The United States and Latin America relationship has been in development even before their official consolidation as democratic and independent states. Transformation in policies, connections and outcomes were a result of particular circumstances within specific countries, relationships along the American continent, and links to European political and historical context, for over two centuries.
During the first half of the nineteenth century, the United States was fighting for the unification of its own territory, both physically and politically, in order to achieve its Manifest Destiny. As a rising nation, security was a priority to avoid both real and potential threats (Lewis, 1998). The first generation of US policymakers aimed to minimize …show more content…
This marked the beginning of a paternalistic approach from the US towards Latin America, in an anti-European fashion. Nevertheless, the doctrine was re-used and paraphrased during the following decades only from a unilateral perspective, with the interests and benefits of the US as a priority, and without considering the Latin American countries’ opinion.
The US consolidated as a power in the last decades of the nineteenth century, once the Federal Union was secured and the country was enjoying a moment of industrialized economic expansion after the end of the civil war. This was the moment for the US to secure its empire status among the continent countries with disguised …show more content…
Cuba and its local sugar production were a major asset. After the US supported the War of Cuban Liberation, the military remained in the country in order to guarantee self-rule. The support of the US towards Cuba was condensed in the “Platt Amendment” in 1901, where the US government stated that the rule and control of the island would be Cuban once a constitutional government has been established (Weeks, 2015), and even then, the participation of the US in Cuban matters will be guaranteed. Another example of US intervention is the Olney Doctrine, a modification of the Monroe Doctrine, composed to solve a border issue between British Guiana and Venezuela. This update included a statement of the technical sovereign of the US over Latin American territories to overlook from potential harms of European powers. By the twentieth century, the US political system and economic power were undeniable worldwide. As an American power, its foreign policy turned aggressive and with a military component, as it is confirmed in the “Roosevelt Corollary”, another addendum to the Monroe Doctrine were the US accepts itself as an “International Police Power”. Again, this unilateral policy guarantees interventions to solve security and economic issues in other countries, as in the Nicaragua intervention in the early
During the first half of the nineteenth century, the United States was fighting for the unification of its own territory, both physically and politically, in order to achieve its Manifest Destiny. As a rising nation, security was a priority to avoid both real and potential threats (Lewis, 1998). The first generation of US policymakers aimed to minimize …show more content…
This marked the beginning of a paternalistic approach from the US towards Latin America, in an anti-European fashion. Nevertheless, the doctrine was re-used and paraphrased during the following decades only from a unilateral perspective, with the interests and benefits of the US as a priority, and without considering the Latin American countries’ opinion.
The US consolidated as a power in the last decades of the nineteenth century, once the Federal Union was secured and the country was enjoying a moment of industrialized economic expansion after the end of the civil war. This was the moment for the US to secure its empire status among the continent countries with disguised …show more content…
Cuba and its local sugar production were a major asset. After the US supported the War of Cuban Liberation, the military remained in the country in order to guarantee self-rule. The support of the US towards Cuba was condensed in the “Platt Amendment” in 1901, where the US government stated that the rule and control of the island would be Cuban once a constitutional government has been established (Weeks, 2015), and even then, the participation of the US in Cuban matters will be guaranteed. Another example of US intervention is the Olney Doctrine, a modification of the Monroe Doctrine, composed to solve a border issue between British Guiana and Venezuela. This update included a statement of the technical sovereign of the US over Latin American territories to overlook from potential harms of European powers. By the twentieth century, the US political system and economic power were undeniable worldwide. As an American power, its foreign policy turned aggressive and with a military component, as it is confirmed in the “Roosevelt Corollary”, another addendum to the Monroe Doctrine were the US accepts itself as an “International Police Power”. Again, this unilateral policy guarantees interventions to solve security and economic issues in other countries, as in the Nicaragua intervention in the early