ABSTRACT
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. The Organization of American States (OAS), a regional body established to settle inter-American disputes was launched in 1948 and formally established in 1951. The structure of dependency and the dominance in the commercial sphere of American-based multinational companies seemed to many to bear responsibility for the stark levels of inequality. In short, there seemed little need, from the perspective of national security, for a Marshall Plan for Latin America. Marshall Plan officially known as the European Recovery Programme (ERP). The failed Bay of Pigs invasion represented one method of fighting the spectre of communism in Latin America. Of all the countries in Latin America, it was Cuba that caused the greatest problem for American administrations.
