[Caption: “gringos go home” painted in red on a wall]
GRINGO GO HOME: a comprehensive list of (some) of the bullshit the u.s. has pulled on latinoamerica
this list is being published on december 27th; 2014. i’m 20y/o; argentinian, not associated with any particular political party. i don’t claim to know everything that’s happened or is happening in latin america and i welcome any addition from fellow latinxs.
i want u.s. intervention on my country and the rest of my continent to stop; and i want the usamerican people to be aware of the atrocities that your country has committed against ours.
i strongly suggest @thisisnotlatinx and @fylatinamericanhistory for more readings on latinoamerican history, politics and why your country fucking sucks. now: the first part of this post is mostly historical events from 20 years or longer ago; the second part is about more recent events.
#murder cw, #torture cw, #sterilization cw, #police violence cw, #medical cw, #drugs mention cw, #rape cw (add any warning i missed, por favor)
(1952’s-recently) after aiding the military coup of Batista in Cuba; the US used its own military force to try and stop the armed revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. after the revolution succeeded, the US proceeded to apply a diplomatic, political and economic blockade on the Cuban republic that lasted until Fidel Castro’s stepping from power (this part has been edited bc i had originally mixed up Castro w/Chavez and wrote he’d died recently)
also the mere existence of Guantamo Bay to this day in Cuba like
(mid 1800’s-today) the US not only invaded and occupied Haiti, wrecked its economy and aided several military dictatorships; it still holds silent power over its government and is doing nothing good with it
(1946) the US government admittedly infected Guatemalan citizens with various STDs as part of ‘medical research’
(1980) the US government to this day justifies its aid in the murder of more than 63k civilians during the US-supported military dictatorship in El Salvador
(1970’s) one third of Puerto Rican women were forcibly sterilized in a state-approved project
(1973; operation condor) after Chile democratically elected its first socialist president; the US worked to block him diplomatically and destabilize Chile’s economy; ended up with a coup d'etat that killed him and placed Pinochet in power; giving place to a 17 years long dictatorship that had over 30k victims of kidnappings, murders, disappearances and tortures, all aided by the CIA
(1973; operation condor) the CIA aided the military coup in Uruguay that led to 12 years of prosecution and torture and at least 180 murdered people (most executed in Argentina and Brazil); though they had been gathering information with inhumane methods for years.
(1954-today; operation condor) the CIA and the US administration in general aided the 1954-1989 anti-communist military dictatorship of Stroessner in Paraguay, even founded some of the torture centers. in 2012; the Obama administration also supported the ‘institutional coup’ of former leftist president to be replaced a liberal and pro-USAmerican government; that the people are protesting to this day
(1976; operation condor) the so-called Argentinian dirty war was another US-aided military coup that aimed to end Peronism (a populist movement named after Juan Domingo Perón). the kidnappings, murder and torture started roughly in 1969 and ended in 1989 with more than 30k disappeared/murdered people; thousands more victims of torture and hundreds of stolen children whose identities might never be recovered. there is hard proof that the CIA trained Videla’s military forces in torture and assassination methods. (this part has been edited bc i had incorrectly labeled Peronism as leftist. it’s a populist movement but not leftist)
(1964; operation condor) as Brazil had already confirmed and has been recently backed by the 2014 CIA torture report; the 1964-1985 military dictatorship that had thousands of deaths and over 20k victims of torture was also helped to put in place and aided during its extension by the US
the main reason Puerto Rico isn’t independent is because the separatists are all socialists and communists, and the US doesn’t want anyone to mess with their economy
(1960’s) the thrilling story of how the CIA built Manuel Noriega as the perfect spy, placed him as a military dictator in 1983; used him to aid USAmerican drug trafficking and, when he became a nuisance, invaded Panamá to take him out
(1983) the CIA’s torture manuals also aided the murder of more than 150 leftists in Honduras
(2002) the Bush administration orchestrated a coup d'etat against Venezuelan leftist president Hugo Chavez; which was thrown off two days later by the massive popular support towards President Chavez
(2012-today) though this post isn’t supporting or condemning Maduro’s presidency; the US wants to push for another military coup in Venezuela and that’s just because the opposing party is a neo-liberal, pro-US party while Maduro is anti-yanki and openly leftist
(2007-today) US intervention is Mexico’s cartel situation has been proved to only worsen the situation and increase the violence
(2012-today) amnesty international and about any human rights organization agrees that the monetary and military support that the US is giving to Colombia’s war on drugs is just leading to violence, human rights violations and a borderline police state
(2009) Manuel Zelaya believes the latest coup d'etat in Honduras to have been aided by USamerican forces
La Escuela de las Américas / Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation; a US-based training center for Latin American military to learn torture methods.
Para colaborar menciono el golpe de estado a Jacobo Arvenz en 1954 impulsado por EEUU debido a las medidas proteccionistas en el pais que perjudicaba a la United Fruit Company (empresa PRIVADA) // “To collaborate, let me mention the coup d'etat against Jacobo Arvenz (Guatemala) in 1954, pushed by the US due to the protectionist motions that affected the United Fruit Company” - via @thehawthornepassage
Por favor, no olvides el boicot económico que los Estados Unidos ejercieron sobre Argentina para forzar la caída del peronismo y evitar que Argentina se convirtiera en la potencia sudamericana que prometía ser en la primera mitad del siglo veinte. // “Please, don’t forget the economic boicot that the US used against Argentina to force the fall of Peronism and avoid Argentina becoming the south-American potency that it promised to be during the first half of the 20th century” - via @olie-golden-wolf
Dominican Republic: Two Interventions and support to the worst dictatorship in the island. A lot of people say Trujillo was the most bloodiest mothefucker -pretty sure I made a mistake in those words but wathever- in America Latina. Thanks. - via @juanitastar
American invasions/occupations of the Dominican Republic: 1916-1924; 1965-1966 (let’s be real the US never left)
Also this gem:
“Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, the brutal dictator who ruled the country with Washington’s blessing for 31 years. Trujillo used the U.S.-trained National Guard to banish, torture or kill his opponents. As President Franklin Roosevelt’s secretary of state, Cordell Hull famously said of Trujillo: “He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he is our son-of-a-bitch.” - 40 years later, U.S. invasion still haunts Dominican Republic - via @212023
It’s hard to find sources that are not skewed towards the U.S. but here’s a pretty objective timeline of the events that have happened in Nicaragua - via @egoxmania
In 1856 the numerous attempts of a man known as William Walker to usurp Costa Rican land by force and push for the construction of an inter-oceanic canal in the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border, also the systemic elimination of and defamation of all leftist and socialist parties in Costa Rica, as well as constantly violating Costa Rica´s peace and non military measures by sailing military vessels in Costa Rican waters. - via @kidofstories
I may add, in the case of Colombia (-via @yabanned)
After failing to reach an agreement with Colombia’s government about Panama’s canal, USA gave the financial and military support required to make Panama a new country, which is not necessarily bad until you notice they asked in return 100 whole years of profit from the canal, and they incited a lot of corrpution and violence in the process. USA also supports Nicaragua in their fight for the Colombian island of San Andrés, which currently has got the islanders with no sea for fishing at all.
Approximately 3000 workers where murdered during the strike of the United Fruit Company in 1928, because USA threatened to invade Colombia if the national government didn’t do anything to protect the interests of the company. People from the USA army were involved in the massacre.
As mentioned, USA’s “aid” against drug trafficking has only caused more violence. USA gives financial support to paramilitary groups, which have committed massacres like Maripipan (1997), when more than 50 people where murdered with electric saws and machetes.
USA army has exclusive access to seven militar bases in Colombia: Malambo, Palenquero, Apiay, Cartagena, Bahía Málaga, Larandia and Tolemaida. In 2004, USA agreed to start an investigation on their soldiers located in Tolemaida after years of rape reports: the results estimate that 54 underage women, the younger being 11 years old, where raped by the soldiers between 2003 and 2007. Several of those sexual assaults were recorded and sold as pornography. None of the soldiers were prosecuted thanks to the lobby made by USA’s government, it is not expected they get punished by their crimes.
also; as of today, the list of USAmerican military bases; training locations and planned military programs on latinoamerican soil includes the following (sources and readings on why you should be angry and worried: [x] [x] [x] [x])
EDIT: this list had originally included costa rica, but, as someone pointed out, the military pact that the US had started talking about w/costa rica’s government was never actually acted upon (“In June 2002 the United States signed an agreement with Costa Rica for an International Law Enforcement Academy, but popular movements have so far prevented the pact’s ratification. - [x]”
