US & LATIN AMERICAN RELATIONS

By may.isfaraway

  • Paraguayan Independence

  • Period: to

    Latin America Independence

  • Argentinian Independence

  • Chilean Independence

  • Guatemalan Independence

  • Mexican Independence

  • US recognises Mexico

    US recognises Mexico as an independent country

  • Brazilian Independence

  • Monroe Doctrine

    Articulated by President James Monroe's 7th annual message to Congress in dec. 1823. According to him, the European powers were obligated to respect the Western Hemisphere as the US' sphere of influence since the old continent had already many colonies in Asia and Africa.
    Three key ideas:
    - N and S America no longer open for colonisation (ie Britain w/ Canada)
    - any intervention in American continent affairs would be viewed as a threat to security and peace
    - US would not intervene in EU affairs

  • Britain gains Falkland Island

  • US recognises Texan independence

  • Texas joins the US

  • Period: to

    Mexican-American War

    Or War of Northern Agression

  • Treaty of Gaudalupe-Hidalgo

    The treaty cedes northern half of Mexico to the US.

  • Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

    Between GB and the US pledging not to try to build a canal in Panama. Three main provisions: neither nation would build such a canal in the isthmian region without the consent and cooperation of the other; neither would fortify nor found new colonies in the region; when a canal was built, both powers would guarantee that it would be available on a neutral basis for all shipping. Construction on the proposed canal never came to fruition, although the treaty remained in effect until 1901.

  • Gadsen Purchase

  • Period: to

    French invasion of Mexico

  • 1st International Conference of American States (ICAS)

    Latin American countries started to resent the US and Europe's 'gunboat policy'. The Calvo Doctrine Resolution was adopted by all except the US. Advanced by Argentine diplomat Carlos Calvo. Foreign nationals shall rely exclusively upon local remedies for the solution of any disputes and shall not attempt to invoke diplomatic intervention, are entitled to no more protection than domestic nationals, which was incorporated into the constitutions of some LA States.

  • Treaty of Paris

    End of Spanish-American War. Ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the US and temporary control of Cuba.

  • Spanish-American War

    16 week war fought in the Caribbean (Cuba) and the Pacific (Philippines). following the explosion US navy armoured cruiser in Havana Harbour in feb. Pr. McKinley signed a joint Congressional resolution demanding spanish withdrawal and authorizing the use of military force to help Cuban independence. Spain severed relations and the US began a blockade on Cuba.
    from April to Aug 1989.
  • Period: to

    Banana Wars

    Series of conflict that consisted in military occupation, police action and intervention by the US. Most took place in Central America & the Caribbean: Cuba, Panama, Honduras (1903-1925), Nicaragua (occupied from 1912-1933), Mexico (miltary interventions 1910-1919, occupation of Veracruz 1914, US expedition to capture Pancho Villa 1916-1917), Haiti (occupied 1915-1934) and Dominican Republic (interventions 1903, 1904, 1914, occupied 1916-34)
    Term popularized in 1983 by writer Lester D. Langley.

  • Platt Amendment

    after Senator Orville Platt. Guideline for future US-Cuban relations. Attached to the Army Appropriations Bill of 1901 (known for: the Platt Amendment, defining the terms of Cuban ind & the Spooner Amendment, the terms of Philippine ind). Cuba included it in its constitution, virtually making the country an US protectorate. Stipulated conditions for US intervention, allowed US to lease/buy land for naval bases and coaling stations, required cuban consent for US intervention to protect Cuban ind.

  • The Anglo-American Hay-Pauncefote Treaty

    Great Britain cedes canal building to the US, allowing the US to build and manage its own canal.
    Secretary of State John Hay signed treaty w/ Colombian Foreign Minister Tomas Herran but the financial terms were reject by the Colombian Congress.

  • ICAS 1902

    International onference of American States. Adoption of the Drago doctrine, after Argentine foreign minister Luis Drago. States that force cannot be employed in order to recover debts incurred by other states. In 1902 the combined fleets of GB, GER, and IT mounted a blockade of Venezuela with the object of enforcing contractual and other claims. “a public debt cannot give rise to the right of intervention, and much less to the occupation of the soil of any American nation by a European power”.

  • Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty

    After the US dispatched warships to Panama City and Colon to support Panamian independence (nov. 1903) and the Panamian Republic named Bunau-Varilla to negotiate the treaty. Provided the US with a 10 mile wide strip of land, one-time $10 million payment to Panama and annuity of $250,000.
    The Panama canal was completed in 1914.
  • Period: to

    Panama Canal Construction

  • Roosevelt Corollary

    US would intervene as a last resort to ensure that other nations in the Western Hemisphere fulfilled their obligations to international creditors, and did not violate the rights of the US or invite "foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations". the US declared to be the policeman of the Caribbean. Increased used of "gunboat policy".
    Roosevelt's foreign policy was referred as the "Big Stick Policy".
  • Period: to

    Big Stick Policy

    cf Roosevelt's corollary
  • Period: to

    Good Neighbour Policy

    Republican President Herbert Hoover, stresses his plans to reduce American political/military interference in speeches accross LA countries. Policy pursued by the admin of president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Suggested by the president’s commitment “to the policy of the good neighbor” (first inaugural address, March 4, 1933), the approach marked a departure from traditional American interventionism.

  • Trujillo Dictator Dominican Republic

    One of GNP's era 'friendly dictator' from 1930-1961.

  • Hawley-Smoot tariff

    Law that implemented protectionist trade policies in the US. Act raised tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods.

  • "Clark Memorandum"

    Historical study of US policy toward LA countries repudiated the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

  • Batista Dictator Cuba

    Fulgencio Batista, 'friendly dictator' of Cuba from 1933-1944. And later on from 1952-1959.

  • Summer Welles Negotiate in Cuba

    Sent to negotiate a peaceful conclusion to the complex situation of President Gerardo Machado's refusal to leave power. Remained to ensure a smooth transfer of power from Alberto Herrera to Carlos Manuel Cespedes y Quesada. The latter was overthrown in a coup by Ramon Grau San Martin who Welles disliked. Welles influenced military leaders leading to the coup by Batista.

  • F.D Roosevelt President

  • Reciprocal Trade Agreement

    Agreement advocated by Cordel Hull, one of Roosevelt's top diplomat during GNP. By 1939, he had negociated reciprocal treaties with 11 LA countries.
    The ACt authorizes the president to negotiate with foreign nations to reduce tariffs in return for reciprocal reductions in tariffs in the US up to 50%.

  • Platt Amendment

  • Buenos Aires Conference

    Concerns over possible impact of conflict in EU, Roosevelt called fro an Inter-American Conference in the Maintenance of Peace.
    in his speech, he reaffirmed the GNP, underlined the end of US unilateral action, and promised that the nations of the western hemisphere would consult one another for their mutual safety and good.

  • Panama City Meeting

    At the outbreak of war in Europe, foreign ministers assembled in Panama City and declared neutrality or "safety" zone around the coastline of the Western Hemisphere.

  • Havana Conference

    Meeting to discuss neutrality and eco co-operation. The US, opposed to the transfer of territory in the Americas from one EU power to another, feared that EU colonies might become centres of aggression if acquired by the Axis. The delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, & the US agreed that there should be a collective trusteeship of any territory in danger of becoming one. The Act decreed that such territories should subsequently have the right to determine their own futures.

  • OCIAA Creation

    Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
    At first created in Aug. 1940 and named Office of Inter-American Affairs and renamed in in Jul. 1941. The Roosevelt Administration sought to combat the growing influence of Nazi propaganda in LA.

  • Lend-Lease Act

    Established a policy under which the US supplied Allied nations with oil, food and materiel during the war. Through this act the US provided LA states with about $493 million worth in war materials in exchange for military bases and assisting in the defense of the Western Hemisphere.

  • US enters WWII

  • Rio de Janeiro Conference

    Pan-American meeting of foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro in Jan. 1942. The objective of the US was to obtain a joint pledge from all LA countries that those who had not declared war on the Axis powers would do os. Chile and Argentina objected and the US resolution was replaced by one that simply recommended the severance of relations with the Axis.

  • IADB Creation

    Inter-American Defense Board establised to direct military preparations and strategy. Little was asked of LA countries in terms of war contributions, only Brazil and Mexico actually snet comabt troops overseas.

  • US refuse to give arms to Trujillo

    1944/1945, Ambassador Ellis Briggs criticised US military aid to LA dictatorships. The War Department responded that military/military relations encouraged democracy. Briggs: connection between a US military mission and the dvlpmnt of democratic principles in a given foreign country would appear to be somewhat remote. The US rejected Trujillo's requests. Aide-mémoire by Spruille Braden: "has been unable to perceive that democratic principles have been observed there in theory or in pratice".
  • Period: to

    Guatemalan Revolution

  • Act of Chapultepec

    /tʃəˈpu:lteˌpek/
    During the Special Pan-American Conference on the Problems of War and Peace held in Mexico City from Feb. to Mar. 1945. The Act, which was signed at the end of the conference, stated that any act of aggression on any American state, from without or within, would be considered an act of aggression on all.

  • Truman's Containment Policy begins

  • Truman President

  • The Blue Book on Argentina

    Braden had in mind to punish Argentina for breaking relations w/ Axis too late into the war. His confrontation w/ populist militarist presidency candidate Juan Domingo Peron was publicised through the Blue Book. It had unreliable info taht 'exposed' the alleged connectiosn between Argentina and Nazis/Axis powers. Branded Peron as 'red fascism'. Ensued 'Peron or Braden' leading to Peron's election. Messersmith new Ambassador proved that the 'Axis threat' had been largely imaginary.

  • Dictator Somoza Coup

    Somoza ruled Nicaragua from 1937 to 1956.
    In mid 1944 he announced that he would seek reelection at the end of his term in 1947 but he stilll sought military assistance to the US supsoedly to stop communist infiltration into Central America. President Truman made a visit to Mexico in 1947 & renewed the commitment to nonintervention. Hence, Somoza thought he had nothing to fear & otherthrow the new Nicaraguan gov. The US then joined efforts to exclude NI from the Rio Conference.

  • Rio Treaty

    The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance or Rio Treaty of 1947, is a mutual security pact providing for the American states to responds to acts of aggression in the Western Hemisphere with consultative procedures and, if agreed upon, certain types of assistance and sanctions. The treaty placed on a permanent basis the prior temporary regional security arrangements adopted during WWII, with the scope of aggression broadened to include attack by other American states & non-American.

  • Bogota Declaration

    or American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the world's first general human rights instrument.

  • OAS Creation

    Created during the 9th International Conference of American States in Bogota between mar. and may 1948 which led to a pledge by members to fight communism in the western hemisphere. Linked with the Rio Treaty of 1947, to LA states it seemed to guarantee US non-intervention but to the US it was about repelling any intervention by the Soviet Union. = free real estate for US intervention if the Soviet got too close.

  • George Kennan Tour

    Original instigator of Truman's containment policy, he took a tour of the continent and dislikes every country: "[...] unhappy and hopeless background for the conduct of human life then in Latin America".
    // Component Element of Cuban Temperament of 1948, charaterising Cubans as vain, having a temper etc.
    Americna paternalism thought that LA states were too proud to develop democracy = more prone to communist contagion.
  • Period: to

    Red Scare in the US

    McCarthyism

  • Batista Dictator Cuba Again

    Second time, from 1952-1959.

  • Bolivian Revolution

    Led by the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR). Two main visions of reform: radical working class called for nationalization of key sectors and workers rep to sit on boards of directors. Cautious middle class called for nationalisation of only three largest, foreign owned mining companies.
    MNR took power after the election was thwated by a military coup. President: Victor Paz Estenssoro. cf cours

  • Guatemalan Decree 900

    Agrarian Reform Law, introduced by Pres. Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, redistributed unused land greater than 90 acres to local peasants, compasenting landowners w/ gov bonds. Moved the economy from pseudo-feudalism into capitalism. Indigenuous groups were major beneficiaries of the decree. The expropriation led major landowners like the UFC to lobby the US gov to intervene by construing the Guatemalan gov as communist.

  • Milton Eisenhower Tour

    Shortly after Dwight Eisenhower election & his pledge to give more attention to LA states, he sent his brother to tour the continent. he was handed a report underlining the growing impatience of LA states. LA states wanted economic assistance whereas the US was relauctant and only willing to continue military aid: "military assistance ust be continued. Technical assistance must be maintained. Economic assistance can be reduced."

  • Eisenhower President

  • Caracas Conference

    10th Inter-American Conference of the Organisation of American States.
    LA states expected economic issues to be the main focus but the US pushed an anti-communist resolution first on the agenda. The vote was 17 in favour, 1 against (Guatemala) and 2 abstentions (Mexico and Argentina).

  • Guatemalan Coup

    Result of CIA covert operation code-named PBSuccess. Deposed democratically elected Pres. Jacobo Arbenz Guzan and eneded the Guatemalan Revolution. It put in place military dictatorship by Carlos Castillo Armas, first in a seris of US backed authoritarian rulers.

  • Operation PBSuccess

    As the Guatemalan coup was widely criticized internationally and strengthening a long lasting anti-US sentiment in LA states. To justify the coup the CIA launched operation PBHistory which sought evidne ceof Soviet influence in Guatemala among documents from the Arbenz Guzman era but found none.

  • Operation PBHistory

    As the Guatemalan coup was widely criticized, the CIA launched Operation PBHistory which sought evidence of Societ influence in Guatemala among document of the Arbenz era but withiut success.
  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

  • Nixon's Goodwill Proof Tour

    Vice President Nixon made a tour of some LA states but was received badly. He embraced repressive dictators and met angry crowd. In his last stop, in Venezuela, his car was mobbed and he was almost killed.
    This fiasco prompted a reassessment of US policy, leading President Eisenhower to accept the creation of an high-level Operation Pan America, reverse on the opposition to an Inter-American development bank and a Latin Free Trade Association. But even these did not bring more US eco aid.

  • The Cuban Revolution

    Fidel Castro overthrew dictator Batista, disavowed relations with the US, nationalised US possessions and business in the island and began relations with the Soviet Union.

  • Act of Bogota

    President Eisenhower's change of direction lead to the Act of Bogota which created the Social Progress Trust Fund, a forerunner to the Alliance for Progress. Allowed economic assistance for things that did not create additional foreign exchange but were essential for the development of the region such as schools, hospitals and public housing.
    text: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/intam08.asp

  • Bay of Pigs Invasion

  • Alliance for Progress creation

    Created after the fiasco of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Establishing the "Alliance for Progress" to support social and economic reforms in Latin American countries. With the Agency for International Development loaned more than $20 billion to LA nations to promote democracy and undertake meaningful social reforms, especially in making land ownership possible for greater numbers of their people.

  • Agency for International Development (USAID) creation

    Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act on September 4, 1961, which reorganized U.S. foreign assistance programs and mandated the creation of an agency to administer economic aid. USAID was subsequently established by the executive order of President John F. Kennedy, who sought to unite several existing foreign assistance organizations and programs under one agency. USAID became the first U.S. foreign assistance organization whose primary focus was long-term socioeconomic development.

  • Charter of Punta del Este

    In Punta del Este, Uruguay. US and all LA states except Cuba endorsed it. Pomoted land and tax reform, democratic government and economic modernisation.

  • Creation fo the Peace Corps

    by JFK and Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and other congressional leaders. JFK's executive order 10924 that activated the policy of sending youth volunteers to work in the developing world to assist i a variety of "help programs". there were projects from education, agriculture to small capital development projects.
    They were sometimes badly received like in Bolivia in 1971, were the volunteers were send back.

  • Operation Mongoose

    An extensive campaign of terrorist attacks agaisnt civilians, cover operations carried out by the CIA to remove the Cuban government, force it to introduce intrusive civil measures and divert precious resources to protect tis citizens from the attacks.

  • JFK President

  • Bay of Pigs Invasion Fails

  • Period: to

    Non-Aligned Movement

    britannica

  • Hickenlooper Amendment

    The Hickenlooper Amendment was an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1962. Named after its sponsor, Senator Bourke B. Hickenlooper (Republican of Iowa), the amendment provided for a cutoff of economic assistance from the United States to any government that failed to take adequate steps for the compensation of expropriated U.S. companies.
  • Period: to

    Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Johnson President

  • JFK assassination

  • "Mann Doctrine"

    Under Johnson's administration. Johnson had vowed to continue Kennedy's policies which were anticommunism in LA and the limitation of Cuban influence. Funding of military and police agaisnt communism and the AfP.
    But Thomas Mann appointed secretary of State of Inter-American Affairs, wanted to focus on eco and private capital and advocated for intervention agaisnt communist regimes & non-intervention agianst military regimes. Doctrine that was put to test in Panama, Brazil & the Dominican Rep.

  • Riot in Panama

    Pananan nationalsits confronted US citizens/army in the controlled zone leading to a riot w/ 21 panamian dead and 4 US soldiers. Panama City broke diplomatic relations but Johnson refused to negotiate under threat of violence and waited for Panama to calm down and renew realtions in April 1964

  • Coup in Brazil

    Kennedy's carrot-and-stick policy kept by Johnson: on one hand Afp funding and the other CIA funding to oppostion campaigns bc threat of social revolution as Pres. João Goulart had back the expropriation of subsidiary of ITT and take overs of refineries and underutilised lands.
    The Brazilian military and civil leaders staged a coup on their own without US assistance.

  • Mann Doctrine

    In December 1963, Thomas Mann was appointed assistant secretary of state for Inter-American affairs. Mann presented himself as a pragmatist and he did focus primarily on economic relations. Yet in a speech on 18 March 1964 , leaked to the New York Times and dubbed the “Mann Doctrine,” Mann advocated intervention against communists and non-intervention against military regimes, along with a renewed focus on private capital.

  • Panama Riots

    Nationalists confronted U.S. citizens/Army in the US-controlled Panama Canal Zone, turning a scuffle over the displaying of flags into a riot in which 21 Panamanians and four US soldiers died. Panama quickly broke diplomatic relations & much of LA condemned the U.S. military. To Johnson no negotiations under the threat of violence. He held out until it quieted down and Pres Roberto Chiari Remón renewed relations in April 1964 but got no promise of a new canal treaty, which nationalists demanded

  • Coup in Brazil

    The US saw Brazilian Pres. Joao Goulart as a threat because of socialist leaning decisions. Johnson continued Kennedy's carrot-on-stick policy by giving $1.5 billion in AFP funding while the CIA gave $5 million to opposing campaigns.

  • Inter-American Committee for the Alliance for Progress Creation

    Johnson backed its creation but the Department of State refused to let it appropriate funds directly.
    The Inter-American Committee on the Alliance for Progress (CIAP) was created in 1963 to serve as the coordinating agent between the international financial community and the countries involved and to review the economic policies and plans of each country to determine the need for and availability of external finance. It would have been Latin American led.

  • US Marines in the Dominican Republic

    Coup agaisnt US supported civilian 'Triumvirate' government which was seen by Johnso as an attack by Cuban-led revolutionnaries and threat to his political survival in Washington. He sent 400 marines without consulting the OAS to evacuate US and foreign citizens.
    Johnson Doctrine promising to defend against internal revolts if they seemed to lead to communism.
    Belatedly brought to the OAS and secured an agreement of dispatch of OAS military presence to supervise peace-keeping arrangements.
  • Period: to

    Dominican Republic Coup

  • Joaquin Ricardo elected Dominican Republic

    US government secretly help conservative anti-communist Joaquin Balaguer Ricardo be elected in the Dominican Republic and convinces Nixon that unrest and dissent in the country are largely instigated by Cuban agitators.

  • Military Coup in Peru

    The military, led by Gen Juan Velasco, carried a coup against Pres Belaunde in Oct. 1968, using as its excuse the controversy over Belaunde's settlement with the US-owned International Petroleum Company when in reality it was more about the desire to keep Haya de la Torre and his American Popular Revolutionary Party (APRP) from gaining power. It sought a "3rd path" that was not communist nor capitalist. its first action was the nationalisation of the IPC.
    Nixon did not give it much interest.

  • Rockefeller Report

    Nixon commissioned a study of LA issues & appointed Governor Nelson Rockefeller to head the study. He & four aides took several trips to LA, visited twenty nations & encountered many anti-US demonstrations. The report called for an overhaul of US/LA relations: accept the existence of military juntas without passing judgement, US aid for development should flow more freely and private investments encouraged.
    There were some vhange in policy according to it but not much bc LA not Nixon's priority.

  • Hickenlooper Amendment

    Congresss passed the amendment requiring that Peru compensate the IPC or face the loss of US aid and end of US purchases of Peruvian sugar.

  • Nixon President

  • Henry Kissinger National Security Advisor

  • Rockefeller Report

    Nixon commissions a study of LA issues by Nelson Rockefeller who took 4 trips where he encountered much anti-US feeling, anti-US demonstrations, & some violence.
    Rockefeller called for a massive overhaul of US relations with LA. The US should accept the existence of military juntas in Latin America without passing moral judgments on them. American aid for development should flow more freely & private investment encouraged, even though many LAmericans were suspicious of US business interests.
  • Period: to

    Détente

    Period of general easing of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet Union and the US during the Cold War. Détente began in 1969 as a core element of the foreign policy of US Pres. Nixon. In an effort to avoid an escalation of conflict with the Eastern Bloc, the administration promoted greater dialogue with the Soviet government in order to facilitate negotiations over arms control and other bilateral agreements
    Inaugural address: end of "era of confrontation" & advent of "era of negotiation"

  • Cuban Submarine Crisis

    US aerial surveillance discovered that the Soviet were building a submarine base in Cuba, capable of servicing their balistic missile-equipped nuclear submarines. However, during the missile crisis of 1962 Kennedy & Khrushchev that they would never again station offensive nuclear weapons in Cuba & in exchange the US would not attempt to invade Cuba but never formalised in writing. Nixon reaffirmed the original but in writing this time and the Soviet agreed.

  • Allende Elected Chile

    Despite US (and especially Kissinger’s) efforts, Allende receives 36.3% of the vote. The Chilean Congress chooses him as President (among the two front-runners). Nixon signs a secret national security directive authorizing CIA actions to undermine Allende’s presidency as well as economic warfare measures designed to destabilize the Chilean economy (including an embargo similar to the one on Cuba). The CIA begins to develop contacts with the military to forment a coup.
  • Period: to

    Watergate Scandal

    In 1972, burglars hired by the Committee to Re-elect the Pres to engage in political espionage were arrested at Democratic HQ, in the Watergate Hotel in Washington. The ensuing judicial proceedings, congressional investigations, & press coverage ended in the resigna° of Pres. Nixon in Aug. 1974. He had been forced to surrender tapes of conversations that he had had with his top aides, which revealed that he had conspired to obstruct justice by attempting to thwart the investiga° of the burglary.

  • Kissinger Secretary of State

  • End of Alliance for Progress

    The Alliance for Progress’ permanent committee is disbanded by the Organization of American States. In the view of Latin American nationalists it never overcame its identification with “Yankee imperialism” and meaningful economic and political reforms remained largely illusory, in many cases the elites became even richer and repressive.

  • Oil Embargo

    The oil embargo
    World Recession follows the 1973 Oil Embargo leading commodity prices to fall sharply, interest rates rise in the US and Europe to curb inflation. Latin America has fewer resources to pay an increased debt and most countries face slow or negative growth along with inflation and even hyperinflation in Argentina and Brazil. Real wages fall in all of Latin America except for Colombia and Chile.

  • Kissinger Secretary of State

  • Period: to

    Operation Condor

    Counterinsurgency warfare in SA to the international. Intelligence, military, and police forces from 6 SA countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, & Uruguay) cooperated to kidnap, transfer, & eliminate supposed subversives living in a country other than that of their origin. 1st documented meeting in Feb. 1974. Operations had begun in 73, w/ cooperation between intelligence, military, & police forces from 2/3 countries. The official founding meeting was in Chile in Nov. 1975.

  • Chilean Coup

  • Ford President

  • Tack-Kissinger Agreement

    Panama’s populist military leader, Omar Torrijos Herrera (1968-1981) begins discussions with Kissinger to end US authority over the canal which no longer had the strategic or commercial value it previously held. The Tack-Kissinger agreement (from Panamanian Foreign 27 Minister Juan Antonio Tack) was passed to provide a framework for the eventual handover.

  • Greene Agreement

    Feb 1973, in a secret meeting w/ Velasco, Presidential Rep James Greene suggested that the US & Peru attempt to resolve certain investment disputes poisoning relations between them. Feb, 1974, Peru & the US signed an agreement under which Peru agreed to pay compensation of $76 million (plus a net of $34 million in related remittances). The event in the U.S. press as a significant administration Foreign Policy achievement and landmark in US relations not only w/ Peru but possibly with LA.

  • Church Committee Report

    A US Senate select committee that investigated abuses by the CIA, the NSA, and the FBI.

  • Church Committee

    US Senate select committee in 1975 that investigated abuses by the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Chaired by Idaho Senator Frank Church, the committee was part of a series of investigations into intelligence abuses in 1975, dubbed the "Year of Intelligence", including its House counterpart, the Pike Committee, and the presidential Rockefeller Commission. The committee's efforts led to the establishment of the permanent US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

  • Military Coup in Argentina

    the military leadership overthrew Argentinian Pres. Isabel Peron. General Jorge Videla Redondo the new president provided the right-wing gov that the US policy preferred. During the next 6 years, around 30 000 people 'disappeared'. WHne US diplomats complained about humand rights issues they were silenced by Kissinger.

  • Coup in Brazil

    Military dictatorship of Argentina, aka “National Reorganization Process” (Spanish: often simply el Proceso). Begins with the US (especially Kissinger) backed coup against Isabel Peron and General Jorge Videla Redondo takes over. Under the military rule some 30,000 people “disappear” and other human rights abuses occur. US diplomats complain about those and are silenced by Kissinger. Dictatorship lasts from 1976 to 1983.

  • Allende's Foreign Secretary killed

    Operation Condor kills Chilean dissident Orlando Letelier, formerly Salvador Allende’s foreign secretary with a car bomb in Washington D.C; his coworker, Ronni Moffit, a twenty-five- year-old US citizen is also killed. This became Condor’s most infamous hit.

  • Carter President

  • Carter renew relations w/ Cuba

    Carter halts reconnaissance flights over Cuba and cancels the bans on travel by Americans and on expenditures in Cuba. The two governments sign boundary and fishery agreements and open interest sections in each other’s capital.

  • Panama Canal Treaty

    • Recognised Panama as territorial sovereign.
    • US still had the right to continue to manage, operate and maintain the canal for 20 years until 1999. Went into effect in oct. 1979 and expride in dec. 1999.

  • The Neutrality Treaty (Panama)

    A separate Treaty to the Panama Canal Treaty but still interrelated.
    - no termination date
    - US and Panama to guarantee the neutrality of the canal witn nondiscirminatory tolls and access for all nations
    - US reserved the right to use military force if necessary to keep the canal open. Was ratified and implemented into law by Congress in 1979.
  • Period: to

    Civil War in El Salvador

    Fought between the gov and the FMLN, backed by Castro/Soviet Union. 75 000 dead + 8000 disappeared. Secretary of State Haig believed Nicaragua & El Salvador to be on a Soviet “hit list” of nations to which communism would be exported. Reagan believed that Cuba and Nicaragua were acting as Soviet clients in supporting the communist insurgency. Carter & Reagan provided 1 to 2 million$/day in economic aid. Despite Duarte’s inability to control right-wing death squads who killed & tortured citizens.

  • Mariel Boatlift from Cuba

    Mariel boatlift brings 125000 Cubans (including criminals) to the US after the gov became frustrated by an inability to develop an orderly emigration process & was triggered by a downturn in Cuban eco. Final straw in impeding Carter’s efforts to normalize relations w/ the island after it had dispatched troops to Africa and a Soviet brigade – which had been there for more than a decade – was discovered. Became domestic issues with as many as 71% Americans disapproving of the boatlift.
  • Period: to

    Economic Crises in LA

    Economic crises in Latin America triggered by external factors and aggravated by domestic mismanagement leading to increasingly neoliberal practices even in Cuba (inviting foreign investment and extending the permitted private enterprise by Cubans).

  • Reagan President

  • Reagan administration aids Contras

    Reagan administration officials secretly direct counter-revolutionary (contra) forces against the Nicaraguan Sandinista government.

  • Falklands War

    Argentina invades the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, held since 1833 by Great Britain. Reagan administration officials debate for two weeks before siding with Great Britain. The regime is discredited and forced to reinstate elective civilian government.

  • Pro-Cuban Coup in Grenada

    Coup by pro-Cuban Marxists installs a new government in Grenada. Oct. US Marines land to restore order and evacuate US citizens. The OAS protested invasion but US diplomats prevailed in a smaller institution: the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) which requests US intervention. In total more than 7000 troops are sent. A new gov was installed, the Soviet embassy was closed, and all Cubans were deported. Served as a warning to Cuba about attempting to export communism in the region.

  • Boland Amendment

    The Boland Amendment is a term describing two U.S. legislative amendments between 1982 and 1984, both aimed at limiting U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua. The amendment outlawed U.S. assistance to the Contras for the purpose of overthrowing the Nicaraguan government, while allowing assistance for other purposes.

  • US aid to Honduras against Sandinistas

    In 1981, Roberto Suazo Cordova is elected president of Honduras but the army commander, General Gustavo Alvarez, remains the most powerful figure there. Alvarez allows the US to build bases in Honduras for training and supplying the contras.
    In 1984 US aid to Honduras raises from $4 million to $77 million.
  • Period: to

    Iran-Contra Affair

  • Beginning of Investigation Iran-Contra Affair

    Revealed the involvement of CIA director William Casey, national security advisor, John Poindexter. Poindexter maintained that he had deliberately not given Reagan details so he could deny any direct involvement. The scandal tarnished his image: if he really knew nothing = incompetent & if he did know = accepted an assassination leading to the death a US citizen. Vice Pres George H. W. Bush declares himself out of the loop but records document his presence in planning/execution meetings.

  • G.H.W Bush President

  • Invansion of Panama

    Return of overt US intervention has George Bush order “Operation Just Cause,” the invasion of Panama to capture CIA collaborator (since the 1960s) and dictator Manuel Noriega who had run afoul of the new US obsession with curbing drug trafficking and who equally maintained strong ties with Castro. The operation lasted only 23 days and around 4,000 Panamanians were killed.

  • Return of Democracy in Chile

    Chile’s Pinochet turns over the presidency (though not the control of the armed forces) to an elected Christian Democrat. His dictatorship had been more successful than most in economic management. The Chilean model was based on neoliberal policies: reduction of trade barriers, privatization of state companies, encouragement of foreign and domestic investment, and general lessening of regulation.

  • Collapse of the Soviet Union

  • Cuban Democracy Act

    Bush signs the Cuban Democracy Act (known as the Torricelli Act) which tightens the embargo: it reimplemented the ban of US subsidiaries in other countries from trading with Cuba, hindered the ability of ships docked within the island to travel to US ports. The CDA also provided some humanitarian aid to Cubans in an effort to destabilize Castro. The CDA was controversial, at once seen as a vindictive act of Cold War triumphalism and as a tool for Castro to entrench his rule.

  • NAFTA/ALENA signed

  • Clinton President

  • NAFTA/ALENA is ratified

  • First Summit of the Americas

    All countries but Cuba were invited, 34 attended. It was the first Summit in which all leaders were democratically elected. It produced the Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action. Its most important initiative was the agreement to work towards a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and that negotiations should conclude no later than 2005. A tripartite committee was created composed of the Inter-American Development Bank, the OAS, the UN’s Economic Commission for LA and the Caribbean.

  • 'Wet foot/Dry foot' policy

    Castro and Clinton reach an agreement according to which 20,000 Cubans can leave for the US each year and would be granted entry if they reached the country “dryfoot” while those caught at sea were sent back.

  • Mexican Peso Crisis

    Mexican peso begins to free-fall. The Clinton administration secures a $50 billion loan from various groups (including the US Treasury). The peso stabilized and within 3 years Mexico paid off the loans, ahead of schedule. Brazil also experienced a major devaluation of its currency. Still, the collapse of the peso only nine days after the Miami Summit hurt NAFTA’s image in the US and derailed plans to integrate Chile.

  • MERCOSUR

    Mercosur (Mercado Comun del Sur) is organized by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

  • Beginning of Chavez's 'Bolivarian Revolution'

  • Plan Colombia

    Plan Colombia is conceived by the administration of Colombian President Andres Pastrana to “secure an increase in US aid for counternarcotics projects, the protection of human rights [and] humanitarian aid” as well as allow ongoing peace talks with the Marxist-Leninist FARC guerillas. The final US draft included funding for counterinsurgency measures justified by the FARC’s implication in drug trade.

  • Coup in Ecuador

    In Ecuador a coup led by indigenous leaders and military members briefly topples the government and eventually agree to let Vice President Gustavo Noboa Bejerano govern as the US refused to accept a new government imposed by unconstitutional means. Still the coup stemmed from a strong nationwide Indianist movement.
  • Period: to

    Leftist Anti-American Leaders Elected

  • G.W Bush President

  • Mexican Pres. Visits the US

    Mexican President Vincente Fox, who had ties with Bush, makes a state visit to Washington. They lay out a bold agenda on trade, drug enforcement, immigration, energy. Bush suggests that the US-Mexican ties are the country’s most important international relationship.

  • 9/11 Attack

    Terrorist attacks shift US priorities. Immigration is heavily restricted for the sake of homeland security despite no Al- Qaeda terrorists being found in Latin America.

  • Lula Elected in Brasil

    Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, leftist labor leader, is elected President of Brazil (reelected in 2006 and in 2023).

  • FTA between US and Chile

  • War in Iraq

    Key US allies Mexico and Chile refuse to support a UN Security Council resolution authorizing war against Iraq.
    US unilateral actions there and the stretching of international law on preemptive intervention is increasingly seen by those in Latin America as repeating the US historical pattern of intervention in the continent.

  • Vazquez elected in Uruguay

    Tabaré Vázquez (leftist) elected President of Uruguay at the head of a “Broad Front” ticket. He opened investigations into human rights abuses by the country's military.

  • Andean Regional Initiative

    Andean Regional Initiative (expansion of Plan Colombia) passes the House of Rep. Half of ARI funds for Colombia for the aerial eradication of drug crops (by spraying glyphosate causing health, environmental, financial damage to rural pop), logistical support, training of Colombia’s counternarcotics battalions and paramilitaries. The other half went to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, and Brazil. While US claim cocaine production in Colombia dropped 72%, UN found no change.
    end in 2012

  • Morales elected in Bolivia

    Evo Morales (leftist) elected as Bolivia's first indigenous President.

  • Uribe Elected in Colombia

    Alvaro Uribe reelected as President of Colombia, the only conservative and US ally to be elected in recent years.

  • Ortega elected in Nicaragua

    Ex-Sandinista Daniel Ortega (leftist) elected President of Nicaragua.

  • Chavez on Bush

    Hugo Chavez who had described US policies as imperialist refers to Bush as the devil in an address to the United Nations’ General Assembly.

  • Bachelet elected in Chile

    Michelle Bachelet (leftist), the second successive socialist candidate in Chile, becomes the first elected female President in South America.

  • Zelaya elected in Honduras

    Manuel Zelaya sworn in as President of Honduras; pursues leftist policies.

  • CAFTA

    Hugo Chavez who had described US policies as imperialist refers to Bush as the devil in an address to the United Nations’ General Assembly.

  • Obama President

  • Coup in Honduras

    Honduran military overthrows President Manuel Zelaya and fly him into exile. Worldwide condemnation of the military coup follows.

  • CELAC

    Latin American presidents, led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, create the Comunidad de Estados de América Latina y el Caribe to counter US influence in the region.

  • Cuban Thaw

    With the assistance of Pope Frances, the Obama and Raul Castro administrations move toward lessening tensions between the US and Cuba. Both sides release political prisoners, including US agent Alan Gross and the 3 remaining “Cuban Heroes,” and begin moves toward ending US isolation of Cuba. The US Congress must act to end the embargo against Cuba.