Modern Latin American
History
Carlos Enrique Alemán
carlos.e.aleman@gmail.com
Latin American-U.S.
Relations Books
Shoultz, Lars. Beneath the United States: A History of U.S.
Policy toward Latin America. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1998.
Holden, Robert H. and Eric Zolov, eds. Latin America
and the United States: A Documentary History. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Latin America and U.S.
Relations
• Latin America and U.S. Empire
• Cold War
• Immigration/Latinos in the U.S.
Latin America and U.S.
Empire
• Manifest Destiny
• Mexican-American War
• William Walker
• Central American Canal
• Spanish-American War
• U.S. Occupations (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua)
Background
• Latin American independence
• Manifest Destiny
Mexican-American War
• U.S. immigrants encouraged by Spain and later
newly independent republic of Mexico to settle
northern lands (Texas)
• Settler requirements
• Republic of Texas (1836)
• Texas annexed to United States (1845)
• Mexican-American War (1846)
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
William Walker (18551860)
• Mercenary William Walker invited to settle political
war between two majot parties in Nicaragua
• Takes advantage of unrest and declares himself
president of Nicaragua
• Declares English official language and legalizes
slavery in Nicaragua
Central American Canal
• Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)
• Both the United States and the United Kingdom
renounce the right to build a canal under the exclusive
control of either nation.
• Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901)
• Hay-Herrán Treaty (1903)
• Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903)
Spanish-American War:
“A Splendid Little War”
• Cuban Struggle for Independence
• Sinking of U.S.S. Maine (1898)
• Teller Amendment (1898)
• Treaty of Paris (1898)
U.S. Occupation (Cuba and
Puerto Rico)
• The Platt Amendment (1901)
• The Jones Act (1917)
Nicaraguan Occupation
• Political unrest in Nicaragua
• US sends in Marines
• Bryan-Chamorro Treaty
• Sandino
• Somoza
Good Neighbor Policy
• FDR
• Non-Intervention
The Cold War
• Guatemala 1954
• Cuba 1959
• Chile 1972
• Nicaragua 1979
Guatemala 1954
• Ten Years of Spring
• Juan Jose Arevalo
• Jacobo Arbenz
• Operation PBSuccess
Cuba 1959
• 26th of July Movement
• Cuban Revolution overthrows Fulgencio Bautista
• Bay of Pigs Invasion
• Missile Crisis
Chile 1972
• Salvador Allende
• Augusto Pinochet
Nicaragua 1979
• Somoza Dynasty
• FSLN
• 1979 Revolution
• Contra War
Latino Immigration
• Mexican Repatriation (1930s)
• Bracero Program (1942-1964)
• Operation Wetback (1954)
Latino Immigration
• Immigration Act (1965)
• Cuban Adjustment Act (1966)
• IRCA (1986)
• Cuban Migration Agreement “Wet Foot/Dry Foot
Policy” (1995)
• NACARA (1996)
Latino Immigration
• California Proposition 187 (1994)
• Arizona SB 1070 (2010)
• Georgia HB 87 (2011)