American Hegemony: The Not So Cold War in Latin America

Abstract

This research paper investigates the extent and rationale of United States’ intervention in Latin America during the Cold War. It is dubbed the Cold War because of its perceived lack of actual combat, however in Latin America this was hardly the case. U.S interference, through clandestine missions and homeland invasions, was extremely prominent throughout Latin America spanning the forty-five-year Cold War. Using a qualitative case study method, this research paper identifies two major incidents, under two different Presidents, in which the U.S interfered with a Latin American country under the guise of anti-communism. The overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 and the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in 1961 are both examples of U.S government perpetuating American dominion in the name of anti-communism.