Good Intentions are not enough: United States Foreign Policy Toward Latin America in the Twentieth Century

• Autor: Barreto Velázquez, Norberto
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2019
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:revistaspuc:article/21337
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/historica/article/view/21337
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Interventionism; Economic interests; Geopolitical interests; Ideological Determinism; Racism; Intervencionismo; intereses económicos; intereses geopolíticos; determinismo ideológico; racismo

This essay examines the US government’s attempts throughout the 20th century to improve its relations with Latin America. It shows that most of these efforts were motivated by external factors such as wars or conflicts with other world powers. Although genuine, these attempts were ultimately subordinate to the United States’ geopolitical and economic foreign policy priorities. Racial elements and, especially, the ignorance of US policymakers dedicated to Latin American affairs, played a role in limiting the success of US initiatives. The essay concludes that a world power’s good intentions alone do not qualify as behaving like a good neighbor.