ABSTRACT
This development owed much to Latin American dissatisfaction with the reality and implications of American domination. American economic and political dominance of the Western Hemisphere had been well established in the first half of the twentieth century and was justified under the principles of the Monroe Doctrine. Whether through direct intervention, as had been the case until the early 1930s, or via local dictators (such as the Somozas in Nicaragua, Batista in Cuba or Trujillo in the Dominican Republic), the United States effectively controlled its Central American neighbours to its own economic and political advantage. The South American countries were exempt from the presence of American troops, but their economies depended heavily on the United States. The Second World War, by removing any serious challengers to
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Washington’s hegemony (such as Britain, Germany or Japan) from Latin American markets, only heightened American influence.
