ABSTRACT
United States (US)–Latin American relations are at a historic turning point. Despite the growing Cold War hysteria in the United States as reflected by Mc-Carthyism, the Good Neighbor Policy toward Latin America continued until 1953. During the Cold War, US representatives often answered Latin American requests for economic assistance by pointing to the huge US defense expenditures. The United States needs the cooperation of the Latin American governments in protecting the environment, or the habitat in which we all live, but has yet to provide the necessary leadership and resources. With the Louisiana Purchase, Cuba had come to be seen as the most strategically vital piece of territory outside the continental limits of the United States. By 1929, over 65 percent of the Cuban economy was in the hands of US owners. It was an age of dollar diplomacy backed up by US gunboats.
