US Imperialism Alone Can’t Explain the Triumph of the Right in Latin America
The United States has repeatedly intervened in Latin America to overthrow democratically elected governments and install right-wing dictatorships. But homegrown far-right forces in Latin America itself have often proved just as important as US meddling.
Supporters of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, son of dictator Anastasio Somoza, during his funeral in 1980. (Bettman / Getty Images)
Histories of the Cold War in Latin America often center the United States’ bloody footprint in the region. And with good reason: US crimes in the region committed in the name of anticommunism included propping up dictatorships, overthrowing democratic governments, and enabling genocide.
A new book by historian Vanni Pettinà takes a different approach. His recently translated A Compact History of Latin America’s Cold War shines a light on the role of Latin American nations on both sides of the region’s bitter conflicts. Rather than reducing these struggles to mere proxy wars between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR), he advocates for recognizing “peripheries as active historical agents” in the revolutionary and counterrevolutionary struggles that rocked Latin America between 1947 and 1989.
Readers looking for a history of US imperialism can find them in works like Eduardo Galeano’s classic Open Veins of Latin America or anything by historian Greg Grandin. But Pettinà’s nuanced interpretation has something to offer even the most ardent anti-imperialists.
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