Latin American Imperialism Essay

U.S. imperialism is based on a blatant paternalistic vision that they are, somehow, well placed to know what is best for the rest of the world. It rests on a political and economic combination of power that has always been about their profit rather than the world’s own good. During the cold war it claimed the need to stop communism from taking over and justified undemocratic regimes for this purpose. When even communism became insufficient to excuse dictatorships that had no regard for their populations (or human rights for that matter), democracy promotion turned out to be an even better façade for interventions. It was time the world joins the modern globalised capitalist system the United-States were advocating for, and this was not possible …show more content…
imperialism in the region. New governments reclaimed the sovereignty not only for their country but for their continent as well. Manuel Zelaya and Fernando Lugo were both part of this movement and its eventual reversal. Even though Honduras’s case is closer to the original 1970s coups in Latin America where the military had a major role, there are numerous similarities between the two countries. Both presidents came to power during a period of democratic disillusionment where the oligarchies were highly unpopular. They implemented popular social reforms that included wealth redistribution and were criticised by the opposition parties. Consequently, the elite, military and the mainstream media heavily campaigned against their programmes. Those exact actors were partly funded by the USAID and NED, if not both and had a major role in the following coups. Even though both overthrowing represented a violation of democratic principles and a demise of democratically elected head of states, the U.S. refused to call them ‘coup’, did not intervene and even celebrated the following elections (putting to power the coup plotters) as the triumph of