IPLA

Quiz #2 Study Guide

Grenada

• Eric Gairy took office in 1959

  • Crazy authoritarian

  • Overthrown by New Jewel Movement in 1979

    • NJM was leftist, led by Maurice Bishop

• US steps to conflict consist of three phases

  • Uneasy cordiality

  • Resentment and distance

  • Conflict (three reasons)

    • US pushes countries into enemies’ arms

    • Nations ideologically aligned with USSR

    • Break in logic happens, talks fall apart

1. Caribbean countries (especially Barbados) asked about elections

• US and Caribbean suspicious

• Bishop replaced police and military

• Mini-SCC suggested the US join UK and Caribbean to put pressure on Bishop for elections

  • Ambassador Ortiz (Carter) offered aid and cooperation to try to get NJM from being Cuban aligned

• Bishop suspended Constitution and got arms from Cuba

• Used a false flag of Gairy returning to get arms

• Ortiz tried to leverage elections and tourist protections

  • Used as justification for Cuban alignment

  • Bishop was very Anti-American

  • Basically snubbed US at every opportunity 

2. The PRG (Bishop’s army) got more Cuban arms

• SCC leveraged elections by intervention or cooptation

• Cooptation failed

  • Bishop had no interest in negotiating

  • Could undermine democracies in the area

  • Cooptation is for friends

  • Caribbean could probably handle Grenada better, US getting involved would inflame tensions

• NJM was super dictatorial, but liked private businesses and tourism

  • Ideologically inconsistent

3. Here’s Ronny (Reagan)!

• Reagan isolated regime by ending support for the Caribbean Development Bank

  • Caribbean switched sides to protect bank, but Bishop alienated them

• Administration brought NATO

• Caribbean signed a security cooperation agreement “Memorandum of Understanding”

  • Used as pretext for invasion

• War of words between Reagan and Bishop; talks failed because of posturing rather than good faith negotiations.

• Coard-Austin faction of NJM took over; assassinated Bishop

• US troops super unprepared to invade when they did under false rationales.

  • Preserving democracy

  • Rescuing American students

  • Prevent a communist takeover

• Bishop arrested and eventually killed

• Bernard Coard took over

  • Scuffle with Cuba over Bishop’s arrest

  • Blackmailed with information

    • Didn’t work

• US innocent in Grenada enemyship this time; tried cooperation

• Grenada was aligned ideologically with Soviets

• Still, the army did not push first or provoke the US to justify an alliance with Cuba.

  • In response to Ortiz lectures, which were flawed and too judgy

  • Bishop interpreted it as hostility

• Warnings from Washington fed into Bishop Propaganda

  • Hurt economy

• Both parties were sincere, but clashing interests and opposing terms led to failure

  • US was honest but intrusive

  • Grenada was dishonest, but wanted to align with Cuba, framing it as a sovereignty issue rather than by ideology

• No business interests involved

• Friendly relations unsustainable (not willing to give and take)

• Options were destabilization or distancing

  • Destabilization would be easy because ⅔ of Grenada exchange relied on outside forces

  • Leads to disaster

  • Carter and Reagan both distanced

    • Carter tried cooptation first

    • Reagan forgoed negotiation

    • Most of Caribbean liked Carter’s approach better

    • Increased attention by both better anyway

• Similar to Cuba and Nicaragua in that US policy evolved from cordiality to distance to conflict

  • Transition into authoritarianism and anti-Americanism

  • Who started it doesn’t matter.  Both parties correctly blame each other

• US should try to reconcile with nationalistic (and therefore Anti-American) governments instead of confronting them

• Look to the differences instead of the similarities

• Both sides have a responsibility to each other 

Pastor: underlying theoretical approach: liberalism (page 192)

• The two would not have been good friends, but they could have worked something out

Nicaragua

• Nicaragua trying to inforce communist ideologies into El Salvador, providing them with arms etc 

• In 1981, Contra wars between Somoza regime and Sandinistas

• Reagan admin labeled Sandinistas as Marxists

  • Not exactly wrong.

• Sandinistas started out as a broad liberal coalition of middle class and moderate clergy

  • Tercerista movement in the 1970s

• Once in power, they were a little less democratic.

• Leader Fonseca was a Soviet Ally

  • Nicaragua was more into the USSR than the USSR was into them.

  • Nicaragua was close to Cuba as well.

    • Ideologically communist and Anti-American

• Jimmy Carter snubbed Somoza for being a dictator.

  • Congressional Dems leveraged support for the Panama Canal deal to get Carter to ignore them.

  • Was encouraged to intervene in Nicaragua, but refused.

    • Ended up with conditional accommodation.

    • Still allowed covert action in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

• Reagan administration wanted to end “malaise”

  • Flexed their military might

  • Haig wanted to prevent domino theory

    • More perceptual than real

  • Looked too trigger happy

    • Diplomacy failed as a result.

• NSC tried to sabotage in Nicaragua

• Anti-Sandinista forces had Argentine backing

• In 1990, Sandinistas were voted out.

Dominican Republic - assistance or domination?

• Juan Bosch (a democratically elected left winger) was ousted by conservatives in 1963

• In 1965, supporters tried to restore him to power

  • Rebel forces managed to defeat conservative forces

• CIA fear mongered about communists

  • Johnson landed Marines in Santo Domingo

    • Learned from Cuba - did not arm exiles

  • Conservatives regained power

• Johnson was misled

  • Cuba syndrome- fear of defeats in Cuba caused paranoia and overhasty intervention

• Unique case of direct US intervention 

Chile - assistance or domination?

• Alliance for Progress made reforms to prevent full-on Communism

  • Land reform

  • Economic development

• In 1958, center and right supported Eduardo Frei to edge out Allende

  • Partially nationalized copper industry (nationalized half)

  • Public healthcare system

• Allende - Democratic Socialist at heart

  • Members of Coalition skeptical of democracy

  • Allende was democratically elected, but did dismantle courts

• Succeeded Eduardo Frei as President of Chile

  • Not a fan of the US, who held $1B in Chile

• Left got leftier

  • Allende advocated for more land reform

  • Fully nationalized copper industry - actually supported by everyone

  • Nationalized everything super fast

    • Staged labor conflicts to nationalize

    • Economy was stimulated in short run, tanked in long run

• US took advantage of rampant inflation

  • Stopped subsidies

  • Funded opposition

  • Started Trucker strikes

  • Connected with military

• US interest in Cuba was economic, but also slightly political

  • Castro was chilling in Santiago

  • Other nations seeing the democratic socialism and started taking notes

    • Could undermine US allies

September 11, 1973 - Chilean Coup by Agusto Pinochet

Devine Reading:

• US was totally willing to coup Allende, and tried in 1970 (Track II)

• US was also trying a soft coup by preventing Allende from taking office through the legislature (Track I)

• CIA decided against it, so tried to undermine Allende through Democratic means

  • Newspaper funds because Allende limited press freedoms

  • Fomented protests and took advantage of leftist backlash

• Thesis: US had nothing to do with 1973

• Evidence appears to be more anecdotal

Kornbluh Reading:

• Yeah, that’s bullshit.

• Declassified documents show that the US was planning something

• US connections with military leaders (downplayed in Devine) were a lot more robust

• US funded El Mercurio, which continued to support Pinochet proxy coup 

Cuba (during cold war)

• Bay of Pigs- CIA proxy failed overthrow of Fidel Castro

  • Committed by Cuban exiles

  • Failed due to Castro learning from previous US intervention of Guatemala

• Castro overthrew Batista (US friendly dictator)

• In the 1950s, Cuba, though rich in sugar, was very poor otherwise

  • US companies controlled sugar production

    • Super long tradition of American imperialism in Cuba

  • 26th July movement fueled by Anti-Americanism

• Castro forged ties with other Latin American leaders (ie Betancourt in Venezuela)

  • At first seemed moderate

  • Allied with USSR - got weapons from them in Cuban Missile Crisis

    • US brought diplomats from Bolivia to fix things

      • Didn’t work

    • Castro purged generals and procrastinated on elections (he purged the generals and previous dictator officials because he knew the US would try to indirectly intervene as they did in Guatemala)

    • US didn’t get compensation for land reform

    • Both countries fucked around on sugar deals

• In 1959, Eisenhower was told to overthrow Castro

  • Although at this point, Fidel was not a communist

    • Raul and Che were though

    • Sent sanctions

    • Castro went full communist a little later

  • Nationalization of US investment capital

  • Tried to spread revolutionary ideas and build a neutralist bloc

    • Haiti, Panama, DR

    • Tried in Bolivia 

    • Tried abroad in Egypt and Indonesia and Angola

  • Bay of Pigs - ARMED CUBAN EXILES

    • Like in Guatemala

• Discussed in class: was conflict between US and Cuba inevitable, or could it have been avoided?

  • In some cases, such as Grenada, use of force was effective in promoting democracy

  • But in Cuba, the use of force made the issue completely escalate

  • Was US intervention in Cuba an overreaction?

  • Should the mode of US intervention be different based on the Latin American state and who is ruling that state?

Cuba (Post Cold War)

• why has the US continued hostility towards Cuba persisted even after the communist threat was weakened 

• Cuban exiles have a strong hold on electoral politics (Florida)

  • Very opposed to normalizing relationships with Cuba

• US Embargo has been a trap for Cubans

  • Forced international compliance has stagnated the economy.

• Cuba remains resilient despite the economic downturn after the USSR's fall.

• Cuba tried to export revolution

  • Embargo prevented that

• Bush 41 used the CDA to sanction Cuba

• By Clinton, Cuba was a little more democratic (but not very much so)

  • Bad economy

  • Bad for dissent

• After a refugee boat was sunk, Castro opened borders

  • Led to Wet Foot Dry Foot (If you make it on land, you’re free)

• Aid leveraged for new government

  • CANF (Cuban exiles) supported sanctions

  • Farmers liked sanctions less

• Still tough

  • Elian Gonzales case

  • Human smugglers killed

  • Castro blamed US for Cuba’s poverty

  • Cuba falling into China’s arms

Panama

• Omar Torrijos (dictator) negotiated 1977 Panama Canal Deal

• Torrijos died in a plane crash in 1981; General Manuel Noriega took over

• Noriega, once a US ally was now an embarrassment because he was a dictator

  • Took advantage of Colombian Drug trade to embezzle money

  • Reacted to losing elections with extreme violence

  • Generally (pun intended), not a good dude.

• Formerly, Noriega was tolerated even though he sold info to Cuba because he was a valuable US asset.

  • Former CIA asset

  • Helped Reagan intervene abroad

  • Helped the DEA (hypocrisy)

• Noriega shifted into Anti-Americanism

• Panamanians started to be wary of Noriega

  • Roberto Eisenmann tried to get US to intervene

  • Spadafada protested after his brother was tortured and murdered

  • Ambassador Lewis (Jimmy Carter) got exiled for dissent, and lobbied Congress

  • Blantón, a Noriega advisor defected

• Iran Contra-Scandal

• Embassy attack

• Deterioration of relationships

  • Bush tried to leverage sanctions- didn’t work.

• Democrats called Bush weak

• Bush funded opposition in elections

  • Noriega lost, so gunned down people

• Givoldi did a coup,asked for troops

  • US refused

  • Givoldi was later executed

• US banned Panamanian ships from US ports

  • Noriega didn’t like that.

  • After violence, US invaded

    • Invasion was illegal and baseless

    • First intervention against a supposed ally

  • Drug trafficking went up after, but democracy was there.

Puerto Rico

• Being part of the US, probably an important case study

• Each president nominally supports the right to self determination

• Still, PR has a sort of dependence on the US

  • Accepted US rule for democracy

  • US didn’t keep promises

• Muñoz and the Alliance for Progress improved quality of life

  • Muñoz wanted to be a commonwealth or independent

• The PNP pro statehood party is in power (or was, IDK)

• Washington wants PR to take the first step towards self determination

  • PR wants Washington to make the first move because they are not confident the results will be respected

• Determination is not a priority in PR

  • Statehood offers equality

  • Independence offers dignity

  • Commonwealth offers both

• Dithered over referendum in 1989

  • Later referendums have been boycotted, so unreliable

• Is a spiral of an uncaring US and a dependent Latin America

Haiti (should discuss in Friday class)

• What we call a hot mess failed state.

• Chill from 1804 independence to 1910s.

  • US took over until FDR’s Good Neighbor policy

• Father and son Duvalier dictators allied with US

  • So brutal even Reagan stopped working with them

  • Few to no institutions

• Elections happened in 1990

  • Won by a leftist populist priest named Aristide

  • US had funded opponent

• Lots of conservative backlash

  • Lafontant did a failed coup

  • US abided by the results though

• Aristide was overthrown for the first time in 1991

• Cedras took over

  • Super brutal regime

  • US leveraged an embargo for a return to power

• Flood of Haitian refugees

  • Bush 41 sent some to Guantanamo (that sounds familiar)

  • Deported most of them

• US Motives were to spread democracy to curb an influx of refugees

• Clinton didn’t trust Aristide 

  • Only installed him until 1996

  • Broke promise to reverse Bush era immigration policies

  • Leveraged sanctions and Cedras agreed to step down

    • Cedras stalled

  • Conflict in Somalia was a temporary distraction, but eventually Americans were attacked.

  • Clinton sent Carter and threatened military intervention

    • Cedras got the message and stepped down

• US funded elections in 1996

  • Super failure

  • Aristide’s buddy Preval became president

    • Super authoritarian

• US leveraged aid (again) for free elections in 2000

  • Worked a little; Aristide returned to power

• Bush 43 tried to be hands off

• 2004 - another coup

  • Aristide accused US of interfering

• 2006 elections marred with fraud allegations

  • Bush abided by results

  • UN peacekeeping forces from Kenya bought a little stability

• After 2010 earthquake, lots of deaths and instability and health crises

  • Hard to have democracy or quality of life without institutions

Grow’s Conclusion:

• No conclusive evidence supports the claim that economic self interest played a decisive role in any US decisions to intervene 

• “More like justifications for aggressive US action than articulations of policy motivation”

• In none of these interventions was there fear of soviet military aggression that was of principal white house concern

• U.S presidents believed that a passive US response to marxist or other unfriendly regimes in the western hemisphere would create a perception of US weakness in the eyes of the international community, REPUTATION CONCERNS

• In many cases, interventions occurred when the president was under political pressure to live up to their own militant campaign promises

• U.S leaders intervened in order to project their own strength to multiple audiences, foreign and domestic 

• Some interventions were entirely unilateral in nature