U.S. National Security and Latin America

United States National Security and Latin America

This paper will examine United States national security interests and policies in Latin America, focusing on the changes which have occurred since the late 1980s. The first part of the paper will briefly discuss U.S. interests and policy prior to the late 1980s, while the rest of the paper will discuss present and future interests.

Until the late 1980s, the main concern of U.S. national security policy was the "conflict" with the Soviet Union, a relationship which colored all other U.S. policies throughout the world. Thus, U.S. interests in Latin America were defined by the cold war with the Soviet Union. The overall U.S security interests in the region were essentially threefold: protecting against direct military threats to the U.S. mainland or military assets in the region, protecting vital maritime routes, and assuring access to strategic raw materials. U.S. political interests included winning Latin America's diplomatic support in various international forums, enhancing neighborly harmony, and preserving ideological harmony in the Western Hemisphere. Economic interests included assuring adequate scope and favorable treatment for private U.S. investment and assuring access to commodity imports from Latin America (Lowenthal, 1990, p. 52).

All of these interests were defined by the U.S./Soviet conflict and were part of an overall policy of containment (Middlebrook, 1986, p. 35). Consequently, direct U.S. security interest

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source extraction to manufacturing and services. This last change has thrust Latin America into the worldwide economy and subjected it to the pressures of international competition. It has also created a U.S. interest in the prosperity and markets of the region (Lowenthal, 1990, pp. 57-58). Traditionally, United States foreign policy held economic and national security interests to be separate concerns, with economic interests subordinated to security interests. While this may have made some sense when the Soviet Union constituted the overwhelming threat to the U.S., such policy loses validity in a world where strength is increasingly measured economically. Under the old policy, Latin America would lose much of its value, as there are no militarily powerful nations in the region and there is no longer any Soviet influence to contain. On the other hand, because of the proximity of Latin America to the U.S. mainland, and a common land border between the U.S. and Mexico, economic problems in Latin America tend to be felt in the United States as well. As one analyst has stated, the capacity of the United States to protect the individual and collective welfare of its citizens is vulnerable to developments in Latin America (Lowenthal,

Category: Foreign - U