-wing military leaders helping them overthrow the government and take power then commit acts of violence against all that were seen as "communist." This meant if you were a person who supported socialism, wanted a labor union, advocated for racial or gender equality, or held any leftist political views, you were labelled as a “communist” and therefore targeted for extermination. The U.S. sponsored the assassinations of government leaders, civil wars, massacres of civilians, and genocide in order to make these nations fall into the U.S.-centered capitalist system. Below you will find four examples of the influence of the American Hegemony in Latin America.
CubaAfter the Spanish American War of 1898, Cuba was ruled by the US military until 1902. From there Cuba was a democracy in name only. A series of dictators that looked out for the business interest of US and local sugar plantation owners ruled the island. In the 1950's the dictators was a military officer named Fulgencio Bautista. Bautista suspended constitutional protections for Cubans, including freedom of speech and assembly as well as suspended elections. A group of revolutionaries including Fidel Castro defeated Bautista's forces and sent him into exile. Castro took over installing a communist government and allying with the Soviet hegemony.
The US wanted Castro removed from power. The CIA financed and trained Cuban exiles living in the US to topple Castro in what would be called the Bay of Pigs invasion. The invasion failed. The US then placed an embargo all Cuba. Making it illegal to buy or sell to Cuba. Tensions between Cuba and the US became the most tense during the Cuban Missile Crisis. US intelligence learned that the Soviets were placing missiles that could reach any US city in Cuba. The US sent the Navy to set up a quarantine and not allow any more supplies to come into Cuba. The Soviets sent their Navy making the situation the closest the world has come to a nuclear war. Ultimately the US and Soviets reached an agreement. Cuba remains Communist to this day. For many who were in extreme poverty, life improved under communism. For example, Cubans received a good education for all with one teacher for every 10 Cuban students, compared with one per 15 in the United States. They also had free healthcare for all. However, the repressive authoritarian regime did not live up to its promises of a better life for all. There was no democracy, freedom of speech, or other personal rights. The transportation and infrastructure was ineffective. Poverty remained a constant. As a result many left Cuba. Some using boats they fashioned themselves from anything they could find while others were allowed to leave like those in the Mariel Boatlift of 1980. From 1966 on, any Cuban that could get to the US would be given permanent residency. Many took the chance of death in the water to obtain that residency for a better life in the US. |
El SalvadorEl Salvador was ruled by military dictatorships from the late 1800's to 1980. These dictators protected the interest of the Catorce Familias. These were the 14 families that controlled the export of coffee, wealth and politics of El Salvador. In 1932 a peasant rebellion was put down by the government murdering 40 thousand peasants. The Soviet Union and Fidel Castro’s Cuba backed the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). They supplied the rebels in the hopes they would overthrow the government and install a socialist government in El Salvador.
The US did not want to allow El Salvador to fall under the Soviet Union's hegemony. The Reagan administration had secured a $4 billion financial and military aid package for El Salvador. U.S. advisors had their hands tied; they trained and equipped El Salvadoran military forces who, in turn, fought guerrilla factions; however, they also operated on their own at times and controlled the civilian populace through brutal violence no matter the cost or human atrocities they committed. During the civil war that lasted nearly two decades, an estimated 75,000 civilians were killed by government forces. This severely fractured many of the basic principles of family life in El Salvador. Living in constant fear also psychologically traumatized those fleeing from both guerillas and the government. Many from the small villages had seen or had known of a family member brutalized by the war left El Salvador to the US seeking a new life. Peace talks ended the Salvadoran Civil War in January 1992. Without changing the country’s unequal economic structure, the Peace Accords did not improve life for most Salvadorans. The quarter-century since has seen worsening living conditions, poverty, widening inequality and gang violence. |