Latin America and the Obama Chapter

The history of U.S.-Latin American relations falls into several clearly defined chapters.

The first is that of the sphere of influence, beginning in 1822 with the introduction of the Monroe Doctrine.* The Hispanic-American nations that emerged after independence were out of bounds to the empire-hungry Europeans and, by extension, fell within the United States’ sphere of influence.

The second is that of Manifest Destiny. The Mexican-American War of 1847 was pursued in order to annex Mexican territories which the United States considered essential to the fulfillment of its destiny as a nation. The plunder of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada from the Mexican nation was the result.

The third chapter is that of empire, which began with the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the acquisition of the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico as colonial territories. The Caribbean Basin became the United States’ natural sphere of influence. In 1903, Washington supported the secession of Panama from Colombia in order to incorporate Panama as a de facto protectorate, and proceeded to invade Central American countries 34 times over the subsequent three decades.

The fourth is that of the “Good Neighbor Policy,” initiated in 1933 by Franklin Roosevelt, during which the measures taken by the United States were the most meaningful. Washington withdrew occupying troops from several Caribbean Basin countries — with the exception of Puerto Rico, annexed in 1898. It rescinded a number of treaties and other legislation that allowed Washington excessive prerogatives. It applied a doctrine of “absolute non-intervention” in the internal affairs of Latin American states. It offered no opposition to various progressive democracies. It made no move to obstruct the nationalization of the Mexican oil industry.

The fifth is that of the Cold War. After World War II and the formation of the bipolar world, the United States used Latin America as a testing ground for its foreign policies. This was a period during which Latin America experienced numerous coups and low-intensity civil wars sponsored by Washington. The Carter administration was a political parenthesis during this phase; Carter demonstrated an exceptional understanding of Latin American sensibilities.

The sixth is that of the Washington Consensus. Having won the Cold War, the United States replaced imperial control with economic hegemony and used Latin America as the ideal observation ground for putting into practice new economic policies devised in Washington.

The coming to power of George W. Bush and the events of 9/11 ushered in the seventh chapter with a return of the old imperial urges — what the neoconservatives like to call “democratic imperialism.”

Obama’s presidency looked like the beginning of a chapter similar to those of Franklin Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter, [who oversaw] the two most favorable periods in the history of U.S.-Latin American relations. Sadly, it was not to be. The momentum of the preceding period was just too strong.

*Translator’s note: The Monroe Doctrine was actually expressed for the first time on December 2, 1823.