Americas Cold War — Kennedy/Johnson and US policy 1968–1988

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Kennedy's 1961 plan to give Latin America $20 billion in aid over 10 years, tied to reforms in land, tax, health and education, to prevent communist revolutions.

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Local elites who controlled land and taxes blocked reforms; aid often propped up military governments instead; Congress cut funding once Vietnam took priority.

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To stop a feared leftist government (linked to Juan Bosch) returning to power after Trujillo's assassination, out of fear of 'another Cuba'.

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Over 20,000 US Marines, in April 1965.

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War spending drained funds and attention from the Alliance for Progress and his domestic Great Society programme, weakening both.

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Anti-communist military governments (e.g. Brazil) often supported the US; Cuba, students and the left across Latin America opposed it as imperialism.

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A 1970s secret alliance between South American military regimes (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and others) to share intelligence and hunt down leftist opponents across borders, with US support.

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It trained thousands of Latin American military officers, many of whom later led repressive regimes involved in Operation Condor.

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Ordered the CIA to destabilise the economy and undermine elected socialist President Allende, helping create conditions for Pinochet's 1973 coup.

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Carter's agreement to hand control of the Panama Canal to Panama by 1999, reflecting his human-rights-focused foreign policy.

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Funded and armed the Contra rebels fighting the leftist Sandinista government throughout the 1980s, leading to the Iran-Contra scandal.

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For genuine concern: Alliance for Progress and Panama Canal Treaty. For fear-driven: Dominican Republic intervention, Chile, Condor, and the Contras.