ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the policies toward Latin America and the Caribbean that Washington designed and put into effect during this contentious and controversial “war,” from 1947 to 1991. It provides a brief overview of America’s quest for hegemony to provide historical context. The chapter describes the actions taken by the United States throughout the region to contain communism during the initial Cold War period, from the early 1950s until around the mid-1970s. It looks at the second Cold War period, during the 1980s, when Washington stepped up its containment policy, but mostly in Central America, after a brief cooling period in the late 1970s. The chapter discusses the aftermath of the Cold War period and point out that although Washington was in many ways successful in containing communism, US hegemony now appears to be less consolidated in Latin America and the Caribbean.
