The history of U.S. military intervention in Latin America

On January 3, demonstrators in Katy, Texas, waved flags and cheered the arrest of President Maduro. (Bloomberg)

The United States attacked Venezuela on Saturday (January 3) and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro. In fact, the U.S. has a long history of military intervention in Latin American countries and has also supported authoritarian regimes.

1954: Guatemala

On June 27, 1954, Guatemalan President Jacobo árbenz Guzmán was overthrown by mercenaries trained and funded by Washington. árbenz’s land reform threatened the interests of the U.S.-based United Fruit Corporation, now known as Chiquita Brands International.

In 2003, the U.S. officially acknowledged that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had participated in the coup.

1961: Cuba

From April 15 to 19, 1961, 1,400 CIA-trained and -funded anti-Castro militants attempted to land at the Bay of Pigs, 250 kilometers from Havana, but failed to topple Fidel Castro’s communist regime.

The battle resulted in more than 100 deaths on each side and became known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

1965: Dominican Republic

In 1965, citing a “communist threat,” the U.S. deployed Marines and paratroopers to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, to support an uprising against Juan Bosch, a leftist president who had been overthrown by the military in 1963.

1970s: Support for Dictatorships

During the Cold War, Washington backed several military dictatorships, viewing them as bulwarks against leftist armed movements.

The U.S. actively assisted Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in carrying out the September 11, 1973 coup that overthrew leftist President Salvador Allende.

According to declassified U.S. documents released in 2003, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger expressed support for Argentina’s military junta in 1976 and urged it to swiftly conclude its “Dirty War,” during which at least 10,000 Argentine dissidents disappeared.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, six authoritarian regimes—in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil—jointly conducted “Operation Condor” with U.S. acquiescence to eliminate leftist opposition figures.

1980s: Central American Conflicts

In 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) overthrew Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. Concerned that Nicaragua would align with Cuba and the Soviet Union, U.S. President Ronald Reagan secretly authorized the CIA to provide $20 million in aid to the Nicaraguan anti-government rebels known as the Contras, partially funded by illegal arms sales to Iran.

The Nicaraguan civil war ended in April 1990, leaving 50,000 dead.

Reagan also sent U.S. military advisers to El Salvador to help suppress the rebellion by the far-left Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). The Salvadoran civil war lasted from 1980 to 1992 and claimed 72,000 lives.

1983: Grenada

On October 25, 1983, Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was assassinated by an extremist leftist military junta, while Cuba expanded a local airport—possibly to accommodate military aircraft. The U.S. government dispatched Marines and Army Rangers to intervene in Grenada.

At the request of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, President Reagan launched Operation Urgent Fury, ostensibly to protect 1,000 American citizens.

The operation drew widespread condemnation from the UN General Assembly and concluded on November 3, resulting in over 100 deaths.

1989: Panama

In 1989, U.S. President George H. W. Bush ordered a military intervention in Panama, leading to the surrender of General Manuel Noriega, who had previously worked with U.S. intelligence agencies but was later wanted by U.S. authorities.

Approximately 27,000 U.S. troops participated in Operation Just Cause, with official figures reporting 500 U.S. military deaths.

Non-governmental organizations estimate the actual death toll was far higher, reaching several thousand.

Noriega served over 20 years in U.S. prisons for drug trafficking before serving additional sentences in France and Panama.