US Government and the InterAmerican System

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US Government and the Inter-American System

• Ideology and Action

2
From Big Stick Diplomacy to the Good Neighbor
Policy
FDR (r) with Anastasio Somoza 1942
Two models of US policy toward Latin America
direct intervention vs. alliances
3

• Cuban Revolution 1959
• A catalyst for change throughout Latin America
• Revolution seemingly on the standard model of
  replacement of head of state
• Nationalist rhetoric and anti-Americanism
  initially on standard model
• Socialist revolution and alignment with the
  Soviet Union
• Cuba as example to Latin America and other parts
  of the Third World

Setting the Recent Historical Context
Fidel Castro (r. 1959-present)
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Hemispheric System

• Pan American Union 1890
• Organization of American States 1948
• OAS Goals in Cold War era
• Peace and security of continent
• Promote democracy
• Common action against threats
• Seek solutions to problems
• Economic, social, cultural development
• Eradicate extreme poverty
• Limit conventional weapons

5
Post-Cold War Hemispheric System

• Strengthen democracy
• Work for peace
• Defend human rights
• Foster free trade
• Fight drug trafficking
• Promote sustainable development

6
Human Rights and Inter-American System

• 1959 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
• 1969 American Convention on Human Rights U.S.
  Govt rejects as having legal standing
• 1979 Inter-American Court of Human Rights

OAS building, Washington, DC
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U.S. Armed Interventions in Latin America

• Cuba 1898-, 1906-09, 1912, 1917-33, 1961, 1962
• Nicaragua 1894, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1907, 1910,
  1912-33, 1981-90
• Honduras 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924-25,
  1982-90
• El Salvador 1981-92
• Guatemala 1920, 1954, 1966-67
• Panama 1895, 1908, 1912, 1918-20, 1921, 1925,
  1958, 1964, 1989 (Operation Just Cause)
• Bolivia 1986 (War on Drugs)
• How would you interpret these places and dates?

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Operation Just Cause 1989Intervention in the
War on Drugs

• U.S. breaks with international law and US
  government policies
• Aim to try Pres. Manuel Noriega in US on drug
  trafficking charges
• Shooting of US Marine precipitates intervention
  with 25,000 troops
• Capture of Noriega Jan. 1990, tried in the US,
  serving 40-yr sentence in Miami

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• Central Intelligence Agency
• Intelligence gathering and analysis
• Basis for government action
• Covert action
• 1954 Guatemala coup ousts Jacobo Arbenz
• 1961 Bay of Pigs failed attempt to oust Fidel
  Castro
• 1973 Chile destabilize Allende regime
• 1979-late 1980s Central American civil wars

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Reform and Repression in Chile
Salvador Allende, socialist reformer
Agusto Pinochet Democratically-elected president
, Military dictator, free-market Ousted
with cooperation of the CIA economy on
neoliberal model
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• Sandinista Revolution 1979
• Nationalist, reformist, Marxist and Christian
  rhetoric
• US policy under Pres. Reagan to destabilize
  Nicaragua with low intensity warfare via the
  Contras

12
Alliance for Progress 1961

• ...we propose to complete the revolution of the
  Americas, to build a hemisphere where all men can
  hope for a suitable standard of living and all
  can live out their lives in dignity and in
  freedom. To achieve this goal political freedom
  must accompany material progress...Let us once
  again transform the American Continent into a
  vast crucible of revolutionary ideas and efforts,
  a tribute to the power of the creative energies
  of free men and women, an example to all the
  world that liberty and progress walk hand in
  hand. Let us once again awaken our American
  revolution until it guides the struggles of
  people everywhere-not with an imperialism of
  force or fear but the rule of courage and freedom
  and hope for the future of man. John F. Kennedy

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Alliance for Progress, 1961

• The program was signed at an Inter-American
  conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay, in August
  1961.
• The charter called for
• an annual increase of 2.5 in per capita income,
• the establishment of democratic governments,
• the elimination of adult illiteracy by 1970
• price stability, to avoid inflation or deflation
• more equitable income distribution, land reform,
  and
• economic and social planning

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Implementing the Alliance for Progress

• First, the Alliance called for Latin American
  countries to pledge a capital investment of 80
  billion over 10 years. The United States agreed
  to supply or guarantee 20 billion within one
  decade.
• Second, Latin American delegates required the
  participating countries to draw up comprehensive
  plans for national development. These plans were
  then to be submitted for approval by an
  inter-American board of experts.
• Third, tax codes had to be changed to demand
  "more from those who have most" and land reform
  was to be implemented.

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• Origins in post WWII aid programs to rebuild
  Europe
• Economic development within reformist, not
  revolutionary parameters
• Aim of satisfying economic and social demands
• Political stabilization-US support of regimes,
  preferably democratic regimes to promote
  development
• Non-military aid
• Relationship with CIA?

Established Nov. 1961
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• Peace Corps
• Founded 1961 by JFK as national service for
  idealistic youth
• Govt agency organizationally separate from AID

Bill Moyers, deputy dir.
Sargent Shriver, Founding director
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• The guiding principles of the Inter-American
  Foundation are to support people, organizations,
  and processes channel funds directly to the
  non-governmental sector promote
  entrepreneurship, innovation, and self-reliance
  strengthen democratic principles empower poor
  people to solve their own problems and treat
  partners with respect and dignity. 
• IAF website

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Inter-American Foundation

• Mission Statement Guiding Principles
• The Inter-American Foundation (IAF) is an
  independent foreign assistance agency of the
  United States government, working to promote
  equitable, responsive, and participatory
  self-help development in Latin America and the
  Caribbean. IAF to
• Strengthen the bonds of friendship and
  understanding among the peoples of this
  hemisphere
• Support self-help efforts designed to enlarge the
  opportunities for individual development
• Stimulate and assist effective and ever wider
  participation of the people in the development
  process
• Encourage the establishment and growth of
  democratic institutions, private and
  governmental, appropriate to the requirements of
  the individual sovereign nations of this
  hemisphere."

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Civil Society

• Working definition
• Civil society comprises the private domain which
  exists in the space between (a) the state and (b)
  the economy.
• Viewed by its proponents as a necessary tool for
  ensuring democracy

Civil Society
The State
Economy
How can individuals have an impact on the State
and the economic system?