United States Coups & Entrapment of Immigrants

The vast majority of the public is clueless about large portions of our history, and the claim that the United States is "the leaders of the free world," and that we've been fighting to "defend freedom and democracy" for decades!

For a long time I was one of them even though I paid close attention to the news and I thought I was better informed than most people. Mark Twain once said "If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed." This is as true today as it was when he was alive; if anything it's much worse, since over 95% of the media is now controlled by a fraction of 1% of the wealthiest people in the world.

It wasn't until I started reading alternative media or good non-fiction library books that I started to realize how bad traditional media was and that they withhold or distort an enormous amount of history or current events. For a while I even cheered on a few of our wars based on lies, without realizing the lies were much worse than I thought, although even then I had relatively minor criticisms of how they were carried out.

When Joe Biden recently tweeted that he supported democracy and independence of five Central American countries someone quickly pointed out that this was a list of countries we've done coups in, or at least intervened in and attempted coups, and there were many more countries that suffered even worse damages, as some of the responses pointed out.

A couple people questioned whether we supported a coup in Costa Rica and El Salvador; however, even if some people don't think this fits the category there was plenty of intervention in both those countries and dozens more countries where the CIA did support coups. Perhaps the most comprehensive list of coups and interventions came from William Blum author of Killing Hope and he continued adding to his list of interventions after his book was published, with at least one updated edition, listing about three dozen successful coups and another two dozen additional coups. Two of those attempted coups were in Costa Rica, which probably had less intervention than most of Central or South America.

According to Wikipedia there was a coup in El Salvador in 1979, even though William Blum doesn't list this as one of the CIA's successful coups, the Carter and Reagan administration supported the new government after the fact, even when they began killing their opponents in the eighties with notorious death squads. There's a possibility that the CIA was just never caught at that coup, but even if they weren't involved at all, the support they provided later was as bad if not worse than a coups when El Salvador became a terrorist state torturing and killing their own people like many other Central or South American countries. The only country that I know of that didn't have much if any intervention from the United States is Belize; however, they were under control of the British at least until 1981, and British troops remained there after they became independent, which may be the only reason the CIA left them alone, along with the fact that they're so small.

William Blum reported on many coups and efforts to suppress democracy around the world by the United States, but even he couldn't cover them all; another one that he may have missed was a coup by Fulgencio Batista, who was actually involved in two coups, but the first one was against another tyrant, and in cooperation with other prominent Cubans and resulted in the 1940 Constitution of Cuba which was "widely considered one of the most progressive constitutions at the time, it provided for land reform, public education, a minimum wage and other social programs."

Batista served as the first president under this Constitution; however, when his chosen successor lost he began to undermine the Cuban government as U.S. Ambassador Spruille Braden indicated when he wrote:

It is becoming increasingly apparent that President Batista intends to discomfit the incoming Administration in every way possible, particularly financially. A systematic raid on the Treasury is in full swing with the result that Dr. Grau will probably find empty coffers when he takes office on October 10. It is blatant that President Batista desires that Dr. Grau San Martin should assume obligations which in fairness and equity should be a matter of settlement by the present Administration.[40]

Shortly after this he left Cuba for the United States. "I just felt safer there," he said. He stayed in the United States until shortly before he ran for office a second time and conducted the second coup when it was clear that he was going to lose, and little is reported about what he did in the United States at that time. Once in office he enabled the mafia to do pretty much what they wanted, as long as he got a big cut, and he also enabled United States business interests to dominate other sectors of the economy, at the expense of the people who were being oppressed and paid a heavy price. During the presidential campaign, after he was overthrown, John F. Kennedy said:

Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years ... and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state—destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista—hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend—at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.[49]

While he was in office, American corporations dramatically increased their investment in Cuba, at the expense of the people, which is part of the reason that the CIA was so interested in Cuba, and between the kickbacks from corporations and the mafia, he amassed $300 million, and he and his supporters may have looted another $700 million in fine art and cash as the fled into exile. This is part of a pattern of behavior for many corrupt politicians, including ones installed as a result if CIA coups, like Augusto Pinochet, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and probably the Somoza family, all had fortunes when they were removed from power, although Pinochet hid his fortune better than others. The Somoza's rose to power, before the creation of the CIA, partly with the help of the marines and stayed in power with the help of the CIA even if many sources don't officially claim the coup putting the first Somoza in power involved the US government, but they supported him shortly after under FDR who famously said "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." Once the CIA was established they supported the Somoza family from the beginning, and when they were overthrown, they supported the Contras, who were closely tied to the Somoza's when the Somoza family was too toxic to support.

I have no doubt that if you search through the list of countries where there were coups supported by the CIA that you'll find many more dictators that made a fortune plundering their country, while helping international corporations increase profits, often by oppressing their people, in many cases with death squads and massive amounts of torture to keep them in line, like Pinochet and the Shah. One of the most famous was Ferdinand Marcos, who wasn't initially a favorite of the CIA, but once he was in power, the CIA agreed to work with him and look the pother way while he plundered his country. It's standard operating procedure for the CIA to put the wealth of multinational corporations well ahead of poor people, even when they're being tortured and killed on a massive scale, including most South or Central American countries many that had notorious death squads with the support of the United States.

One of the most notorious coups followed by death squads with the support of the CIA was the 1976 Argentine coup d'état. According to Wikipedia, "The coup d'état had been planned since October 1975, and the United States Department of State learned of the preparations two months before its execution. Henry Kissinger would meet several times with Argentine Armed Forces leaders after the coup, urging them to destroy their opponents quickly before outcry over human rights abuses grew in the United States.[11][2][3]." This means that, at a minimum, the United States offered tacit support for the coup before it happened then active support of it immediately after it happened. Kissinger's advice is something that Machiavelli recommended hundreds of years ago to control the masses through fear. However, if you consider Operation Condor which was a CIA plan of repression and state terror that was implemented throughout the cone of South America in at least six countries it may be more likely that this coup was actively supported and encouraged by the CIA ahead of time, since it played into their hands putting a right wing junta in power that was willing to carry out their agenda.

Most credible estimates show that at least 60,000 were killed; according to the Archives of Terror there were "50,000 people murdered, 30,000 people disappeared and 400,000 people imprisoned.[3][4]" This should be considered a minimum, although it's virtually guaranteed that many more weren't documented, and there's a good chance that a large portion of those "disappeared" were killed. There's little or no chance that they would even want to keep a thorough record of all the people killed, especially the ones that had little value, that might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, often family members, including women and children that they didn't want to live to tell the tale.

Furthermore, many of us were given the impression that Jimmy Carter was much more concerned with civil rights and preventing torture than other presidents, and in some cases, like Nicaragua, he wasn't nearly as bad as those before or after him, but even he supported the Contras, although he didn't support their terrorism, which didn't escalate until Reagan was in office, giving the Nicaraguans a chance to begin some reforms with limited success before the Contras started terrorizing them. But he completely looked the other way at the South American state terror operations and even praised Argentina's dirty war, and gave the shah support as well leading to the revolution in Iran and inciting even more hatred when he gave him shelter, instead of requiring him to be held accountable for his crimes, which would have also implicated the CIA and previous administrations. Furthermore there were at least sixteen or seventeen, if not over twenty, countries liked on Wikipedia's Death squad death squad article that were backed by the United States while the were implementing state terror killing and torturing hundreds if not thousands, often after CIA sponsored coups like Iran, Guatemala, Chile and Argentina.

There were only a couple countries from that article, Russia and East Germany, that were supported by the USSR during the Cold War, although this list may not be complete. Hungary is listed; however, those death squads were while the Nazis were still in power. But, if the stories many of us were told before the Cold War ended were partly true, many of the Warsaw countries may also have had death squads as well, so the Soviets may not have been much better than our allies, although we were misled about both sides, covering up atrocities of our allies and exaggerating those of our enemies. In an article, If Communism Killed Millions, How Many Did Capitalism Kill? 07/27/2020 Umair Haque does a rough estimate showing that Capitalism almost certainly kills far more than Communism, and even though his review isn't what many people would consider a thorough study, I'm inclined to believe that he's right.

Furthermore, the Soviet Union, China and Yugoslavia didn't become as brutal as they were because they actually carried out many of the Socialists policies, or those recommended by Marx and Engels, they claimed to support but because they only pretended to support them and implemented centralized authoritarian dictatorships imposing brutal policies on the people that resulted in mass murder. In the United States they did become brutal in so many other countries because they were supporting their extreme version of Capitalism. In the United States itself, mostly under FDR they implemented many policies that are partially socialists which improved the lives of our own people, which lasted for several decades before there was a massive movement to dismantle these improvements, which haven't caused us to become as oppressive as many of the tyrants we supported in the past, but we're moving in that direction as we speak. Also, if you look at many Social Democracies in Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. it's clear that they did a better job implementing policies helping their own people without resorting to extreme militarism and death squads, either in their own countries or supporting them in pother countries.

Most of the best research on all of this is almost completely absent from the mainstream media, only reported in academic journals or alternative media that most people never see. This includes the following excerpt from Evo Morales speech at the U.N., which was only reported in low profile media outlets when reported at all:

MSM Adamantly Avoids The Word “Coup” In Bolivia Reporting 11/11/2019 by Caitlin Johnstone

At a United Nations Security Council meeting last year, President Morales summed up the true nature of America’s role in the world very accurately, and, it turns out, very presciently.

“I would like to say to you, frankly and openly here, that in no way is the United States interested in upholding democracy,” Morales said. “If such were the case it would not have financed coups d’etat and supported dictators. It would not have threatened with military intervention democratically elected governments as it has done with Venezuela. The United States could not care less about human rights or justice. If this were the case, it would have signed the international conventions and treaties that have protected human rights.It would not have threatened the investigation mechanism of the International Criminal Court, nor would it promote the use of torture, nor would it have walked away from the Human Rights Council. And nor would it have separated migrant children from their families, nor put them in cages.”

“The United States is not interested in multilateralism,” Morales continued. “If it were interested in multilateralism it would not have withdrawn from the Paris Agreement or given the cold shoulder to the global compact on migration, it would not have launched unilateral attacks, nor have taken decisions such as illegally declaring Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. This contempt for multilateralism is motivated by the thirst of the United States for political control and for the seizing of natural resources.”

“Each time that the United States invades nations, launches missiles, or finances regime change, it does so behind a propaganda campaign which incessantly repeats the message that it is acting in the course of justice, freedom and democracy, in the cause of human rights or for humanitarian reasons,” Morales also said.

“The responsibility of our generation is to hand over a fairer and more secure world to the following generation,” Morales concluded. “We will only achieve this dream if we work together to consolidate a multipolar world, a world with common rules that are respected by and defended from all the threats ranged against the United Nations.” Complete article

Evo Morales was right about his claims, including the coups supported by the United States, and even though the mainstream media doesn't report it, this is well documented in a variety of truth commission or other investigations that have gone on over the past several decades. The coup in Argentina was investigated and exposed within a few years after democracy was partly restored and these conclusions are still available today. Apparently Evo was one of the few people familiar with these investigations. I'm sure there are a lot more people in Latin America, and a smaller percentage of people in the United states that are also familiar with the truth about coups in many countries; however, since the corporate media, in the United States, as well as other countries declines to cover it properly the majority of the public is unaware and might be willing to dismiss this as a conspiracy theory, even though the evidence is conclusive and accepted by many academics and governments.

I went into this more in Could Bolivian Coup Threaten Us All? and since then, Elon Musk virtually admitted his support for the coup when he responded to a Tweet criticizing it by Tweeting, “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.” He deleted that tweet within a day or so after it sparked an enormous amount of out rage, and some say it was an obvious joke; however, the circumstances overwhelmingly implies that he was serious and exceptionally smug about it. If you check some traditional media outlets there appears to be an effort to create an alternative version of history, as often happens after coups, and the current government is trying to portray itself as defending democracy, even though they're constantly trying to suppress or distort new elections, and smear Evo Morales. However, this version of truth doesn't stand up to scrutiny with a minimal amount of research, especially for those that remember the more reliable stories as the coup was going on.

And, of course, every-time these coups happen there are an enormous number of refugees looking for some place to go safely, including many that head for the United States, whether they understand what kind of involvement the CIA had in supporting many of these coups or not. It's unlikely that many, if any refugees came all the way from Bolivia, but we get an enormous amount of refugees from Honduras as a result of the coup eleven years ago, and there are still plenty of refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, and other countries our government has intervened in; and, instead of accepting them as refugees, they often deny them asylum, possibly because giving it would be a virtual admission that their part in the coup cased it, then refer to them as "illegal aliens."

A Wikipedia article, Immigration to the United States: Contemporary immigration describes the situation by saying:

Approximately half of immigrants living in the United States are from Mexico and other Latin American countries.[86] Many Central Americans are fleeing because of desperate social and economic circumstances created in part by U.S. foreign policy in Central America over many decades. The large number of Central American refugees arriving in the U.S. have been explained as "blowback" to policies such as U.S. military interventions and covert operations that installed or maintained in power authoritarian leaders allied with wealthy land owners and multinational corporations who crush family farming and democratic efforts, which have caused drastically sharp social inequality, wide scale poverty and rampant crime.[87] Economic austerity dictated by neoliberal policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund and its ally, the U.S., has also been cited as a driver of the dire social and economic conditions, as has the U.S. "War on Drugs," which has been understood as fueling murderous gang violence in the region.[88] Another major migration driver from central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) are crop failures, which are (partly) caused by climate change.[89][90][91][92][93] "The current debate … is almost totally about what to do about immigrants when they get here. But the 800-pound gorilla that’s missing from the table is what we have been doing there that brings them here, that drives them here," according to Jeff Faux, an economist who is a distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute.

Another well researched article describes it as a "conspiracy against refugees;" however, there's an enormous amount of credible evidence to support this conclusion, so we shouldn't dismiss it based on the stereotypes of conspiracy theories:

From Central America to Syria there is a conspiracy against refugees 12/03/2018

Watching the ongoing debate between liberal and right-wing pundits on US mainstream media, one rarely gets the impression that Washington is responsible for the unfolding chaotic situation in Central America. In fact, no other country is as accountable as the United States for the ongoing chaos and resulting refugee crisis. So why, despite the seemingly substantial ideological and political differences between right-wing Fox News and liberal CNN, are both media outlets working hard to safeguard their country’s dirty little secret?

In recent years, state and gang violence — coupled with extreme poverty — have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras, among other countries in Central and South America. The mainstream media in the US, however, is rarely interested in the root cause of that reality.

Fox News, for example, is tirelessly peddling the offensive language used by President Donald Trump, which portrays the refugees as criminals and terrorists who pose a threat to US national security. At a press conference in October, Trump urged a reporter to take his camera into ”the middle” of a caravan of migrants on the treacherous journey through Mexico, to locate ”Middle Eastern” people who have, he alleged, infiltrated the crowd. In Trump’s thinking, “Middle Eastern people” is a synonym for terrorists.

CNN, on the other hand, has laboured to counter the growing official and media anti-immigrant sentiments that have plagued the US, a discourse that is constantly prodded and manipulated by Trump and his supporters.

However, few in the liberal media have the courage to probe the story beyond convenient political rivalry. Most persist in their hypocritical and insincere humanitarianism that is divorced from any meaningful political context.

The fact is that the Central American refugee crisis is similar to the plethora of Middle East and Central Asian refugee crises of recent years. Mass migration is almost always the direct outcome of political meddling and military interventions by the West. From Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya and Syria, millions of refugees have been forced, by circumstances beyond their control, to seek safety in some other country. Millions of Iraqis and Syrians have thus found themselves in Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey, while a far smaller number trickled across to Europe; all sought safety from the grinding wars in their own lands.

........

The irony is that the hapless refugees, whether those escaping to Europe or to the United States, are perceived to be the aggressors — the invaders, if you like — whereas the reality is that it was the US and its allies which had, in fact, invaded these once stable and sovereign countries.

Trump has often referred to the Central American migrants’ caravan as an “invasion”, a claim which has been parroted by Fox News. The US President, incredibly, injected the possibility of having the refugees shot upon arrival. If Fox News lacked the decency to treat refugees as human beings deserving of sympathy and respect, CNN lacked the courage to expand the discussion beyond Trump’s awful language and inhumane policies.

To expand the parameters of the conversation would expose a policy that was not introduced by Trump, but by Bill Clinton, and applied in earnest by George W Bush and Barack Obama. Media grandstanding aside, Democrats as well as Republicans are responsible for the current refugee crisis. Complete article

There's no doubt, at least to the well informed, that our immigration policies, combined with foreign policies supporting coups and tyrants serving the best interests of Wall Street corporations is a massive form of entrapment, framing immigrants that committed no crime.

The biggest criminals are those controlling the government and international corporations, while the victims are being demonized, and in some cases entrapped or framed. This is also a major contributing factor for real crimes by the working class, since they're forced into desperation and a small percentage of them will strike out one way or another, often against other working class people, since they rarely have an opportunity to strike at their true oppressors, assuming they even know who they are.

Noam Chomsky — "Everyone's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's really an easy way: Stop participating in it."

The following is a long list of related articles, including many coups in Central or South America; to find additional articles on coups in the Caribbean or other parts of the world simply Google "United States intervention in (Choose your country):

‘We Will Coup Whoever We Want’: Elon Musk and the Overthrow of Democracy in Bolivia 07/29/2020

Elon Musk’s Latest Antics Are Enough to Radicalize Most Decent People. 07/28/2020

‘We will coup whoever we want’: Elon Musk sparks online riot with quip about overthrow of Bolivia’s Evo Morales 07/25/2020

Smedley Butler on Interventionism 1933 "I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. ...... I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service."

Smedley Butler "War is a Racket" 1935

Wikipedia: United States involvement in regime change

Wikipedia: United States involvement in regime change in Latin America

Mapped: The 7 Governments the U.S. Has Overthrown 08/20/2013 This clearly should be titled "7 of the Governments the U.S. Has Overthrown"

35 countries where the U.S. has supported fascists, drug lords and terrorists 03/08/2014

The Significance of Foreign Involvement in Third World Coups - CIA 09/23/1986 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release by CIA

U.S. Wars and Hostile Actions: A List – Let's Try Democracy by David Swanson

Jimmy Carter Offered Fawning Praise of Argentine Dirty War 08/14/2016

The Carter Administration and Human Rights in Chile, 1977-81 11/14/2019

Amnesty International, Torture in the Eighties (London, 1984),

Intervention and Exploitation: US and UK Government International Actions Since 1945

They Are (Still) Refugees: People Continue to Flee Violence in Latin American Countries 06/01/2018

THE RIGHTS OF IMMIGRANTS -ACLU POSITION PAPER

Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Policy: Explaining the Post-1965 Surge from Latin America 07/30/2012

USA: "YOU DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHTS HERE" Oct. 2018

Trump's hard-line immigration policies build on the history of former US presidents 07/12/2019

How Barack Obama Has Made $20 Million Since Arriving In Washington 01/20/2017

Where refugees to the U.S. come from 02/03/2017

Ex-CIA Agent Recalls Marcos' Rise to Power 04/05/1986

Newly Declassified Documents Outline Americas Bloody History in Argentina 05/10/2019

Argentina Declassification Project: History

Secret archives show US helped Argentine military wage "dirty war" that killed 30,000 05/14/2019

Wikipedia: Juan Perón 1955 coup

Imperialism by Another Name: The US “War on Drugs” in Colombia 08/22/2017

50 years of US intervention in Colombia | Part I 10/04/2013

‘Plan Colombia’: How Washington learned to love Latin American intervention again 09/18/2016

New U.S. military intervention subverts peace in Colombia and Venezuela 06/05/2020

Wikipedia: Act of Independence of Central America

Quick Facts About Costa Rica Independence Day

America's Role in El Salvador's Deterioration 01/20/2018

Time for a US Apology to El Salvador 04/15/2016 Obama recently expressed regret for US support of Argentina’s “dirty war.” It’s time Washington did the same regarding our active backing of right-wing butchery in El Salvador.

Wikipedia: Salvadoran Civil War A coup on October 15, 1979, was followed by killings of anti-coup protesters by the government and of anti-disorder protesters by the guerrillas, and is widely seen as the start of civil war.[24]

United States calls situation in El Salvador a communist plot 02/19/1981

How the US Created Violent Chaos in Honduras 08/10/2019

Status of violence against women in Honduras July 2014

History of US intervention in Honduras 11/27/2009

For those who believe there is NO war on women: 07/16/2014 Honduras is the country currently sending the largest number of refugees – 50,000 children in the past several months alone. Why Honduras? In addition to the brutal suppression of civil, legal and human rights in that country (in fact, in all of Central America) supported and financed by a succession of US Governments – Democratic and Republican – Honduras can be identified as a failed state if consideration is given to the quality of life there.

The U.S.-Supported Coup in Bolivia Continues to Produce Repression and Tyranny, While Revealing How U.S. Media Propaganda Works 07/23/2020 by Glenn Greenwald Bolivia is the latest in a long line of thriving democracies destroyed as U.S. institutions cheer and lend support.

The coup in Bolivia has U.S. fingerprints all over it 11/29/2019

Bolivian Coup Reflects Long History of US Intervention in Latin America 02/14/2020

Wikipedia: Bolivia–United States relations

Many wanted Morales out. But what happened in Bolivia was a military coup by Gabriel Hetland 11/13/2019

Wikipedia: Military dictatorship in Brazil: United States involvement Brazil actively participated in the CIA-backed state terror campaign against left-wing dissidents known as Operation Condor.[15]

Wikipedia: Operation Condor Operation Condor (Spanish: Operación Cóndor, also known as Plan Cóndor; Portuguese: Operação Condor) was a United States-backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of opponents, officially and formally implemented in November 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America. Including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Peru.

The US Role in the 1964 Coup in Brazil: A Reassessment 2016

The United States and Brazil: On Reaping What You Sow 03/06/2015 A half century since the U.S.-backed coup, Washington continues to interfere in Brazil’s domestic politics.

The US Role in the 1964 Coup in Brazil: A Reassessment 06/20/2016

US Intervention in Brazil 1964, 2002

Documenting U.S. Role in Democracy’s Fall and Dictator’s Rise in Chile 10/14/2017

Declassifying U.S. Intervention in Chile 09/25/2007 by Peter Kornbluh

1975 Congressional Report: Covert Action in Chile 1963-1973

US Foreign Policy and the 1973 Coup in Chile 02/12/2016

Wikipedia: United States intervention in Chile

William Blum "Killing Hope: Ecuador, 1960 to 1963: A Textbook of Dirty Tricks"

U.S. Military Returns to Exert ‘Influence’ in Ecuador and the Region 10/05/2018

Ecuador under President Moreno: Rethinking the U.S. relationship 05/26/2017

Why Ecuador released Julian Assange: rudeness, spying, and poop 04/12/2019

Julian Assange Arrested in London After Ecuador Withdraws Asylum; U.S. Requests Extradition 04/11/2019

Ecuador Cuts Internet Access for Julian Assange to Preserve Neutrality in U.S. Election 10/18/2016

AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT IN GUYANA IN 1953

U.S. Intervention in British Guiana A Cold War Story By Stephen G. Rabe

U.S. Intervention in British Guiana: A Cold War Story 02/23/2006 See also William Blum "Killing Hope"

U.S. Intervention in Paraguay Continues 08/24/2007

Paraguay: the US Army has arrived 03/07/2019

Paraguay's Forgotten Coup 12/26/2013 Did a bloody confrontation over land rights lead to a coup against the country's former President Fernando Lugo?

Wikipedia: Paraguay–United States relations

Wikipedia: CIA activities in Peru

U.S. Will Assist Peru's Army in Fighting Cocaine and Rebels 01/25/1992

Building Trust: The Effect of US Troop Deployments on Public Opinion in Peru 2019

Peru and the United States, 1960–1975 2010

That Time We Almost Invaded Suriname 11/28/2014

C.I.A. REPORTED BLOCKED IN PLOT ON SURINAMESE 06/01/1983

William Blum "Killing Hope: Uruguay, 1964 to 1970: Torture—as American as apple pie"

Chapter 13 Uruguay: Interventions and Their Effects February 2019

Why the Threat of U.S. Intervention in Venezuela Revives Historical Tensions in the Region 01/25/2019

Trump's Venezuela Moves Follow Long History Of Intervention In Latin America 02/22/2019

Despite pandemic, U.S. government threatens intervention in Venezuela 04/03/2020

Congressional Research Service: Venezuela: Background and U.S. Relations 08/26/2020

Was the US involved in a coup attempt in Venezuela? 05/08/2020

The History - and Hypocrisy - of US Meddling in Venezuela 01/28/2019 Later, during the Dutch-Venezuelan crisis of 1908, the US Navy helped Venezuelan Vice President Juan Vicente Gómez seize power in a coup. Gómez, known as “The Catfish,” would rule the country either directly or through puppet presidents, until his death in 1935. His regime was one of inconceivably medieval brutality. ...... The exploitation of Venezuela’s tremendous petroleum resources has been the constant objective of US policy and action toward the South American state for over a century. This meant backing the viciously repressive dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1948-1958), whose regime forces subjected political prisoners to tortures every bit as horrific as those committed during the Gómez era. Jiménez was as generous to transnational corporations as he was cruel to his own people.

Wikipedia: Costa Rican Civil War: Figueres and United States policy

In Costa Rica, the United States is Eclipsed by its own Shadow 05/03/2013 Costa Rica’s economic recovery was based on promoting a stronger role for the private sector, reduced public spending and foreign investment on a large scale. While based on consensus among Costa Rica’s leaders, these initiatives were also strongly encouraged by the U.S., the World Bank and the IMF. The U.S. promoted the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), which entered into force in 1984, to strengthen the economic recovery (as with the Alliance for Progress, Costa Ricans played an important role in the development of the CBI). ..... However, this influence and local perceptions regarding it are still powerful. In particular, the political left in Costa Rica has never forgiven the U.S. for what it sees as its role in undermining the country’s social development model and state institutions during the 1980s.

Costa Rica in 1948: Cold War or Local War? April 1996

Congressional Research Service: Costa Rica: Background and U.S. Relations 06/02/2009

William Blum "Killing Hope: Guatemala, 1962 to 1980s: A less publicized “final solution” See also Chapters 10 & 23

Impacts of U.S. Foreign Policy and Intervention on Guatemala: Mid-20th Century January 2013

Wikipedia: CIA activities in Guatemala

Wikipedia: 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état

United States intervenes in Mexican Civil War The United States intervened in the Mexican Civil War. The United States intervened decisively on the side of General Obregon. Because of American force, Mexican President Victoriano Huerta was forced to surrender.

Wikipedia: United States involvement in the Mexican Revolution

United States Interventions in Mexico 1914 – 1917

The Last Time the U.S. Invaded Mexico 02/04/2017 In the early 1900s, Woodrow Wilson was plagued by our Southern neighbor’s “bad hombres.” Trying to interfere got him nowhere.

US Intervention Has Facilitated Nicaraguan President’s Ability to Repress Nation 04/12/2019 by Benjamin Waddell

Intervention in Nicaragua Calvin Coolidge | January 10, 1927

United States Intervention in Nicaragua 1909-33

Nicaragua History

U.S. Intervention in Nicaragua, 1911/1912

Wikipedia: United States occupation of Nicaragua

US Imperialism in Nicaragua and the Making of Sandino 02/21/2020

United States intervention in Nicaragua (1912-1933)

Terror Is the Most Effective Weapon of Nicaragua's 'Contras' 01/09/1986

U.S Intervention in Nicaragua during the 1980s -The Reagan Era 2001

Teaching Nicaragua a Lesson Noam Chomsky 1992

Wikipedia: Contras

Wikipedia: United States and state-sponsored terrorism including Nicaragua, Cuba and other countries.

United States invades Panama, Dec. 20, 1989 12/20/2018

The Death of Manuel Noriega—and U.S Intervention in Latin America 05/30/2017

How Our 1989 Invasion of Panama Explains the Current US Foreign Policy Mess 12/23/2014

The Legality of the United States Invasion of Panama

The U.S. invades Panama 12/20/1989

Wikipedia: United States invasion of Panama

Wikipedia: Manuel Noriega: CIA involvement and U.S. support

Panama's Noriega: CIA spy turned drug-running dictator 05/30/2017

Wikipedia: Archives of Terror

U. S. Interventions in Venezuela, Peru, and Paraguay 03/18/2015

Forgotten History: Long list of interventions.

United States Interventions

The Ten Most Lethal CIA Interventions in Latin America 10/11/2016

Operation Condor: Deciphering the U.S. Role By J. Patrice McSherry July 2001

Crimes of War.org archive from Wayback Machine 2015

Interventions by the United States in Mexico and Central America: The continuation of the war economy 06/21/2017

‘U.S. Is Greatest Threat to World Peace’ 01/06/2020

The threat from America 08/04/2018

Revealed: The CIA and MI6’s secret war in Kenya 09/21/2020

Wikipedia: Death squad

Wikipedia: Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Iran

Wikipedia: Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte Chile

Wikipedia: Carlos Castillo Armas Guatemala

Wikipedia: Anastasio Somoza Debayle Nicaragua With regard to educating the workforce, Somoza replied, “I don’t want an educated population; I want oxen.”[6]

Pahlavi Fortune: A Staggering Sum 01/17/1979

Shah's fabled riches: Millions? Billions? 04/23/1980

Pinochet made millions after coup 02/14/1999

Ex-dictator had millions in U.S. bank 07/15/2004

The Wealth of Anastasio Somoza 07/27/1979

Wikipedia: List of presidents of the United States by net worth

Wikipedia: List of richest American politicians

Somoza family seeking comeback 05/07/2000

Fidel Castro Net Worth: $900 Million "If they can prove that I have a bank account abroad, with $900 million, with $1 million, $500,000, $100,000 or $1 in it, I will resign." .... However, in recent years a handful of prominent Cuban business people and exiles have come forward to claim that during his life Castro controlled perhaps more than a dozen commercial enterprises that had a collective value of at least $500 million based on comparable corporations abroad at the time.

Daniel Ortega Net Worth: $50 Million

Evo Morales Net Worth: $500 Thousand

Carlos Castillo Armas

Wikipedia: 1940 Constitution of Cuba

Jeb Bush, Oliver North and the Murder of CIA Drug Smuggler Barry Seal in 1986 04/03/2013

Did George H.W. Bush Say He Would Be ‘Lynched’ If Americans Knew the Truth? 12/04/2018

George HW Bush thought the world belonged to his family. How wrong he was 12/02/2018

George H.W. Bush: The Inconvenient Truth 12/04/2018

The Bush Crime Family: The Inside Story of an American Dynasty By Roger Stone, Saint John Hunt 2016 George Bush "Sarah, if the American people ever find out what we have done, they would chase us down the street and lynch us"

This quote was disputed, but not until after it circulated for over a decade, and the early sources don't attribute it to Sarah's newsletter where they checked it and didn't find it, meaning it may still be inconclusive.