The Costs of US Interventions in Central America: Past and Present

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to establish a link between past interventions carried out by various branches of the United States military into Central America and the unfavorable conditions in which millions of people find themselves living in today. Ironically, while American values such as self determination and democracy are preached by the international elite, financial interests have systematically stood in the way of these developments in Central American societies throughout most of their shared history. Following a brief introduction laying out key turning points in the development of the relationships which the United States has enjoyed with Latin American countries, I go on to examine the historical background of the Nicaraguan Revolution and the subsequent Contra War. The next section emphasizes the contemporary situation in Honduras following the 2009 coup d’etat of democratically elected President José Manuel Zelaya, while also emphasizing the historical basis for the motivation of the coup.