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Reagan Administration's Foreign Policy in Latin America Essay

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Reagan Administration's Foreign Policy in Latin America

Throughout the Cold War the United States considered the installation in Latin America of radical regimes-socialist, Marxist-Leninist, or “leftist” in any way- to be utterly intolerable. Any such development would represent an advance for the communist cause and a vital loss for the West. Acceptance of this outcome could weaken the credibility of the United States as the leader of the west and as a rival for the USSR. In the eyes of Cold Warriors, the consolidation of any left-wing regime in the Western Hemisphere would have dire and perilous implications for U.S. national security and for the global distribution of power. It was therefore crucial to resist this possibility by …show more content…

The next day Reagan signed an executive order approving the invasion. A combined force of 1,900 US Marines and army airborne troops launched an assault on Grenada. All significant military objectives were achieved in roughly 36 hours. Reagan justified the operation as an effort to protect US citizens whose safety was threatened because “a gang of leftist thugs” (Lake 182) had seized power to forestall further chaos, and assist in restoration of democracy.

In El Salvador, a mountainous coffee-growing country of 5 million citizens was ruled by an unholy alliance of large-scale landowners and military officers. Acceleration of agriculture exports during the 1960’s led to an increased concentration of rural holdings by large-scale landowners and in turn increased the percentage of peasants who had no land at all. A reformist challenge to the status quo came through the Christian Democratic Party, under the leadership of José Duarte. As mayor of San Salvador, Duarte built strong connections with intellectuals, professionals, and other middle-class groups that if the military hadn’t interfered and imposed dictatorial rule he would have surely won the election for presidency in 1972. Fake elections in 1977 led to the installation of General Carlos Humberto Romero as president, who imposed a law to defend and guarantee public order. Duarte himself was imprisoned, tortured, and exiled but never fled to the hills. A

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