A History of U.S. Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean

References & Edit History

Images & Videos

“The Pull of the Monroe Magnet” by Udo Keppler in 1913

A map of Latin America and the Caribbean shows several countries highlighted in blue with large arrows pointing toward them, overlaid with the text "U.S. interventions."

Fulgencio Batista: U.S.-backed leadership in Cuba

Fidel Castro stands on a makeshift balcony draped with Cuban flags, addressing a crowd in Santa Clara, Cuba, surrounded by supporters and armed revolutionaries.

Cuba-U.S. relations after the revolution

Diego Rivera's La Gloriosa Victoria and the 1954 Guatemalan Coup

The human legacy of U.S. intervention in Guatemala

Two military tanks with armed soldiers drive down a city street toward La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, Chile, passing historic buildings during the 1973 coup.

Augusto Pinochet and military rule in Chile

Repression after the 1973 Chilean coup

A History of U.S. Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean: Media

Videos

A map of Latin America and the Caribbean shows several countries highlighted in blue with large arrows pointing toward them, overlaid with the text "U.S. interventions."

A Brief History of U.S. Intervention in Latin America

How did we get from the Monroe Doctrine to covert ops?

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

“The Pull of the Monroe Magnet” by Udo Keppler in 1913

“The Pull of the Monroe Magnet” by Udo Keppler in 1913

Political cartoon depicting an image of Uncle Sam sitting with legs outstretched...

Udo J. Keppler/Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (2011649618)

Fulgencio Batista: U.S.-backed leadership in Cuba

Fulgencio Batista: U.S.-backed leadership in Cuba

The authoritarian government of Fulgencio Batista dominated Cuban politics in the...

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Fidel Castro stands on a makeshift balcony draped with Cuban flags, addressing a crowd in Santa Clara, Cuba, surrounded by supporters and armed revolutionaries.

The Cuban Revolution and a new political order

Speaking from a makeshift balcony in Santa Clara, Cuba, Castro rallied supporters...

© Lee Lockwood—The Chronicle Collection/Getty Images

Cuba-U.S. relations after the revolution

Cuba-U.S. relations after the revolution

Fidel Castro in 2004, following more than four decades of political estrangement...

Jose Goitia/AP Images

Diego Rivera's La Gloriosa Victoria and the 1954 Guatemalan Coup

Diego Rivera's La Gloriosa Victoria and the 1954 Guatemalan Coup

La Gloriosa Victoria (1954), a painting by Mexican artist Diego Rivera,...

© History and Art Collection/Alamy

The human legacy of U.S. intervention in Guatemala

The human legacy of U.S. intervention in Guatemala

An Indigenous woman and child sit as another woman walks past a mural in Guatemala...

© Orlando Sierra—AFP/Getty Images

Two military tanks with armed soldiers drive down a city street toward La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, Chile, passing historic buildings during the 1973 coup.

Coup d'état of 1973

Tanks approaching the presidential palace in Santiago, Chile, on September 11, 1973,...

Horacio Villalobos—Corbis Historical/Getty Images

Augusto Pinochet and military rule in Chile

Augusto Pinochet and military rule in Chile

Following the 1973 U.S.-supported coup against Pres. Salvador Allende, Pinochet governed...

© Robert Nickelsberg—The Chronicle Collection/Getty Images

Repression after the 1973 Chilean coup

Repression after the 1973 Chilean coup

Soldiers guard detainees held at Santiago's National Stadium following the 1973 military...

© Marcelo Montecino/Getty Images

Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua, 1989

Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua, 1989

The contra guerrillas were largely former members of Nicaragua's disbanded National...

© Scott Wallace—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Contra training in the Everglades

Contra training in the Everglades

Contra fighters train in the Florida Everglades in 1981 as part of a U.S.-backed...

© H. Christoph—ullstein bild/Getty Images

Protesters against the war in Nicaragua, 1986

Protesters against the war in Nicaragua, 1986

Members of Boston Feminists marching outside the office of the CIA on Winter Street...

© Tom Landers—The Boston Globe/Getty Images

U.S. occupation of Haiti and civilian violence, 1929

U.S. occupation of Haiti and civilian violence, 1929

“À Haïti, les Américains font parler la poudre” (“In Haiti the Americans let gunpowder...

© Print Collector—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

End of the U.S. occupation of Haiti

End of the U.S. occupation of Haiti

Photograph of U.S. Marines marching in Haiti in July 1934, weeks before American...

© Bettmann/Getty Images

Venezuelan rally against U.S. military actions

Venezuelan rally against U.S. military actions

A protester holding a sign that reads “Yankee, get your claws out of Venezuela” during...

© Pedro Mattey—picture alliance/Getty Images

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela speaks at the podium with the United Nations emblem during the General Assembly in New York City.

Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chávez, 2002

President Chávez speaking before the United Nations General Assembly in 2002. Chávez's...

Michelle Poiré/UN Photo

U.S. seizure of Venezuelan Pres. Nicolás Maduro

U.S. seizure of Venezuelan Pres. Nicolás Maduro

Screenshot of a Truth Social post by U.S. Pres. Donald Trump showing Nicolás Maduro...

© Donald Trump via Truth Social