U.S./Latin American Relations and Migration

by Dave Bennion

Published October 06, 2008 @ 05:47PM PT

The U.S. has a history of armed intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean dating back to the first half of the 19^th century, which led to increased emigration to the U.S.  This story isn't well known in the U.S., but it's essential background for understanding some of the causes of Latin American migration and where the U.S. stands in relation to its neighbors to the south.

The Monroe Doctrine

In 1823, the administration of U.S. President James Monroe promulgated a policy designed to maintain U.S. supremacy in the hemisphere, the Monroe Doctrine.  The Wikipedia entry on the topic summarizes the doctrine as follows:

Essentially, the United States was informing the powers of the Old World that the Americas were no longer open to European colonization, and that any effort to extend European political influence into the New World would be considered by the United States "as dangerous to our peace and safety." The United States would not interfere in European wars or internal affairs, and expected Europe to stay out of the affairs of the New World.

Direct conflicts resulting in transfer of territory to the U.S. occurred in Mexico and Puerto Rico and extended westward to Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines.

Over time, it became clear that the Monroe Doctrine also encompassed the right of the U.S. to actively intervene in the region to protect its interests, which Theodore Roosevelt formalized in 1904.  Often, intervention was justified on the grounds of protecting U.S. business and financial interests, for example in Haiti in the early 20^th century.  In fact, before "banana republic" became a watchword for overpriced khakis, it referred to the servile dictatorships established at the bidding of the U.S.-based United Fruit (Chiquita) and Standard Fruit (Dole) companies in Central America.

A Pattern Emerges

Continuing these practices and policies, during the 20^th century, a pattern emerged in U.S. relations with several Caribbean and Central American countries: invasion and occupation, installation of pro-U.S. dictators, and support for government programs of torture and mass murder in a series of civil conflicts.  This happened to one degree or another in Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Panama.

In the 1970s and 1980s, fearful of the spread of communism in South America, the U.S. encouraged an anti-democratic coup in Chile and provided intelligence, military, and financial support to oppressive regimes in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil through U.S.-sponsored Operation Condor.

The number of New World countries untouched by U.S. intervention is vanishingly small.  And the result has been hundreds of thousands-probably millions-killed, and millions of refugees created.

Since the 1980s, U.S. involvement in Latin America has continued to be problematic.  For decades, the U.S. military has trained Latin American soldiers at the School of the Americas (now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) at Fort Benning, Georgia.  Reports of human rights abuses and massacres by graduates of the school have been well documented.

Central American Immigration to the U.S.

Refugees from the Central American civil wars of the 1970s and 1980s-conflicts for which the U.S. bears much responsibility-made their way to U.S. cities, where some became involved in U.S.-based gangs for self-protection and were later deported for criminal convictions.  These deportees brought with them organizational techniques and U.S. connections and during the 1990s and 2000s, U.S.-based gangs flourished in the unstable, weapons-rich environments of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.  The extreme lawlessness and turmoil fomented by these gangs in turn led to new refugees to the U.S., but the welcome mat, such as it was during the 1980s, had now been withdrawn.

Before 9/11, the visa waiver program making visitor visas unnecessary for most European countries had been in place for some favored South American countries like Argentina and Uruguay.  This policy was rescinded after 9/11, leading to stories of Argentines paying coyotes to help them cross the U.S.-Mexican border in the wake of the economic crisis of 2002.

Visa availability for unskilled Latin Americans in general is low-certainly far below the historical levels availed southern and eastern Europeans during the Ellis Island era.

In short, the history of U.S. extraction of Latin American resources, exploitation of its populations, and support for murderous regimes has helped retard economic growth in the hemisphere and caused waves of economic and political refugees.  Once those migrants arrived in the U.S., they were often seen as culturally alien invaders or criminals.  Most norteamericanos (North Americans) know little of the history of U.S. foreign policy in the hemisphere and the ways it has augmented immigration to the U.S.  Most latinoamericanos know this history all too well.