America's Backyard

In the time period of the Cold War, there wasn't only action and tensions going on in countries in the Eastern hemisphere. We have learned about the communist uprisings/movements in Vietnam, Korea, etc.. Also we have learned about the communist revolution in Cuba from Fidel Castro, but there is also more going on in the neighboring countries of the U.S. and Cuba. An unexpected communist uprising, being the first in Central or South America, was occurring in Guatemala. Guatemala was heavily based on the United Fruit company, where that company actually owned railroads, ports, etc.. The leader of Guatemala who was a communist was Arbenz. Unfortunately for him, he failed to maintain control any longer by the Americans. However, this wasn't going to be a hopeless time for the Latin-American countries to give up on a communist regime. There was a revolution in Cuba to overthrow the dictator of Cuba, in which the U.S. had assigned just like in other countries. Now Fidel Castro took control of Cuba, showing anti-american actions by controlling U.S. properties in Cuba and being communist. Cuba and Guatemala were in a similar situation because the U.S. tried to overthrow the communist leaders in both countries. Later on, there will be more up risings in countries such as Niguaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Chile, Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic. Meanwhile in Chile, there was a popular candidate that got elected president and his name was Salvador Allende. Allende having empathy for the poor in Chile, wanted to make regulations that would help the poor. This upset the rich and the U.S.. To the U.S. this seemed communistic and so they set CIA officials to overthrow the leader Allende of Chile. The CIA payed the Chilean military to bomb the palace where Allende was at, and because Chile was a poor country, they agreed to the deal. The U.S. also in Niguaragua, they funded a lot in the Contras who were fighting the communists. Altough they helped each other, they had a bad relationship. And Even in El Salvador where the civil war breaks out is considered the most brutal fighting/war in Central America. The U.S. is so sensitive from neighboring countries going communist that now they invaded Grenada because of communist leader. From all the involvement in Central and South America, we can see just how paranoid and worried the U.S. gets when these communists popup near their country.