Detente under pressure- How did developments in Latin America and the Caribbean impact detente?

Why was Latin America of such significance during the Cold War?

Strategically important, regarded as the USA's backyard (Monroe Doctrine 1823). It's not clear that the Soviets had much interest or influence in the region. However, the Cubans certainly did!

1. The case of Chile (had no impact on detente)

On 4th September 1970 Allende became President. His Popular Front coalition established diplomatic relations with Cuba and moved closer to the USSR, China, North Korea and North Vietnam. The Allende government announced it would default on debts owed to international creditors and foreign governments and nationalised the banking and copper industries.

The case of Chile

However, inflation spiralled out of control- and a chasm between the left and right in Chile widened. Strikes held by shop keepers, students and professionals in protest at the forced redistribution of wealth to workers and peasants, meant Allende was under siege. On 11th September 1973, the army, led by Augusto Pinochet, and with backing from the CIA, attacked the presidential palace. A ferocious crackdown followed.

The USA's response

From 1970, the USA sought to determine the Chilean economy and destabilise Allende's government. They cut aid to Chile and persuaded the World Bank not to lend any money to the country. (McNamara was the President of the World Bank between 1968 and 1981). Chile's economy crashed. In September 1973 the CIA were (perhaps but not proven) involved in a coup when the Chilean military deposed Allende's Popular Unity government. It was a violent, military coup (Allende was found dead on the first day of the coup).

Democracy in name only

"He may have been a son of a bitch, but he was our son of a bitch". Anonymous American official. Nixon's administration enthusiastically welcomed General Pinochet's repressive regime and immediately resumed economic aid to Chile.

What was the Soviet position?

The Soviets offered little material support to regimes in Latin America as they were dealing with their own economic problems in the 1970s. The Soviet Union practiced pragmatism in its political relations with Chile. At most, the Soviet Union only demonstrate moral and propagandistic support for Chile in lieu of a more tangible policy. The Soviets prioritised financial and military support for Cuba. Castro made a visit to Chile in 1971 and, along with the Soviet Union supported Chile's President Allende's radical programme of income redistribution, nationalisations, and an independent F.P.

The Soviet position

However, around May 1972, leaders of the USSR started to see Chile as an exampled of what could go wrong in a revolutionary process rather than a good investment in the global battle against capitalism when the Allende government lost popular support and the Chilean economy remained at a standstill.

What US support for Pinochet facilitated

The regime systematically targeted political opponents, socialists, and leftists, resulting in the deaths or forced disappearances of over 3,000 people and the torture of tens of thousands. An estimated 200,000 to over 1 million people were forced into exile during his 17-year rule. Secret Police: under his rule, the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) was created, responsible for torture, murder, and "disappearances" in detention centres.

Reagan's approach to Latin America 20th Jan 1981- 20th Jan 1989

Reagan had been a hardline critic of detente during the 1970s. Superpower detente had been put under significant pressure with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

1981 Nicaragua

1979 Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) seized power. The FSLN were led by Daniel Ortega Saavedra. When Reagan came to power he dismissed the Sandinistas and chose to support an anti-communist group, the Contras. Congress refused to fund the Contras directly. Sandinista repressed civil liberties in 1982 (in response to the Contra attack) and imposed universal military conscription- fitting the image that Reagan wanted to pervade of communists perfectly.

The case of Nicaragua

United States Marines occupied Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933. When the Americans left, they set up the Guardia Nacional (national guard), a combined military and police force trained and equipped by the Americans and designed to be loyal to U.S. interests. The Somoza family ruled the country from 1936 on behalf of these interests, and in a brutal and corrupt manner.

• When Anastasio Somoza Debayle was deposed by the Sandinistas in 1979, the family’s worth was estimated to be US$1.5 billion- in a country in which average daily income for a peasant or unskilled worker was just $1.

• Between 1972 and 1979 Nicaragua was beset by civil war between the left-wing FSLN (Sandinistas) and the Somoza regime.

The case of Nicaragua #2

Carter was initially disposed to co-operating with the new regime, but hawks in the USA were convinced that the Sandinistas posed ‘the threat of a good example’ and represented an extension of Soviet-Cuban influence. US hawks accused the Sandinistas of being Soviet stooges (untrue), importing Cuban-style socialism and aiding left-wing guerrillas in El Salvador (true).

• After Reagan can to power in 1980 the USA backed Nicaraguan revolutionaries- the contras- as a way of forcing the Sandinista government to divert scarce resources to the military and away from social and economic programs.

The case of El Salvador

Fraudulent elections in 1972 and 1977 had returned National Conciliation Party governments, backed by the military, that were dedicated to protecting the power of major landowners from peasant demands for a better life. LW guerrillas had responded by launching attacks on the army, and a popular movement had mobilised in favour of democratic and land reforms.

The government responded with repression:

• Paramilitary death squads were unleashed on the peasants.

• Urban demonstrations were met with armed force.

• Assassination of the Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero in March 1980.

The case of El Salvador #2

With tensions mounting and the country on the verge of an insurrection, the military Revolutionary Government Junta deposed President General Carlos Humberto Romero in a coup on 15th October 1979. The US feared that El Salvador, like Nicaragua and Cuba before it, could fall to communist revolution. Jimmy Carter’s administration supported the new military government with vigour, hoping to promote stability in the country.

• By 1984 Reagan would have spent nearly $1 billion on economic and military aid for the Salvadoran government.

1983 Grenada

In October 1983 Reagan authorised an American occupation of Grenada (sending 7,000 troops), a small Caribbean republic in which the Cubans and the Russians had been seeking to establish a sympathetic government. US involvement was triggered after the pro-leftist Coard staged a successful coup.

• By January 1985, Reagan was openly promising support to those ‘who are risking their lives- on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua- to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which had been ours from birth. This ‘aggressive’ uninhibited was known as the ‘Reagan Doctrine’ a direct response to the Brezhnev Doctrine.

1985 Reagan Doctrine

US would provide covert and overt aid to anti-communist guerrillas and restraint movements in an effort to ‘roll back’ Soviet backed communist govts in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The doctrine was designed to diminish Soviet influence in these regions as a part of the administration’s overall strategy to end the Cold War. The Reagan Doctrine claimed that the new imperialists were the Soviets (after Afghanistan in 1979).