ABSTRACT
Democracy or totalitarianism; free markets or statism; “the free world” or communism such were the choices provided by US theories of interdependency. There seemed to be little room for compromise. “No region in the western hemisphere has been more subject to political unrest than has the Caribbean area. Nor has any region been more subject to dictatorial rule and generally undemocratic practices.” That 1952 assessment by historian Charles C. Cumberland was widely shared by US policymakers. A lot of people assume that Latin America is in the bag. Perhaps this is true from the military point of view, but in terms of ideology Latin America is by no means a sure thing. Throughout the Hemisphere we are presented with very serious problems in efforts to extend the American ideology—to reach the minds and hearts of fellow Americans, so as to solidify them against common enemy.
