Skip to main content

What issues has instability in Latin America posed to the United States?

Throughout recent history, Latin America has had a significant impact on the United States due to its proximity and close trade relations. There are many economic and political ties between the two regions. Cuban instability has perhaps had the greatest impact on the United States in comparison to instability in other Latin American countries.


Economic Issues Related to Instability


Latin America is the single largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States of America. Any instability in the Latin American supply chain has a corresponding impact on oil prices and availability in the United States. Any instability in regions that supply oil leads to a spike in prices on the American market, which in turn raises the cost of food and other goods that require transportation.


Political Instability


President Kennedy cited Latin America as being "the most critical area in the world." While the United States takes an active role in the development of many different countries around the world, close proximity makes political instability in Latin America of particular concern. The Cold War is a good example of this complex political relationship at work. Between 1947 and 1989, Latin America became a battlefield between capitalism and communism. In an effort to minimize the instability created by these competing ideals, the United States put pressure on nearby Latin American nations to declare their opposition to the Soviet Union. The Rio Pact in 1947 is a primary example of this.


American military intervention has often been the result of instability in Latin America. 1959 marked a period of unrest in Cuba after Fidel Castro's defeat of Batista. Castro's regime nationalized American companies and cut ties between Havana and Washington. In response, the Kennedy administration placed a trade embargo on the island of Cuba, which has had lasting economic effects on both nations to this day. Both the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations used military intervention to further destabilize the Cuban Revolution and isolate the island from other Latin American countries. These tensions reached a peak at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, and since that time, Cuba and the United States have had strained relations. American government officials feared that communism would spread from Cuba throughout Latin America and potentially to the United States if left unchecked.


In summary, instability in Latin America has historically impacted the United States economically and politically.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more