American marine poses with Haitians killed by US machine-gun fire, 1915. Photo: Public Domain
Trump’s re-assertion of the Monroe Doctrine and attack on Venezuela are the latest in a long series of US interventions in Latin America, finds Orlando Hill
The US has a long history of intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean, marked by coups, blockades, military operations, some covert and some not so covert. Here is a list of them.
1831: The US Navy invaded the Argentine settlement on the Malvinas/Falkland Islands, took the Argentine authorities away as prisoners and destroyed Puerto Soledad.
1833: The US assisted the British Navy in ousting the new Argentine authorities from the archipelago, claiming them for the British crown. In supporting a European power in the takeover of the islands, the US disregarded the Monroe doctrine of 1821.
1846: The US invaded Mexico and annexed Texas.
1847: The US occupied Mexico City.
1848: The US imposed the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty by which Mexico handed over half of its territory: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
1860: US forces landed in Panama, then a part of Colombia, to protect US interests in the midst of an insurrection. From the perspective of Colombians, the US was intervening in their sovereignty, while the Colombians were legitimately defending their nation from insurrection by enemy combatants.
1895-8: US troops intervened in Cuba during the latter’s war of independence, known to the Cubans as the Necessary War (Guerra Necesaria). In 1898, the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, which demanded the formal recognition of Cuban independence on the part of Spain.The United States prevented Cuba from participating in the Paris peace talks and the signing of the treaty. The treaty did not set a designated time limit for US occupation, and the Isle of Pines was excluded from Cuba. The treaty officially granted Cuban independence, but US General William R Shafter refused to allow Cuban General Calixto García and his rebel forces to participate in the surrender ceremonies in Santiago de Cuba.
1898: US naval forces bombarded San Juan in Puerto Rico initiating military operations on the island.
1903: Through the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, the US occupied 8km on either side of where the Panama Canal was to be built. In Cuba, they occupied part of the territory in Guantanamo where a military base was established.
1905: US assumed responsibilities over the customs revenue of the Dominican Republic.
1909: Nicaragua was invaded. President Jose Zelaya was forced to abandon the country.
1911-14: The Dominican Republic was occupied by US military forces.
1912: Cuba and Honduras suffered US intervention.
1914-24: US marines occupied Nicaragua.
1915-34: The US invaded and occupied Haiti.
1917-19: Cuba was occupied by US forces.
1922: The US intervened once again in Cuba.
1924-6: The US invaded Honduras three times.
1947: Allied with native military officers, the US overthrew President Romulo Gallegos of Venezuela. The excuse was that Venezuela had increased the price of its oil.
1954: With the aid of aerial bombardment and mercenaries, the US was complicit in the overthrow of the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacob Arbenz.
1961: The US masterminded the failed invasion of Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs) in Cuba. For the first time, US-backed forces were militarily defeated in Latin America.
1964: In Panama, US soldiers fatally shot twenty students protesting against US occupation of the canal. In Brazil, the CIA took part in the overthrow of democratically elected president Joao Goulart.
1965: The US occupied the Dominican Republic to free the country from the threat of communism and prevent the democratically elected president, Jaun Bosch, from taking office.
1973: In Chile, the CIA masterminded a plan to overthrow the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende.
1982-90: The US financed and trained mercenaries in the war of aggression against Nicaragua. They also enforced an economic blockade against the country.
1983: Troops from the 82nd Airborne Division invaded Grenada and assassinated president Maurice Bishop.
1984: As a reinforcement to the counter-revolution in Nicaragua, eleven thousand US soldiers spread throughout Honduras.
1988-9: US pilots and the National Guard of Kentucky bombed the civilian population in the interior of Guatemala under the pretext of combating guerrilla groups. In El Salvador, the US sent military advisors to aid the government in their murderous war against the FMLN.
1989: Twenty-five thousand US troops invaded Panama and kidnaped President Noriega. More than a thousand Panamanians were killed in that operation.
2002: The US embassy in Venezuela monitored the failed attempt to overthrow President Hugo Chavez.
2009: The US successfully sponsored the coup in Honduras that overthrew President Manuel Zelya.
As Brazilian writer Frei Betto said,
‘Wherever they went, the invading troops of the USA left only misery, inequality, corruption, and death. But they did well to place the Statue of Liberty at the main gate of the USA. Thus, we are all aware that it delimits the sphere of freedom. For all of us, who are not US Americans, we are left with the freedom to never contradict their freedom to restrict or supress ours.’
From this month’s Counterfire freesheet
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Orlando Hill
Orlando was born in Brazil and was involved in the successful struggle for democracy in the late 1970s and 80s in that country. He teaches A level Economics. He is a member of the NEU, Counterfire and Stop the War.