America's Backyard The United States and Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine to the War on Terror

by Livingstone, Grace

• ISBN13: 9781848132139
• ISBN10: 1848132131
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-15
• Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Summary

Using newly-declassified documents, Grace Livingstone reveals the U.S. role in the darkest periods of Latin American history including Pinochet's coup in Chile, the Contra War in Nicaragua and the death squads in El Salvador. She shows how the U.S. administration used the War on Terror as a new pretext for intervention and how it tried to destabilize leftwing governments and push back the 'pink tide' washing across the Americas. America's Backyard also has chapters on drugs, economy and culture. It explains why U.S. drug policy has caused widespread environmental damage, yet failed to reduce the supply of cocaine and looks at the U.S. economic stake in Latin America and the strategies of the big corporations. Today Latin Americans are demanding respect and an end to the Washington Consensus. Will the White House listen?

Author Biography

Grace Livingstone is a journalist specializing in Latin American affairs.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vi
Map of Latin America	p. viii
Introduction	p. 1
The Monroe Doctrine to the Second World War	p. 8
The Cold War: The Guatemalan Coup and the Cuban Revolution	p. 23
The Alliance for Progress	p. 39
The Military Governments of the 1970s	p. 50
Reagan and the Central American Tragedy	p. 71
The End of the Cold War, 1989-2001	p. 101
George W. Bush and the 'War on Terror'	p. 120
Why US Drugs Policy Doesn't Work	p. 167
Money, Multinationals and Misery	p. 188
Coca-Cola, Cartoons and Caricature	p. 215
Postscript	p. 233
US Military Interventions in Latin America in the Twentieth Century	p. 237
Latin American Dictators Who Took Training Courses at the School of the Americas	p. 238
Notes	p. 239
Index	p. 257
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