The LatAm 'Threat' Narrative: A Perpetual Sequel
FIRST INSTANCE: The Domino Theory (1950s) The notion that political shifts in Latin American nations posed a direct threat to US national security gained significant traction during the Cold War. While President Eisenhower popularized the 'domino theory' primarily in Southeast Asia, its application to Latin America was profound. In 1954, the CIA orchestrated a coup in Guatemala, overthrowing
democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán. The official pretext was his perceived communist sympathies and land reforms that encroached on the United Fruit Company's holdings. This intervention was packaged as a necessary defense against Soviet expansion. (CIA, 1954 declassified documents) REPETITIONS: 'Strategic' Interventions and 'Counternarcotics' Wars (1970s-2000s) The playbook was
rerun repeatedly. In 1973, the US supported the military coup against Chile's socialist President Salvador Allende, leading to Augusto Pinochet's brutal dictatorship, which saw 40,000 citizens killed or disappeared. The justification? Preventing another 'communist' state in the hemisphere. (Church Committee, 1975). Fast forward to 2002, when the US tacitly backed a failed coup against Hugo Chávez
in Venezuela, framing him as an anti-democratic, populist threat. The consistent thread is the labeling of independent-minded leaders—regardless of their democratic mandates—as 'instigators of instability' or 'proxies' for hostile external powers. The 'war on drugs' became another convenient vector, allowing for extensive military and intelligence presence under the guise of policing, often while