ABSTRACT
The history of inter-American relations as viewed from the Latin American side is a history of persistent attempts to attach strings to US policy vis-a-vis Latin America. Thus, when the Organization of American States was founded in 1948, its charter contained an all-inclusive prohibition of intervention which applied to direct and indirect, military or non-military attempts to interfere with the internal affairs of another member of the organization. The Reagan administration proper followed a course of deliberate uncertainty: Politicians close to the administration served warnings that direct military action was possible while at the same time it was officially denied that any such action was imminent. The Esquipulas agreement is based on the notion of a peace process. The setbacks which both processes suffered were to be expected. Proposals for the convocation of regional conferences on security and cooperation in the Third World have emanated from quite different sources.
