During the Cold War, the United States supported right-wing militaries, intelligence agencies, and authoritarian governments in many Latin American countries in their fight against leftist movements and social reforms. Democratically elected politicians were overthrown, opposition members were persecuted, and tens of thousands of people were disappeared, tortured, or murdered. Many of these interventions were carried out directly or indirectly through the CIA. The consequences continue to shape numerous Latin American states to this day.
Guatemala 1954
In 1951, Guatemalan women elected a new leader. Their choice was Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. The chairman of the „Revolutionary Party of Guatemala“, who won with just under two-thirds of the votes, promised people a better life. At that time, a large part of Guatemala's economy and land in the hands of a single large corporation: the United Fruit Company. What began in Guatemala later became a textbook case for the CIA in Latin America.
Arbenz and his government had big plans. The country was to be brought out of its almost feudal state. In 1951, the government passed the „Decree 900“, a land reform that around 600,000 hectares Land should be expropriated from large landowners and returned to Guatemalan families. An undertaking that caused great displeasure at the United Fruit Company, as it owned the largest share of these lands.
Infobox: United Fruit Company
The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) and its competitor Standard Fruit (now Dole) had been in a competition for dominance in Central America since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1951, United Fruit owned approximately 220,000 hectares of land in Guatemala. Additionally, the American corporation also owned the railway network and the main ports. The agribusiness giant's influence was so great that historians referred to it as a „state within a state,“ with significant influence on both domestic and foreign policy.
Lobbyist as CIA Director
The then Director of the CIA, Allen Welsh Dulles, also worked as a lobbyist for United Fruit on the side at the time. His brother, the later US Secretary of State, also John Foster Dulles, worked for the company. Together they were at US President Eisenhower presenting. They sold the intervention to the fervent anti-communist Eisenhower as „Fight against Communism“and as compliance with the„Monroe Doctrine“Eisenhower tasked the CIA with intervening in Guatemala and bringing about a regime change.
The CIA then supported a Guatemalan general, Castle of Arms. This was supplied with money, weapons, and know-how. In 1954, he and his rebels crossed the border into Guatemala. A short civil war followed. When Arbenz realized he could not hold his position without risking a bloodbath, he abdicated and fled to Mexico City, where he died in 1971.
Castillo de Armas also did not rule for long. He was murdered shortly after taking office. He was succeeded by a series of short-lived dictators who plunged Guatemala into a decades-long civil war crashed. In total, around 1996 [people] died by the end of the hostilities 200.000 Guatemalan women.
US Intervention in Cuba: 1961/1962
On New Year's Day 1959 Communist rebels led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara took power in Cuba. For six years, they waged a guerrilla war against Cuba's authoritarian ruler, Fulgencio Batista, led. The communist takeover off the US coast set off alarm bells in the United States. The concern was that Cuba, as an ally of Moscow, could station Soviet missiles on the island.
The US government decided to intervene in the island nation. After Castro's takeover, thousands of Cubans had fled to the USA. These were by the US government armed, in their name, to bring the island back under a pro-American regime. In April 1961, two years after the revolution, the USA launched the invasion in Cuba's „Bay of Pigs.“ What followed was a disaster for the Americans-funded Cubans: 114 dead, 360 injured and round 1200 fighters were captured.
A year later, the situation around Cuba intensified further. During the so-called „Cuban Missile Crisis,“ the US imposed a blockade on the island, preventing ships from docking at the Caribbean island's ports. Prior to this, the United States had discovered installations for the feared deployment of Soviet missiles. This led to a Stand-off around the island. The world narrowly missed Atomic war passed when a Soviet submarine lost radio contact with its base, believing the war had already begun. In the end, Soviet President Khrushchev relented: they would not deploy missiles in Cuba if the US agreed not to attempt further invasions of Cuba and to withdraw its own missiles from Turkey.
A bloody civil war in El Salvador
El Salvador shows a different side of the CIA in Latin America: not a quick coup, but years of support for a security apparatus that drove the country into a brutal civil war. Political chaos reigned in El Salvador in the late 1970s. The country was deeply divided between the military-led government and Marxist-oriented guerrilla groups. Previously, in the election of 1972, which was marked by massive election fraud, the military candidate Arturo Armando Molina came to power. For years, leftist guerrilla groups had been carrying out attacks against the authoritarian government.
1979 a coup d'état took place in the capital, San Salvador. The „Military youth movement“stormed the presidential palace, bloodlessly took power, and established a new military dictatorship. Subsequent uprisings were violently suppressed. The U.S. welcomed the regime change. They had been secretly training paramilitary forces to fight communism since the 1960s.
A civil war broke out in the Pacific coast country following the coup and the violent suppression of protests against it. The military government deployed „death squads“ whose aim was to find and murder as many perceived communists as possible. Left-wing guerrilla groups, in turn, resorted to terror tactics such as „hit-and-run” attacks.
The USA supported the military government of El Salvador throughout the conflict, while the Soviets and Cuba supported the resistance fighters. Neither of the superpowers sent troops into the country, but they did send vast amounts of weapons and military equipment. The civil war ended 1992 with the Treaty of Chapultepec. According to the UN, around \[number] died in the decades of war 75,000 people. Round 8000 were „missing“ in the fighting.
The US Shadow War Against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua
Since the 1960s, there has been Civil war in Nicaragua. The Marxist-oriented Sandinistas fought against the Somoza Regime and right-wing paramilitaries, who „Cons“. In 1979, the Sandinistas managed to control almost the entire country, with the exception of the capital Managua to control. The last Somoza dictator resigned, and after a brief interim presidency came Daniel Ortega, the leader of the Sandinistas, to power. The conflict escalated again when the Sandinistas won the 1984 election with 67 percent won the votes.
Nicaragua thus became a central stage for the CIA in Latin America. The USA financed the Contras, supplying them with weapons and trainers. The Contras themselves commanded „Death squads“, who should hunt down and murder communists. This support became increasingly in Washington political problem. Because the war against the Sandinistas was not open led, but organized through covert financing, arms deliveries, and intelligence structures.
When reports of Contra violence and the US role became public, the US Congress and limited further support. But President Reagan did not want to be deterred by this. Parts of his government sought ways to circumvent the restrictions. Over secret arms sales money should be raised for Iran, which would then go to the Contras.
However, this smuggling was exposed in 1987. Bypassing Congress was a case of Treason bear. Oliver North took the fall in the „Iran-Contra Affair,“ Reagan and Bush Sr. remained in office. The civil war in Nicaragua raged on. 1990 Daniel Ortega lost the presidential election and abdicated. The civil war ended. The conflict had entered its 28 years, which had lasted, between 42.000 and 78.000 Demands for casualties. The conflict thus became a symbol of one of the most devastating CIA interventions in Latin America, with consequences that still shape Nicaragua today.
Grenada 1983: When the US Invaded the Caribbean
In the early 1980s, a power struggle emerged within the government of Grenada. The small Caribbean island was 1974 became independent from the United Kingdom. In 1979, the „New JEWEL Movement the power and erected under Maurice Bishop a Marxist-oriented government. Grenada networked with Cuba and Warsaw Pact states. For Washington, the island thus became part of that anti-communist struggle, for which the CIA had repeatedly destabilized governments, supported right-wing forces, and organized covert operations in Latin America.
1983, it came to Coup within the government of Grenada. Maurice Bishop was first placed under house arrest and then shot. A military council was formed, overseen by Hudson Austin. However, the unrest escalated no end. The United States, along with a group of Caribbean peacekeeping forces, planned a Invasion of the Island, to restore peace. On October 25, 1983 it was time. U.S. paratroopers and Marines landed at the only airport on Grenada. Within just eight days Fell completely into American hands.
The operation„Urgent Fury“drew massive criticism from the UN and many call the 1983 invasion a breach of international law. Historians also harbor doubts about the justification for the invasion: just two days before the US forces marched in, in Beirut 241 US soldiers killed in a bombing. With regard to the election 1984 some historians argue that the invasion was intended to shift the focus away from the Damage in Lebanon and towards the US „success“ in Grenada.
Panama 1989/90: How CIA partner Noriega became an enemy of Washington
Until the 1980s, conditions in Panama were relatively stable. But an ambitious military officer and mastermind, Manuel Noriega, pulled many strings in the background of Panamanian politics. From 1983 by 1989 he de facto held absolute power in the country, even though he never served as president.
Noriega had been with the worked together in the USA and was long considered a reliable key figure for the CIA's interests in Latin America. Also Pablo Escobar, leader of the notorious Medellín Cartel, was among his contacts. In addition to his role in the government, Noriega was also involved in Drug and arms smuggling entangled
1986 released the US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh a conversation between two US politicians. They had expressed the suspicion that if Noriega were gone, drug smuggling into the US would decrease. 1988 Noriega was officially indicted in the United States for drug trafficking, extortion, and money laundering. When Noriega, the Panamanian 1989 presidential election had it annulled, the situation escalated.
When negotiations between Panama and the US broke down at the end of 1989, US President George H. W. Bush launched Operation „Just Cause“– in German: „Righteous cause“The invasion marked an open break from CIA logic in Latin America. Because the former ally Manuel Noriega had become a Opponent resulted. Within weeks, Panama fell under U.S. control.
Guillermo Endara, who had won the 1989 election, was installed as president. While military losses on both sides amounted to approximately 350 dead While appreciated, the figures for civilian casualties vary widely. The US named 202 civilian casualties, the United Nations around 500 and the Central American human rights organization CODEHUCA between 2,000 and 3,000. Noriega was convicted in the US and died in 2017.
Infobox: The USA and the Panama Canal
Panama since the opening of the Panama Canal 1914 of great interest to US foreign policy. To this day, the canal remains the only way to move goods and fleets from the Atlantic to the Pacific and vice versa without going around all of South America. Even during the planning phase of the canal and before Panama's independence from Colombia 1903 therefore, the United States secured ownership of the important trade route. Additionally, in the „Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty“also an intervention right of the USA to protect Panama was agreed upon.
Haiti 1994: The Intervention That Restored an Elected President
1990 Haiti held its first democratic elections. Before that, the country had been ruled by the The Duvalier Family governed dictatorially. When the last Duvalier abdicated in 1986 under pressure from the USA, unrest broke out in the small island nation. The Election 1987 was canceled after outbreaks of violence, the 1988 election was marred by electoral fraud. In total, only four percent the population cast their votes.
The election was followed by a coup. Later that same year, another coup followed the first coup. In 1990, General Herard Abraham initiated a democratization process and relinquished its power. In 1990, Haiti elected its first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Yet Aristide could not hold onto his office either. Already in 1991 he was removed by the military and General Raoul Cédras removed and sent into exile. The USA and its allies turned to the United Nations. In July 1994, the UN authorized a Protection intervention the population of Haiti and the restoration of democratic institutions.
This makes Haiti significantly different from many previous CIA cases in Latin America. Because it wasn't a covert operation that was central here, but an official legitimized return to the elected government.
From invasion to peace mission
The US immediately began planning an invasion of the island. After the failed US mission in Mogadishu in 1993, Washington wanted to avoid another costly operation. Therefore, President Bill Clinton dispatched a Delegation to Haiti, which was supposed to convince the military junta to surrender before the arrival of US troops.
The U.S. diplomats, led by Jimmy Carter arrived on September 17th, two days before the invasion began. In addition to former President Carter, Senator Sam Nunn and former general Colin Powell Part of the delegation. Powell knew General Cedras from their time together at the „School of the Americas“ and was thus able to contribute to the success of the risky mission. And indeed: A few hours before the first troops landed in Haiti, Cedras relented, and the invasion became a Peace mission and President Aristide was reinstated.
Infobox: U.S. Occupation of Haiti
At the start of World War I, Germany's influence in Haiti grew. A small group of German settlers disproportionately controlled power over the island's government. In December 1914, U.S. Marines stole around 500.000$ the Haitian National Bank and ship it to New York. In 1915, the Haitian President attempted Vilburn Guillaume Sam, to consolidate his power, and had 167 execute political prisoners.
He was then captured and killed by a lynch mob. The US feared an anti-American government under Rosalvo Bobo and Germany's intervention off the American coast. President Wilson then dispatched the U.S. Marines and took the island. From 1915 to 1934 Was Haiti occupied by the USA.
