Interventionism In Latin America

U.S. interventionism in Latin America resulted due to the economic clashes stemming from basic agricultural reforms in Cuba and Guatemala. Following WWII, Latin America experienced a wave of revolutions. After being subjected to the reign of tyrants for decades, the people of Guatemala and Cuba yearned for full rights and in pursuit of this sought to establish self-governed democracies.The pursuit of agrarian land reform was at the forefront of their concerns. The people desired to usurp the supremacy of foreign companies aligned with the authoritarian regimes that had for decades diverted profits away from the workers and citizens. The worst offender was the United Fruit Company which pursued exploitative practices that established economic
The United States’ main economic ambitions conflicted with the independence of countries like Cuba and Guatemala, and therefore efforts were taken to pacify these countries in order to maintain control over the region and remain a arbiter in their affairs. Guatemala tried to establish basic reforms in order to grant its citizens with liberty and freedom, however this clashed with American businesses and ideals and was pushed aside. In 1947, Guatemala approved its first agricultural reform law sending the message of wanting to regain control of their own country once again by disrupting the United Fruit company's holdings. Unfortunately, this backfired and led to the United Fruit company taking the laws as a “frontal attack” , as well as a “lack of gratitude” on the part of the government, especially after all of “the contributions” made to the development of the country. Consequently, even though the United Fruit company had taken far more in profits than had put into the poverty stricken nation they used their power in the American congress to pursue American intervention and the reversal of these actions. It soon became clear that many of the
In 1959, Fidel Castro and the July 26th movement overtook Cuba and rapidly instituted economic and agrarian reforms in Cuba to exonerate any economic landholdings from the United States, and the United States soon sought to excoriate this. In the beginning of the revolution Fidel Castro did not express himself as a marxist and only wanted to implement civil liberties to the country and throughout Latin America. Fidel Castro was only forced to become a marxist after all of his options ran out with trade with other nations. Nonetheless, the United States soon became convinced that “because it judged that Castro’s Cuba would never conform to U.S. standards, the administration considered itself free to attack Cuba, foreswearing only an unprovoked military invasion of the island”.Continually the United states viewed Cuba as meek, and unable to match the standards of the United States, stemming from Cuba’s inception the United States mindset was that it was the superior power in all facets of life in Cuba. In reality the Communist Cubans from Castro’s regime had talked more about revolution in Latin America than of actually formenting it. It was purposely misconstrued by the United States media to stir up the public, but the balance of trade between the two regions were meant