The Cold War
"Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind."
-President John F. Kennedy in his Address to the UN General Assembly (September 25, 1961)
US RELATIONS WITH LATIN AMERICA: GUATEMALA AND CHILE
(See Cuban Missile Crisis for Info on Cuba)
Guatemala
In 1952 the President of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza called on the US to overthrow a democratically elected socialist leader in Guatemala, Jacobo Árbenz Guzman. President Truman saw a reason to authorize aiding an anti-Arbenz effort because of Arbenz's land reform efforts and its contribution to the communist regime. Truman's authorization was uncovered by members loyal to Árbenz and that attempt at seizing communist influence failed.
There was renewed effort during the Eisenhower Administration to contain the spread of communism throughout Latin America. Eisenhower promoted increased funding for nuclear weapons and felt that Árbenz threatened US national security because he was a communist sympathizer. PBSUCCESS was the first approved clandestine military operation in Latin America. It was a program whose mission was to depose of Árbenz and replace him with a leader chosen by the US. PBSUCCESS called for training camps to be established in Nicaragua and Honduras and a massive propaganda campaign to convince the people of Guatemala how determined forces were to take control of the country. America's extensive efforts to overthrow Árbenz demonstrated the extent to which the US was willing to intrude upon nations that had technically democratically elected socialist leaders to power without being coerced into doing so. Being coerced would validate the need for US involvement in places like Guatemala or Chile.
Chile
Salvador Allende Gossens is a part of the Socialist Party when he is elected to the presidency of Chile in 1970. Despite promising to implement reforms that would benefit the work class, Allende failed to implement reform that would sustain the economy. Instead Allende nationalized the copper industry, and raised wages to try to combat inflation only to raise inflation as a result. In three years by 1973, Chile had staged a military coup of the government under Salvador Allende--something that the US (during the Nixon administration) wanted badly to happen. The US did not want other Latin American nations following by example and electing socialist leaders to executive power.
Upon the bloody military coup toppling Allende's government, General Augusto Pinochet--backed by the US--took power. Pinochet remained in power until 1990 and his government was one of extreme repression, torture, and murder. Certainly not a political figure that the US should have been supporting. The culmination of Pinochet as an authoritarian force reflected negatively on America's ability to effectively intervene in foreign governments that previously had socialist or communist rulers as head of the government.
Salvador Allende Gossens (left) Augusto Pinochet (right)
Anastasio Somoza Debayle (left) Jacobo Árbenz Guzman (right)