#147 Economics and Security: Contradictions in United States-Latin American Relations

By Sergio Bitar

From the Introduction

Shifts in economic power between Latin America and the United States have not been accompanied by similar changes in security relations. This imbalance has caused increasing divergence between Latin America's strategic interests and the limit imposed by United States' security objectives in the hemisphere. Whereas the United States has given priority to its security aims in Latin America, Latin America has stressed its development goals.

This divergence has usually been resolved in favor of United States objectives. United States supremacy and Latin America's economic vulnerability have been the principal reasons for the subordination of Latin American aims to those of the United States. However, the degree of subordination is changing. Latin America's increased economic capacity has created new leverage. At the same time, the decline in the United States' economic power has limited the United States government's potential to impose its own criteria on Latin American governments. Both processes have generated conditions leading to a less asymmetrical realignment in strategic interests.