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By Sergei Tagor

Excerpt

During the Cold War period the instruments employed by the Soviet Union in its foreign policy with respect to Latin American countries were mainly anti-imperialism and anti-Americanism. The Soviet leadership believed that it would not be too difficult to stir up anti-Americanism in Latin America. U.S. policy was traditionally regarded there with suspicion, for in the long history of relations between them, the United States had sometimes striven to impose on Latin America unequal economic treaties and agreements and had even resorted to armed intervention. However, when the world was polarized and in the grip of the Cold War, even those tensions that would normally and spontaneously arise between industrialized and developing countries were ascribed to Soviet intrigues.

In reality, the contradictions between the United States and Latin American countries have far from always been due to the machinations of politicians or diplomats. They have a logic of their own--a logic that determines the relations between great powers and countries within their sphere of influence or between developed and developing countries. The existence and importance of these "inherent" contradictions should never be underestimated. However, it should not be overestimated either. The level of the anti-U.S. feelings in Latin American countries fluctuates, now rising, now falling, with the contradictions occasionally reaching the critical point. In spite of this, Latin American countries are invariably interested in maintaining stable and advantageous relations with the United States, and it is only now that the Soviet leadership is beginning to understand this fact.

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The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more