ABSTRACT

During the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan's positions on Latin America offered a stark contrast to Carter's. In addition to his fervent opposition to the Canal treaties, Reagan defended both Augusto Pinochet's Chilean government and the Argentine military regime in its war against "a well-equipped force of 15,000 terrorists". He criticized Carter's policies on human rights, and non-proliferation for antagonizing friendly military dictators. Reagan's administration sent the Soviets the first signal by drawing a line in Central America, and the second by embracing the military governments of South America. The Reagan administration's anticommunism and its decision to distance itself from its predecessor led it to embrace military governments in Latin America that the Carter administration had treated coolly because of human rights violations. The "Reagan Doctrine" was a replica of the Communists' support of national liberation movements. The administration's role in organizing, training, and supplying the contras was the same role it accused Nicaragua of playing with Salvador n guerrillas.