US Foreign Policy in Latin America during the Cold War

Presenter

Corrado Charles Cruz

Campus

Fitchburg State University

Sponsor

Catherine Buell, Honors Program, Fitchburg State University

Schedule

Session 3, 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board A33, Campus Center Auditorium, Row 2 (A21-A40) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

My thesis demonstrates how the United States prioritized the protection of US hegemony in the western hemisphere during the Cold War by backing oppressive regimes who severely restricted the rights of their people, contrary to the democratic values that the United States supposedly fights for. To demonstrate this, the paper will analyze how the US government organized a covert overthrow of the Arbenz regime in Guatemala in 1954, resulting in decades of political turmoil and violence against the nations’ indigenous Mayan populations. The US castigated any and all labor organizers as communist, convoluting the definitions of communism and democracy in order to secure profit via access to cheap labor. 

Keywords

Democracy, Communism, Hegemony, Politics, Labor

Research Area

Political Science and Government

SIMILAR ABSTRACTS (BY KEYWORD)