Ronald Reagan Made Central America a Killing Field (History refresher for the forgetful while it's still possible.)
In the 1980s, the Reagan administration used Central America as a testing ground to rehabilitate US imperial "hard power" after defeat in Vietnam. The results were predictable: death squads, massacres, and murderous repression of left-wing movements.ti
Latin America has played a crucial role in the history of US empire — and not simply because of its proximity to the US. As historian Greg Grandin argues in the recently reissued Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States and the Making of an Imperial Republic (reviewed by Hilary Goodfriend for Jacobin here), countries south of the border have been used as a crucible in the formation of US policy, a testing ground for its imperial theories, and a touchstone for domestic movements.
One critical moment was the rise of Reaganism, when neoconservatives like Jeane Kirkpatrick and Elliott Abrams steered the US’s foreign policy and rank-and-file members of the New Right took a keen interest in fighting left-wing movements in Central America. Right-wing leaders later used the lessons they gleaned from brutal counterinsurgency programmes in El Salvador in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
. . .
How important has Latin America been for the United States as an imperial power?
It’s been critically important. It’s easy to talk about Latin America as a site in which the US imposes its imperial will, carries out coups and regime changes, and pays no attention to the consequences and disastrous results. But there’s another story to tell. Latin America was a challenge to the founders of the United States. They immediately had to deal with the fact that the Western Hemisphere had multiple republics, and that they shared with the founders of the United States a sense of American exceptionalism.
. . .
Empire’s Workshop looks at the New Deal and the New Right as the quintessential twentieth century political coalitions. Reagan is elected in 1980 running on a programme of restoring US power and moral authority in the world. A lot of neoconservative analysts like Jeane Kirkpatrick saw the crisis not just as a crisis of power but a crisis of confidence. Vietnam scrambled the establishment’s ability to act in the world with an assuredness that it was doing good. Reagan’s task, and Reaganism’s task, wasn’t just to reassert power, but to re-moralise power, re-moralise militarism, and re-moralise markets.
When Reagan comes to power in 1981, there’s not a lot of places in the world where the US can actually act. The Soviet Union is still in existence, they still have nuclear weapons. The Middle East is split between allegiances to the Soviet Union and to United States. Africa’s allegiances are split. Most of South America is under anti-communist dictatorships, following coups that the US had supported: Chile in 1973, Uruguay in 1973, Bolivia in 1971, Paraguay and Argentina in 1976. So South America was secure — it was like a garrison continent.
. . .
John Negroponte was the ambassador in Honduras, where he basically ran death squads. Then he becomes very prominent in the war in Iraq.
My argument is that Latin America allows retrenchment, and then once that retrenchment takes place, the US goes global. Then once going global hits a wall or collapses, the US turns back to Latin America.
More:
https://thewire.in/world/ronald-reagan-made-central-america-a-killing-field
= new reply since forum marked as read
and his idiot spawn
as if time has stood still, dispatching potentially progressive, democratic Presidents before they have enough time to catch their breath in every case. It's going to take a total upheaval to get that racist, murderous bunch to even slightly loosen its grip. It will take something major as their power has been total from the time of the vicious, greedy, soulless invaders who destroyed the indigenous civilization already in place.
I did find a several photos of Lori, going home, which can remind people:
- click for image -
http://tinyurl.com/j32u4w7y
The US corporate media has referred to her as a "terrorist" from the very first, of course. What a shame the US corporate media didn't feel the need to tell their unsuspecting the truth at any point, as always.
I would hope that future citizens will take the plunge and start learning about the history of the Peruvian people and starting to grasp what has been happening in countries with powerful US business/political interests running their governments. Their people have always known. The corrupt have always benefited at the total expense of the voiceless, and powerless, which is actually so much in evidence for those who expect to grow up before extreme old age and learn what everyone else already knows!
Surely glad you mentioned Lori Berenson, Up-In-Arms. Thank you.
of the struggles of so many people fighting for truth and justice across the world … as their stories are buried and time passes on.
A really good resource for knowledge is
https://thirdworldtraveler.com/
So much there for the unsuspecting and uninformed
I can not say thank you enough for sharing this planet with me, Judy Lynn. You have been a true constant source of truth and light 
They've been a constant resource for so long. I discovered them around 2000, and learned to respect them immediately. I'll be pouring all over this link all over again, and kicking myself for getting so tied up in the latest government treachery I forgot all about them.
Anyone can be so well advised to check their articles, their resources, and examine their "Progressive Web Sites" .
I'm not going to lose sight of Third World Traveler again.
Just imagine how different the world would be now if citizens had actually known what the #### was happening at any point!
Reading this resource should assist anyone in knowing how to start seeing behind the deliberate intentional lie.
Thank you, so much, Up In Arms. I've put this link where I won't be losing it again, am going to dive right into it for awareness' sake and future reference.
and he knew so much. I was writing articles and I reached out to him and he was so responsive. I didn’t know his history … only has read some of his work. I also had pretty extensive correspondence with Robert Parry. They were both so encouraging and fearless.
They taught me a lot. They both said to never fear telling the truth and naming names. Told me to keep digging.
Thanks for understanding how special Blum was. He will always be one of my heroes.
To learn you also communicated with Robert Parry as well, is beyond surprising, also!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Parry_(journalist)
Why fool around when you could go right to the top seems to guide you!
Giants. They earned the ultimate respect from people of conscience, people of honor. Their work went world-wide and won't be forgotten. It's historic.
Blum! It would be like reaching Mt. Everest, one would think! He's not just any notable writer, not by any means.
How could you ever go wrong now?
Thank you for sharing this here. Won't forget it.
