Authoritarianism in Latin America

Latin America was influenced by Western economic imperialism, with the United Fruit Company being a notable example.
The Cuban-American Treaty of 1903 allowed U.S. intervention in Cuba's foreign policy.
The U.S. established military presence in Panama after opening the Panama Canal in 1914.
Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy (1935) aimed to reduce U.S. influence, including troop withdrawal from Haiti.

Latin American economies modernized unevenly, favoring plantation monoculture and raw material extraction.
The Great Depression devastated Latin American economies due to decreased international demand.

Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) involved the overthrow of Porfirio Díaz by Francisco Madero.
Madero faced pressure from radicals like Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Emiliano Zapata.
Venustiano Carranza enacted the Constitution of 1917, guaranteeing universal suffrage and separation of church and state.
Álvaro Obregón restored order, and Carranza's death marked the revolution's end.
The National Revolutionary Party (PNR), later Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), ruled until the late 1980s.
Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940) enacted land reform and nationalized the oil industry, forming PEMEX.

Brazil descended into dictatorship under Getúlio Vargas after 1930, who industrialized the nation but censored the press.
Argentina became a dictatorship in 1930, leading to the rise of Juan Perón in 1946.

Many Latin American nations reverted to exploitative economies and dictatorial governments from the late 1950s through the early 1980s.
The Organization of American States (OAS) fostered economic and diplomatic cooperation.
Military governments and right-wing dictatorships predominated, often supported by the U.S. due to their anti-communism.

ARGENTINA: Juan Perón dominated the government in 1946, followed by a brutal military regime from 1976 to 1983.
CHILE: General Augusto Pinochet led a CIA-backed coup against Salvador Allende in 1973, instituting free-market reforms.
GUATEMALA: A CIA-supported coup in 1954 brought Carlos Castillo Armas to power, followed by military dictatorships.
MEXICO: The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) maintained a nominally democratic system with unbroken electoral victories.

Fidel Castro ousted Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and declared himself a communist, aligning with the USSR.
Cuba's alignment with the Soviets made it a Cold War hot spot, exemplified by the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

The Marxist Sandinista movement overthrew the Somoza clan in 1979.
President Ronald Reagan attempted to destabilize the Sandinistas by funding the Contras.

A wave of Latin American democratization occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Pinochet gave up power, Argentina moved to democracy, and Mexico's PRI loosened its power.
Peace and democracy returned to Nicaragua in 1990.