Latin America and the Obama Chapter

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/233813/latin-america-and-the-obama-chapter/

Latin America and the Obama Chapter
El Universal, Venezuela
By Alfredo Toro Hardy
Translated By Jenny Westwell
27 February 2014
Edited by Sean Feely

~snip~

The first is that of the sphere of influence, beginning in 1822 with the introduction of the Monroe Doctrine.* The Hispanic-American nations that emerged after independence were out of bounds to the empire-hungry Europeans and, by extension, fell within the United States' sphere of influence.

The second is that of Manifest Destiny. The Mexican-American War of 1847 was pursued in order to annex Mexican territories which the United States considered essential to the fulfillment of its destiny as a nation. The plunder of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada from the Mexican nation was the result.

The third chapter is that of empire, which began with the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the acquisition of the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico as colonial territories. The Caribbean Basin became the United States’ natural sphere of influence. In 1903, Washington supported the secession of Panama from Colombia in order to incorporate Panama as a de facto protectorate, and proceeded to invade Central American countries 34 times over the subsequent three decades.

The fourth is that of the “Good Neighbor Policy,” initiated in 1933 by Franklin Roosevelt, during which the measures taken by the United States were the most meaningful. Washington withdrew occupying troops from several Caribbean Basin countries — with the exception of Puerto Rico, annexed in 1898. It rescinded a number of treaties and other legislation that allowed Washington excessive prerogatives. It applied a doctrine of “absolute non-intervention” in the internal affairs of Latin American states. It offered no opposition to various progressive democracies. It made no move to obstruct the nationalization of the Mexican oil industry