ABSTRACT
The United States is the most important external actor in the Latin American and Caribbean subsystem. This chapter presents a broad overview of the policy of the United States toward that region. The discussion begins with an analysis of various factors affecting the position of Latin America, and more recently of the newer Caribbean states, in US foreign policy decisions. The evolution of policies and accompanying doctrines are then traced in some detail, in terms of the factors previously identified. Historically, one of the most perplexing and chronically troublesome aspects of US policy on Latin America was the proper official attitude to be taken toward Latin American governmental forms and behavior and the extension of US values to other states. US attempts to extend the practices of representative democracy and the protection of human rights were ambiguous and vacillating.
