Prior to the Cold War that took place from 1947 to 1991 in various parts of Europe, Latin America and the United States, the United States had established and extended the Monroe Doctrine that had previously warned Europeans against retaking their former colonies. When the U.S. decided to extend this doctrine, they put it in a Cold War context, in which it allowed the U.S. to strengthen Latin American states militarily against communist penetration. Because of North America’s long and hysterical fear of communism, the country had decided to invade governments in Latin America that showed any sign of Soviet influence and ideals. With many revolutionary ideas during this time period, in a way Guatemala had incidentally initiated the Cold War
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For many years, the smaller countries in Latin America had very little to offer foreignly, but eventually when Guatemala did begin to export goods, it left the country devastatingly involved in the Cold War. To begin, during the Great Export Boom from the years 1870-1930, Guatemala heavily began to export coffee, building acres and acres of land in which indigenous people worked on for very little pay. Guatemala did not solely depend on coffee though, during the 1880s and beyond, the United Fruit Company (UFC) formed many banana republics in Honduras, Guatemala and so forth. This company in fact had more economic power than the governments in the countries they were …show more content…
To begin,“Las Catorce” or the Fourteen Families that owned El Salvador’s land and controlled its politics until well into the 20th century was at the top of society. The Cold War in El Salvador was ruled by a series of military officers aligned with the wealthy and conservative aristocracy. Eventually, the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) became the largest force from 1960’s forward and consisted of leftist guerrillas, or Marxist guerrillas, whose stated aim was to overthrow the dictatorship allow for socialism to be a solution to El Salvador’s problems. The Cuban Revolution certainly had an influence on these guerillas. At the height of the Cold War, the emergence of “Liberation Theology” an idea that the Church should identify with poor and achieve social justice was formed. Soon after, Jesuit priests began to create “comunidades de base” or community based organizations in order to bring peasants together. Once again, these helpful movements were labeled as communist by the military regime. Latin American elite and U.S. policymakers equated social reform with communism throughout the Cold War.U.S. policymakers viewed the Third World nations as being prone for a communist takeover, in which they needed to intervene. Moreover, the United States engaged in counter-insurgency measures to crush all communist movements. El Mozote Massacre of 1981 is
For many years, the smaller countries in Latin America had very little to offer foreignly, but eventually when Guatemala did begin to export goods, it left the country devastatingly involved in the Cold War. To begin, during the Great Export Boom from the years 1870-1930, Guatemala heavily began to export coffee, building acres and acres of land in which indigenous people worked on for very little pay. Guatemala did not solely depend on coffee though, during the 1880s and beyond, the United Fruit Company (UFC) formed many banana republics in Honduras, Guatemala and so forth. This company in fact had more economic power than the governments in the countries they were …show more content…
To begin,“Las Catorce” or the Fourteen Families that owned El Salvador’s land and controlled its politics until well into the 20th century was at the top of society. The Cold War in El Salvador was ruled by a series of military officers aligned with the wealthy and conservative aristocracy. Eventually, the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) became the largest force from 1960’s forward and consisted of leftist guerrillas, or Marxist guerrillas, whose stated aim was to overthrow the dictatorship allow for socialism to be a solution to El Salvador’s problems. The Cuban Revolution certainly had an influence on these guerillas. At the height of the Cold War, the emergence of “Liberation Theology” an idea that the Church should identify with poor and achieve social justice was formed. Soon after, Jesuit priests began to create “comunidades de base” or community based organizations in order to bring peasants together. Once again, these helpful movements were labeled as communist by the military regime. Latin American elite and U.S. policymakers equated social reform with communism throughout the Cold War.U.S. policymakers viewed the Third World nations as being prone for a communist takeover, in which they needed to intervene. Moreover, the United States engaged in counter-insurgency measures to crush all communist movements. El Mozote Massacre of 1981 is