Monday, December 9, 2013
US-Chile Relations in the 50s and 60s
Consider the US's role in Chile during Ibanez and Alessandri's presidencies. How were both of these presidents arguably appeasing the US and other western powers? Now consider why Chile was so important to the US by the time 1970 rolls around. The US cannot afford to have another Cuba. Are you starting to see why the US was enforcing containment-esque policies throughout Latin America?
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The US took control because they were concerned about the growing popularity of the left candidate Allende (an any other leftist candidates to come.) As you said in class, Chile also had a rather booming industry of coper and food during the war, allowing them to be important suppliers to other countries thus making their economic status a matter of interest to the American government who did not want any leftist leaders to gain access to the power Chile's money could buy.
ReplyDeleteThe United States wanted to be on good terms with Chile. They were afraid that too much western influence would create a military culture in Chile. The US was also still in their containment faze, so the thought of Russia and Chinese having any influence on an America was a big problem for the States.
ReplyDeleteThe reading specifically states that it was necessary for presidents like Kennedy to intervene and control some of Chile's politics in order to distract them from the communist influence of leaders such as Castro in Cuba. With right leaning presidents such as Ibanez and Allessandri, the US felt more comfortable. However as Allende's votes were increasing each election, uneasiness from the US rose, thus requiring them to continue to enforce these containment-esque policies in Chile.
ReplyDeleteThe US wanted to ease their polices without making Chile feel threatened. There was a huge mess with Cuba, and they didn't want that to happen again. It was tense though because Allende was becoming more popular, so the US had to find a way to contain that.
ReplyDeleteThe US was concerned about Chile being influenced by Communists, so it took control. Based on the reading, it seemed like the US and Chile had a mutual relationship that resulted in both countries benefitting economically from it. The reading says that "The US considered Chile to be a country of political, strategic, and industrial importance".
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ReplyDeleteThe United States did not want another Cuba close to their back door. Especially since the US was in the midst of the Cold War. The communist were pushing for a soviet-style labor force in Cuba as we discussed in the labor unions. And as the reading suggests without the intervention presidents such as Kennedy those communist labor unions would gain enough power to vote in Allende. In fact toward the end of this ordeal involving the US and Chile Allende started to become more and more popular each voting session. As per-usual this caused concern for the United States.
ReplyDeleteIbanez and Alessandri both favored the right, which was of course comforting to much of Chile and the US. In fact, the IMF under Ibanez was seen as "an extension of US economic and political power." Leftists in Chile accused Alessandri of essentially being "the planned global strategy of American corporations...walking off with all the economic gains." Basically, Kennedy wanted to distract Chile from Castro's influence in Cuba, and ultimately avoid future communist prosperity.
ReplyDeleteChile was the south american country considered as most stable, they were leading concerning economy. Obviously, as Chile was a country with a high economical influence in the Americas, the United States had a high interest in having a close relationship. But with Allende's upcoming popularity it seemed almost as if Chile would develop a closer relationship to communist countries like Cuba and the Ussr. In order to prevent this, the US government enforced containment politics in that area.
ReplyDeleteThe United States took control Chile mainly because of the greater economical standpoint that they had over many other countries in the Americas. The United States thought it would be a good idea to nicely force a relationship with them. Also, we were still in the phase of quarantining communism and when the US realized the threat that Russia and China are getting involved, they needed to get more involved then them.
ReplyDeletethe US wanted to ensure that it had a friend in south america. after the cuban missile crisis, we knew that it was only a matter of time before south america might join with communism. Russia and china were already communists and we wanted to make sure that we had some control over what was going to happen in the south american part of the world.
ReplyDeleteWith how Cuba quickly turn into a communism state and been used as a nuke platform aiming at america, US just simply does not have enough patient to let communism remain epidemic in southern america and could not afford its happening. Therefore, economy investment comes in to win them over communism.
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