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Alliance For Progress Essay

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Throughout the years, the U.S has controlled Latin American countries through military intervention. During the period of the Cold War and the Cuban Revolution, the U.S attempted to overthrow the Latin American communist government due to being ideologically threatened. During the Cold War, the US attempted to contain communism by supporting dictators and undermining elected governments. An example of the US undermining elected governments is The Coup of Guatemala, when President Eisenhower ordered the CIA to remove Jacob Arbenz from presidency. For the coup, the CIA spread anti-communist propaganda and recruited and trained Guatemalan exiles and mercenaries. The mercenaries invaded Guatemala, destabilizing Arbenz’s government, leaving many …show more content…

Kennedy that would foster economic growth, social reform, and political development in Latin America. The goal of the Alliance for Progress was to prevent more Cuban revolutions by promoting moderate reform, strengthening democratic institutions, having more access to higher education, and having improved healthcare. The U.S feared that poor Latin Americans would start supporting the communist government. The U.S wanted to prevent this from happening by raising the standard of living and provide social stability among Latin America. To reach these goals, the United States promised over a billion dollars in aid that would be combined with investments from Latin America to create over $100 billion, which would then increase the annual per capita growth rate. The Alliance for Progress eventually failed due to Latin America not being able to perform at an expected growth rate and doubt on whether or not the U.S was using the Alliance for Progress for their own personal gain. Another failure of the Alliance for Progress was its promise to promote democracy. Many military coups took place during the period of the Alliance. The United States created a training school for Latin American soldiers known as, The School of Americas, where among these soldiers' dictators and human rights abusers were

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