The Cold War in America’s (extended) backyard: Central and South America

In a mini-series, I will take a look at some of the Cold War flashpoints or hotspots around the world. They don’t directly relate to your course, but they may give some context to what was going on in Europe, Korea, Cuba and Vietnam. Whilst they will certainly give you a clear idea of how those Cold War rings spread out around the world. They may also give MUNers some ideas for an historical committee!

I begin in America’s backyard: Central and South America. But first, a reminder of the conflicts we do look at on the IGCSE course:

The French Indo-China War, 1946-54

The Korean War, 1950-53

Hungary, 1956

The Berlin Wall Crisis, 1961

The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

The Vietnam War, 1965-75

Czechoslovakia, 1968

Solidarity, 1980-82

Guatemala, 1951-4

Since 1951, the Guatemalan President, Jacoba Arbenz, allied to the Guatemalan Communists, had already instigated a number of radical reforms when in 1953 he seized control of the lands of the United Fruit Company. President Eisenhower was now convinced that Arbenz was in the Soviet camp and when he received a shipment of arms from Czechoslovakia, Eisenhower announced a blockade against further such shipments. The CIA then backed a successful coup of Guatemalan exiles in June, 1954 led by Colonel Castillo Armas. It would be the model for the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuban exiles.

Chile, 1973

Salvador Allende had become President of Chile in 1970 at the head of a Left-wing coalition that included Communists. Allende was a Marxist and sought to introduce land reform and the nationalisation of industries. The CIA had financed Allende’s opponents in the 1970 election and continued to do what they could to undermine him with propaganda and by reducing American aid now that he was in power. This only drove Allende to be more radical and he threatened reforms to the Chilean parliament. However, he was overthrown in a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. Allende died in the coup and many would meet violent deaths as the Pinochet dictatorship consolidated its hold on power. America was not involved in the coup but had done everything it could to undermine and destabilise Allende’s government.

Nicaragua, 1979-90

Since before WW2 Nicaragua had been the fiefdom of the Somoza family with a history of human rights abuses. With high food prices and unemployment amongst the country’s landless labourers, the Sandinista liberation movement (named after the inter-war revolutionary, Augusto Sandino). By the late 1970s opposition to Somoza-rule had been joined by the middle classes and the Catholic Church. America got involved as part of Jimmy Carter’s fight for human rights. But in Nicaragua, in 1978, a full-scale revolt broke out against Somoza and when a left-wing government replaced the Somoza regime, Carter was criticised in America. It was thought that the Soviet Union and Cuba would seek to gain a toe hold in Central America. This led the Reagan administration to adopt an anti-Sandinista policy. First with trade and economic sanctions and then with CIA support to the ‘Contras’ guerrilla war against the Sandinistas. The Contras used neighbouring Honduras in much the same way as the Vietcong had used Laos and Cambodia and soon the civil war was destabilising the whole of Central America. Unrest spread to El Salvador which spiralled into another civil war. In Nicaragua, the Reagan administration got involved in some dubious means to ensure they kept the pressure on the Sandinista government, supplying arms to the Contras without Congress’ knowledge and sending troops to Honduras to help with a supposed threat of a Nicaraguan invasion. The Sandinistas, under pressure, agreed to elections in 1990 and  were surprisingly beaten though the wide coalition that came to power was heavily backed by America and was headed by a former Sandinista, Violetta Chamorro.

Grenada, 1983

The Caribbean island of Grenada was a former British colony. A revolution in 1979 led to close links with Castro’s Cuba and a further coup in 1983 led to a more extreme revolutionary government. President Reagan described the island as a ‘Soviet colony’ and American troops, along with troops from other Caribbean islands, invaded Grenada and installed a government of their liking.