Download how did the cold war affect the relationship of the US and any 3 of

Pablo Ferreiro
History of the Americas
April 6, 2004
How did the Cold War affect the relationship of the U.S. and any 3 of the
following countries- Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala and Cuba?
From the very inception of the Cold War to its end, the United States maintained a
policy of containment in conjunction with the Monroe Doctrine that would affect U.S. and
Latin-American relations significantly. Argentina, similarly to Guatemala, would have an
unstable relation with the U.S., which depended upon the governments being held at the
time. Cuba, however, was a completely different case since the U.S. has been against Cuban
leaders since Batista was in power, and even after his overthrow by Castro, a socialist
revolutionary. Thus, the Cold War had great affect upon United States’ foreign relations with
Latin America for it was adamantly against any regime that showed any sign of communism.
First, Argentine and U.S. relations were overall unstable during the early period of
the Cold War. In the Perón Era, for instance, Argentina maintained a neutral position in the
Cold war, and even established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. This obviously
aggravated Washington policymakers; however, little was done to promote Argentina-Soviet
relations. During Peron’s second term, he even reversed his policies from having nationalist
enterprises to welcoming foreign investments, such as the Standard Oil Company, which
helped U.S.-argentine relations improve until the military coup in 1955.
Moreover, Arturo Frondizi, elected president in 1958, became one of the strongest
supporters of the Alliance for Progress initiated by President Kennedy. However, relations
became strained when Frondizi started maintaining relations with Castro and tried to
mediate the U.S.-Cuban crisis. This not only infuriated the U.S. but also the military
nationalists; thus, forced him to break relations with Cuba and resign in 1962.
Furthermore, in 1976 a new cycle of brutal dictatorships was launched known as the
Dirty War period, in which about 15,000 politicians and subversives died or disappeared.
While politicians in Washington welcomed the military takeover, Ambassador Robert Hill
later became disturbed at the extent of brutality and human rights violations of the military
in Argentina. Clearly, during the Cold War, democratic regimes were important to the U.S.,
but only if they adopted anticommunist rhetoric.
This changed with the carter administration, however. U.S.-Argentine relations
deteriorated given that Carter waged a ‘moral rebirth.’ He wanted to stop supporting
repressive dictators and emphasized the protection of human rights; thus, he cut military aid
to Argentina and opposed economic assistance. Only with President Reagan did criticism
lighten up and raised military assistance.
Furthermore, the Falkands War significantly stressed relations when the U.S. chose
to support Great Britain against Argentina in the conflict. Lastly, when Alfonsin was elected
in 1983, he started being supported because he symbolized the re-emergence of democracy
in South America. Therefore, U.S.-Argentine relations really depended upon the interest set
by the administration at the time in both nations.
Second, Guatemala followed a similar trend of instability with the U.S. Since the
democratically elected president Arevalo stepped into power the U.S. became suspicious of
his measures. He gained much support among the workers, while the Guatemalan elite and
middle class became concerned with the nature of the new society being put in place. Even
though he opposed communism, his critics labeled him and his supporters as communists
and conspired to bring about his downfall. The United States saw this as an opportunity for
a communist expansion in the hemisphere. This worry continued after Arbenz succeeded
Arevalo in 1951.
In addition, when the U.S. sent ambassador Patterson to Guatemala relations
became increasingly hostile. Also, Arbenz’s agrarian reform enraged not only the UFC and
the Guatemalan Elite, but also the United States who thought this to be a revolutionary
program. On top of that, the Monroe Doctrine was modified by the Kennan Corollary in
1950, which influenced the removal of Arbenz through Operation Success.
Moreover, Castillo Armas became the first in the line of presidents to gain support
by the U.S. by ruling with terrorism and repression in order to fight against communism.
The U.S. increased military aid to the Guatemalan armed forces, in addition to the million
given from the Alliance for Progress plan in the early 1960’s, to fight guerrilla warfare and
Marxist Leninist ideology by these groups. The U.S.-Guatemalan relations further improved
with the election of Miguel Ydigora Fuentes since he cooperated with the Eisenhower
administration by allowing Cuban exiles to train Guatemalan in preparation for the invasion
the Bay of Pigs. However, he was not supported when he allowed former president Arevalo
to campaign for the presidential election of 1963 and was overthrown by the military.
When Carter became president, however, just like in Argentina he terminated all
military aid in an effort to improve the human right situation. Even though relations were
strained between 1977 and 1983, the U.S. still continued its economic aid as well as accepted
Guatemalan immigrants. With the election of Ronald Reagan; however, he supported the
new military government led by General Gardias, who in 1980 led a dirty war’’ against four
major Guerrilla groups, and the democratically elected President Cerezo, who was still
assisted to defeat the Marxist-Leninist guerillas. This support against guerillas continued until
the end of the Cold War; thus, relations between U.S. and Guatemala continued to be in
favorable conditions.
Third, Cuba was probably United State’s biggest headache in Latin American affairs
during the Cold War. During the 1944 to 1952, the civilian rule in Cuba was tainted by
widespread corruption, which the United States did not support. When Batista launched a
coup against the civilian government, however, the United States started to become affable
with him because he was considered a ‘friendly dictator’ against the communist spread in the
Caribbean. As Cuba gained international notoriety for such activities, the U.S. decided to
withdraw its military aid in 1958.
Moreover, in 1959 the socialist revolutionary Castro topples Batista’s regime. His
measures to collectivize the agriculture and to expropriate native and foreign industry were
not welcomed by the U.S., which had large investments in Cuba. He also made major
reforms in favor of the poor by disappropriating lands form the wealthy classes. Tensions
grew even more when in 1961 Castro declared himself to be a Marxist-Leninist and turned
himself to the Soviet Union as an ally. This, of course, angered the U.S. that had to live with
a communist nation on its own back yard on the climax of Cold War confrontations.
In the course of the Cold War two major events strained relations between these two
nations. First, in 1961, the United States organized an invasion of Cuban exiles at the Bay of
Pigs, which ended up being a complete fiasco without direct U.S. support. This not only
resulted in a greater popularity for Castro, but it made other nations think the U.S. was
‘abusing’ a smaller nation. Second, Cuba was the center of perhaps the most terminal Cold
war confrontation with the U.S. and the USSR. It all started when, in 1962, Nikita
Khrushchev secretly decided to install ballistic missiles in Cuba. When Kennedy realized
about these missiles, he imposed a naval blockade on Cuba, and declared that any missile
launched from Cuba would result in a full-scale retaliatory attack against the USSR. The
crisis was deactivated only when Russia decided to withdraw the missiles and dismantle the
missile sites. Clearly, Castro’s Cuba was in no way in good diplomatic relations with the U.S.
through out the Cold War.
On a last note, the Cold War era had great impact on United State’s relationship with
Latin American countries. Argentina and Guatemala, for instance, had a predominantly
challenging stance against the U.S., except for the dictatorial rules that opposed communism.
Interestingly, however, policies changed when different U.S. administration came to power.
For example, while the Carter administration was against human rights abuses, the Reagan
administration chose to ignore these and fight obstinately against Communism, which meant
to support ruthless dictators. Lastly, Cuba was perhaps Latin America’s greatest ‘anomaly,’
since the U.S. was not able to topple Castro’s regime even though it was the only bastion of
communist rule in its own back yard.