Nuestras Historias (Issue 1, Vol 1)

The United States: El
Metiche
By Jessica Cruz-Taylor
We all know that one person that loves to
stick their nose where it doesn't belong, where
they have no business interfering: El Metiche.
Well, in case you didn’t know, in the very large
and complex world of international politics, the
United States is most definitely El Metiche.
Almost all of Latin America has been
plagued by political issues for centuries, largely
stemming from class, racial, and gender
inequalities remaining from colonial
occupations. Governmental regimes established
by colonial invaders thrive for years, making
money off the back of the working class and
collecting resources to support their capitalistic
organizations and personal pursuits. It may
seem like until recently with the rise of social
justice groups and human rights activists across
the world, that these governments were met
with silence from citizens, this is not true.
Unjust political leaders have been able to
remain in power for so long in many countries
with outside aid, and the United States is a
country that has provided the most money and
resources to government regimes in two major
ways:
1. A US-backed party overthrows a
democratic government, as is suspected
in 2019’s Presidential elections in
Bolivia.
2. Support a current party that is in power
to remain in power, despite wide
protests.
(See photo for details)
This article will give a background on
three Latin American countries where the
United States has intervened in Latin American
politics. This serves as a historical overview- a
resource to better understand only a few of the
many instances of US involvement and does not
in any way support the view of any of the
political parties described.
Argentina
In the early months of 1976, The
Argentine government was faced with a coup
d'état, an overthrow of the current government
by an insurgent political party. The controlling
party at the time, led by Isabel Peron, the first
woman in the world to hold the “President”
title, came to an end when she was arrested
under accusations of numerous crimes,
including embezzlement, and forcing the
disappearance of several left-wing students and
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activists. Peron was exiled to Spain, where she
has remained since, and Argentine courts
dismissed counts against her in 2017.
However, the focus here is in the
political party that overthrew Peron’s
government causing the activation of martial
law, where the military forcefully took control
of the highest government offices. The military
fights and protests that emerged from this coup
are known as ​The Dirty War​, mainly because
30,000 lives of activists, protestors, and young
protestors of the military regime were taken. 26
25 Blakeley, Ruth. State Terrorism and Neoliberlism: The North in the South.
Taylor & Francis, 2019.
26 Blakeley, Ruth. State Terrorism and Neoliberlism: The North in the South.
Taylor & Francis, 2019.
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