Cold War in Latin America

The Cold War in Latin America was the regional struggle over political power and social change shaped by U.S. and Soviet rivalry, local movements, and interventions.

Cuban Revolution: The 1959 overthrow of Fulgencio Batista’s government by a revolutionary movement led by Fidel Castro. It created the region’s first enduring communist government and sharpened U.S.–Cuban conflict.
Operation Condor: A transnational campaign of political repression coordinated by South American military dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s. It linked anticommunist regimes through surveillance, kidnapping, and assassination across borders.
Good Neighbor policy: A U.S. policy of nonintervention and improved relations with Latin American countries, announced in the 1930s. Its retreat from direct military occupation framed, but did not prevent, later intervention.
Dirty War: A period of state terrorism in Argentina, especially from 1976 to 1983, in which thousands were disappeared. Anticommunist repression produced mass disappearances and enduring demands for accountability.
Non-Aligned Movement: An international movement of states that sought independence from the U.S.- and Soviet-led blocs. Latin American governments and movements sometimes pursued autonomy rather than alignment with either superpower.
Bay of Pigs Invasion: A failed 1961 invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles trained and supported by the United States. The invasion deepened Cuba’s alignment with the Soviet Union.
School of the Americas: A U.S. Army training institution established in Panama in 1946 to train Latin American military personnel. Its training connected regional armed forces to U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine.
Guatemalan Revolution: A period of democratic reform in Guatemala from 1944 to 1954, ending with the overthrow of Jacobo Árbenz. Its land reform and political conflict preceded the 1954 coup and regional anticommunist intervention.
Salvadoran Civil War: A 1979–1992 armed conflict between El Salvador’s government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front. U.S. support for the government and outside aid to insurgents prolonged a devastating war.
Latin American dependency theory: A family of theories explaining underdevelopment through unequal economic relations between core and peripheral countries. It interpreted regional inequality through global economic structures, not only ideological rivalry.

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