The recent military action by the United States against Venezuela, which reportedly included the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro, is not an isolated event. It fits into a long and complex pattern of Washington's involvement in Latin American affairs, marked by military interventions and support for authoritarian regimes.
Cold War Era: Overthrowing Governments and Backing Coups
The United States has a deep history of shaping political outcomes in its hemisphere. A key early example occurred in Guatemala in 1954. President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman was forced from power by mercenaries trained and funded by Washington. This move came after his land reforms threatened the interests of the American corporation United Fruit Company. Decades later, in 2003, the US officially admitted the CIA's role in this coup, justifying it as part of the fight against communism.
Another infamous failure was the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in 1961. About 1,400 anti-Castro militants, trained and financed by the CIA, attempted to land and overthrow Fidel Castro's communist government. The operation was a disaster, resulting in over a hundred deaths on each side and solidifying Castro's rule.
In 1965, citing a potential communist threat, the US sent Marines and paratroopers into the Dominican Republic. Their mission was to crush an uprising that supported the return of ousted leftist president Juan Bosch.
Support for Dictatorships and Operation Condor
Throughout the 1970s, Washington provided active support to several brutal military dictatorships across South America. These regimes were seen as crucial allies against left-wing movements during the Cold War.
The US played a role in the 1973 coup in Chile that overthrew President Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power. Furthermore, declassified documents show that US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger encouraged Argentina's military junta in 1976 to swiftly conclude its 'dirty war,' a conflict that led to the disappearance of at least 10,000 dissidents.
This era also saw the birth of Operation Condor, a secret campaign where the dictatorships of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil collaborated to hunt down and eliminate left-wing opponents across borders. This operation had the tacit support of the United States.
Central American Wars and Island Invasions
The 1980s were dominated by proxy conflicts in Central America. After the Sandinistas took power in Nicaragua in 1979, US President Ronald Reagan secretly authorised CIA support for the Contra rebels. This aid, partly funded by illegal arms sales to Iran, fuelled a civil war that claimed 50,000 lives before ending in 1990.
Reagan also sent military advisers to El Salvador to help the government fight the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in a war that resulted in 72,000 deaths between 1980 and 1992.
In 1983, the US launched Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada. Marines and Rangers invaded the island after the assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and amid concerns about Cuban construction at an airport. The UN widely condemned the action, which left more than a hundred people dead.
Finally, in 1989, President George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in Operation Just Cause. The goal was to capture General Manuel Noriega, a former US intelligence asset wanted on drug charges. The invasion involved 27,000 US troops and officially caused 500 deaths, though NGOs estimate the toll was in the thousands. Noriega was captured and imprisoned in the US for over two decades.
The allegations by the late Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro that Washington backed coup attempts against them are rooted in this extensive and contentious history. The recent events in Venezuela appear to be a new, dramatic chapter in a long-standing geopolitical story.
