- 31 --
AMERICA'S BACK YARD
"MucraNixon. Mucr a Nixon!"-cDcath toNixon!
Abarrica deblockedthe road.Thecarro ckedwildl y
asthecha ntingmobtriedtooverturnit. Rocksand
iro n batsthuddedagainst it sroofandshatteredit s
w indo w s.In sidethe carRich ardNixon .Vice
Pr esid entofrhcU ni ted Stat es, wasIIIg rea tdanger.
Itwas M ay13, 19 58,in Car acas,th e cap italof
Vcuczucla.Nixon was visitin gth e cityaspartofa
goodwillto urofLatinAmeric a .Buthe found only
hatred 011 the streets o fCaracas. N ixon'slife was
savedwhen atruckforced a w aythroughthe
barricade and his car was ableroaco-lcrat caway.
Whennew softheattack reach edthe U nitedState s
theAmericanpeop le~rereshocked and angry.limit
m ade th emreali ze howmuch so meLatin A m eric ans
hatedand resented thei rcount ry.
Para
comparlir_oca·Cola
yaf-- -~Lati nAmerica isthen am egivento th emainly
SpJllish-speakingcounrriesw hichlie to rhcsourho f
theUnitedSta tes.E \"Crsincerhe e:arlyninet ccn rh
centuryth eUnitedStares hastakena spec ialin r....rest
inwhat happensIIIth eseccunrrjcs.T heyarc irs
clos estneighbo rsandso it isimpo rt ant toth e safety
ofthe U nitedState stom ak es ure:th at noforcign
enemies gaininfluenceIIIthem.In the pastthishasoftenm eantrhar t herulersofth ese
Lat inAmericancount rieshave beenlittle more th an
Americanpuppets.Theiragricultur eand industry
h av e frequently beenAmcri can-conrrollcd.too. A
classic exam p lewasCuba.Up[Qth e I950sirs
railroads.banks. elect ricity ind ustry andlIlan y o f its
bigg estfa rmsw ereallAmeri can-ow llt·d.
In 1933Pr esidentFranklin Ro o sevelt promise dthat
theUnitedStareswould res pecttherighto f Latin
AmericanCOUnt riesto control t heirownaffairsH e
calledthisthe"goo dneighbor"policy. '" wou ld
d edi catethis natio n to th epolicyofthegood
neigh bor. "he said."the nei gh borwhoresp ectsthe
ri ght sofothers."
Roose vel t o rde redhome theAmerican sold iersand
o fficialswhohadbeen runnin g the affairs of Lat in
A meri can co unmcsato netimeoranother for m uch
o fthepastrhirt yyeJ.fs.Nicar agu a. for exam ple.had
been occupiedb y A mericantroops from 1912 to
1933.H e alsogave up rhcUnitedStatl.'S·claimto
inte r fer e ill Pan amaan dCubawhenever itwanted.
ButmanyLat inA m er icanswerenotco nvincedb y
Ro osevd t 's talkaboutbein g a go odneighbor.True.
th e Americantroopshadg e nehorne .Butth e rulers
whotooko verwhenthe sold ierskft-theSomoza
fam ily .whoheldPO'\\'t"fin Nicaragua from 1937 to
1979 , forexam plc--.usua lly did w hat theA me ric ans
ex pectedof'the m.T heSecondWorldwarbroughtbetter timesfo r
Lar in Ame rica. All th e rawmaterialsthatitcould
p ro du ce - coppe r,tin,oi l andcountlesscrhcrs-. were
usedbythewart im e factoriesoftheU ni tedSta res.
The resultwasmore m o neyandmorcjobs-,b uralso
evenmore Am erican con trol.