While portrayed by the Soviets as a simple trade deal, transactions such as these amount to something far more sinister. Repaying a loan in raw materials and the purchase of Soviet finished goods only cemented the dynamic between the two countries. Brazil’s position as a less developed producer nation with an agricultural focused economy was strengthened as was the USSR’s role as both its chief technological provider and distributor of manufactured goods.
Brazil was not the only nation exploited by the Soviets in this fashion. Rather similar lopsided relationships existed between them and a number of nations including Argentina and Uruguay. Starting in 1974 Argentina entered into several trade agreements with the USSR. These covered everything from commerce to finance to technology. Within just five years 12 percent of Argentinian trade was with the Soviet Union and its economic bloc(Saba) perpetuating the nation’s reliance on the superpower for a broad variety of technological advancements and goods. In 1976 Uruguay requested a 50 million loan from the Soviets for a dam. They obliged on the condition that the loan would be repaid solely in raw materials(Saba). In addition to these countries’ broad economic dependence on the Soviet Union many were military dependent on them as well. This included Cuba, the USSR’s first and primary Latin American ally as well as most of the region’s other nations. The Soviet Union had such a significant role in the Latin American weapons trade that by 1977 they had become the region’s chief supplier of firearms, armored vehicles, and tanks. Lastly the Soviet Union specifically delegated both military and economic aid to conflict zones in order to exacerbate already existing tensions for their own benefit(Saba). One salient example of this was Soviet intervention in the bloody Nicaraguan Revolution through their funding of Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista National Liberation Front.
Nicaraguan Revolution
The US-allied Somoza dictatorial dynasty ruled Nicaragua from 1936 to 1979. In their final years in power, the Somozas were opposed by the Marxist and Soviet-backed Sandanistas(FSLN) led by Daniel Ortega.The Somoza crackdown on the revolution grew ever brutal with an increase in torture and secret killings(Harvest of Empire 55:42-55:47). This led to a large increase in domestic as well as foreign support for the revolution including America’s withdrawal of support from the Somozas. Daniel Ortega overthrew The last Somoza, Anastasio Debayle and took power as a member of a broad coalition, Junta of National Reconstruction of Nicaragua, but he and his FSLN rapidly took full control of the junta establishing himself as dictator funded by the Soviet Union. This sparked the Contra Revolt which was a popular movement, though significantly financially supported by the American government. American support of the Contras was originally through legal channels, but after Congress called for its discontinuation President Ronald Reagan and the CIA continued it illegally by way of the Contra Affair(Partlow). For a decade the Contras and the Sandinistas fought each other in a bloody Civil War which only ended when both groups threw down their arms in 1989. During the conflict, the Contras managed to eventually reach a wider base of support and in 1990 an anti-Sandinista candidate was democratically elected. In 2007 Ortega came to power again, this time through a fair election.However, after a couple of years of relatively free and open governance, he resumed his authoritarian ways and oppresses his people to this day through violent suppression of peaceful protests and execution of opposition leaders(Partlow). However, despite Ortega’s authoritarian leanings his actions pale in comparison to the atrocities of Fidel Castro who ruled Cuba for over five decades.
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Castro’s Rule and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Fidel Castro was originally hailed as a hero and democratic revolutionary who liberated his nation from ruthless dictator, Fulgencio Batista. However, many soon saw his true colors. Fidel Castro was a Soviet pawn and the USSR saw his country as their foothold on the continent. Castro rapidly built internment camps and gulags to contain a growing number of political dissidents(Eire). Torture was a staple of his regime and where that failed assasinations were common, with Castro having untold numbers of his own people killed though Castro himself survived more than 600 hundred attempts on his life according to some sources(Oppmann). A large number of those who weren’t killed,tortured or imprisoned in re-education camps fled Cuba, amounting to 20 percent of the island’s pre- Revolution population(Eire). Fidel Castro and his oligarchy claimed all Cuba’s resources and property for themselves sending most of his people into poverty. The once large Cuban middle class rapidly diminished under his rule. In addition, Castro never repented for any of his atrocities or faced a tribunal for them(Eire). However, there is no crime that Fidel Castro committed worse than the near total destruction of the world as we know it, with him and his Soviet allies’ instigation of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The USSR triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis by placing nuclear-armed missiles on the island nation of Cuba in 1962.The unsuccessful American backed Bay of Pigs Invasion agitated the Cubans and their Russian allies (History.Com Editors).The United States had missiles in Turkey and Italy for years which concerned the Soviets, even though they were relatively far from the USSR proper. The Soviet Union placed armed warheads on the island nation 90 miles from the Floridian coast (History.Com Editors) The United States saw this as a threat and preparation for a possible nuclear attack on the continental United States. They responded with a naval blockade of Cuba preventing further shipment of missiles and other weapons, in addition, to an ultimatum to remove Russian missiles from Cuba. In response to the blockade, a flotilla of Soviet ships approached American naval lines.Tensions were heightened by the shooting down of an American spy plane near Cuba killing its pilot. American troops prepared to deploy from Florida. The crisis was eventually resolved through a strategically worked out deal in which the USSR removed their missiles from Cuba in exchange for the United States not invading the country and withdrawing its missiles from Turkey(History.Com Editors) . While, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a brief near catosphere that was quickly resolved, when it comes to other cases of foreign intervention those involved weren't nearly so lucky. Such is the case with the American intercession in the conflict of House of Spirits.
House of Spirits
The House of the Spirits was written by Isabel Allende, is set in a fictional Latin American nation, and spans almost the entirety of the twentieth century, including the Cold War era. During this period in the novel the Conservatives are defeated in the recent presidential election election by a socialist, simply referred to in the book as the President (384). This angers the political right and their wealthy constituency who fear their property will be confiscated by the new regime. These concerns are partially justified since one of the first things the new government does is seize the large haciendas and distribute them among their tenants(402). In order to weaken popular support of the socialist government and remove them from power the Conservatives institute a program of economic destabilization,boosted by the media and free press,now functioning primarily as their propaganda vehicle (387). These were heavily funded by the “gringos”, a Spanish slang term referring primarily to American whites: “The gringos, ...had allocated secret funds for the purpose of sabotage”(393). However, even though the “sabotage” created chaos the socialist government remained popular. One prominent Conservative politician, the book’s main character Esteban Trueba, saw this reality and began to push for a coup(394). Initially he was ignored as a crazy old man. However, months later the national military and their American backers took his advice, though it is possible that was their aim all along and that the goal of winning back the country for capitalism through a popular movement was just a ploy to get moderates on board. Regardless, the coup went as planned with the successful ousting of the socialist government(419-420). However, the human toll was extremely high. The coup was bloody and horrific. The President and his inner circle were shot and their bodies dynamited including Trueba’s own son:”Jaime and the others ...were shot on the ground… and then their bodies were dynamited”(419). Political dissidents were killed in the street(431). History was rewritten to fill the narrative of the new Fascist regime the coup had ushered in(432). Labor unions were abolished and political parties were outlawed(435). Though The House of the Spirits is a fictional work the events of the coup play out in a similar fashion to many world real world examples of foreign intervention in Latin America during the Cold War and beyond.
Conclusion
Throughout history, practically every country on earth that has achieved the status of a major power has attempted to spread it influence far beyond its borders and across the world with a few notable exceptions such as medieval China or India today. During the Cold War both the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in this practice. Even as WW2 was still raging the Soviets claimed Eastern Europe for themselves while the United States backed governments friendly to them in the western half of the continent. This alignment with one superpower or the other took place in most of the world, including in Latin America. In Guatemala, a socilaist government seen as friendly to the Soviets was overthrown by an American-backed coup to devastating effect. Meanwhile, Soviet imperialism prevented most South American countries from exercising their sovereignty and functioning as truly independent nations. The Nicaraguan Revolution and the factors that sparked it highlight the brutality and human toll unleashed by both superpowers, first with the US backed-Somoza dictatorial dynasty and later with USSR supported revolutionary turned tyrant, Daniel Ortega. Soviet influence in Cuba led to another dictator, Fidel Castro’s, autocratic rule and almost brought the world to its knees through nuclear war. Finally, the fictional events of the House of Spirits reflect the horrific effects of an American backed-coup in a fictional Latin American nation. Although these incidents are all specific to Cold War Latin American the foreign intervention of superpowers and its devastating consequences are not limited to either the region or the era. In the past few decades The United States has invaded several Middle Eastern nations including Iraq and Afghanistan and bombed others to the ground including Libya and Syria. As a result these countries collapsed into chaos and all of these nations are still fighting civil wars to this day with the exception of Iraq who’s Civil War was ongoing as recently as 2 years ago. In addition, China has made inroads into a variety of African nations exploiting these countries’ resources and people for their own imperialist aims as European nations did in Africa a century ago. If the world’s superpowers actually want to police the world and make it a better place they should “police” themselves and focus on solving their own domestic issues instead of bringing chaos, destruction, and death to the rest of the world.
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