Soviet Political Uses of Trade with Latin America

1985 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert K. Evanson

This Essay examines Soviet uses of economic trade for political and diplomatic purposes in Latin America. Recent events in Central America and the Caribbean have generated a great number of analyses of Soviet goals and tactics in the Western Hemisphere (Duncan, 1984; Leiken, 1984; Rothenberg, 1984; Varas, 1984; Valenta, 1982). Direct Soviet military aid to Nicaragua, and to Grenada prior to the U.S. invasion in 1983, has suggested a more forward Soviet role in the region. On the other hand, Soviet arms shipments to Latin America, excepting those to Cuba, are a relatively recent response to revolutionary developments that may prove to be ephemeral, or which may encounter stiff U.S. resistance. Given geopolitical realities of the area, the Soviet military option certainly is less viable in Latin America than elsewhere in the developing world. In contrast, trade and aid – and Soviet aid is given chiefly in the form of trade credits – are a long-established, politically safe tactical alternative.


1969 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Preiswerk

For the leaders and people of every new state of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, independence has brought about a dramatic awakening with respect to the conceptualization of their position in world affairs. The loosening of ties with the metropolis, which had been the primary aim of the struggle for independence, suddenly appears in a double perspective. On the one hand, it contains the threat of distintegration of the established social and economic order and, on the other hand, it opens prospects for new bonds and opportunities. After decades or centuries of predominantly bilateral relationships between colony and metropolis, historical links are confronted with the pressures resulting from geographic proximity .The diversification of foreign contacts is a phenomenon of the very recent past. The leaders and inhabitants of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Niger, Trinidad and Venezuela, or Guyana and Brazil are only now realizing the full impact of their relationship as neighbours.



1973 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
Arthur P. Whitaker

Russia'S new naval presence in the Caribbean creates a situation somewhat like the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. This time, however, the problem confronting the United States, though less urgent, is more difficult in the sense that it is more complex. Its complexity arises mainly from the fact that, as regards the Latin Americans, Russia's main objective must be political. Its use of military force to coerce them is out of the question, and the scale of its trade with all of them except Cuba is too small to provide economic leverage. On the other hand, its naval penetration of the Caribbean could reasonably be expected to help promote Soviet prestige and political influence throughout Latin America.



2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-140
Author(s):  
N. Yu. Kudeyarova

Latin America is one of the high level migration activity regions. The mass migration flows are the part of the Western Hemisphere South nations history for more than a century and a half. Both the structure and direction of that flows have been significantly transformed during that period. While being the transatlantic flows recipients at the end of the XIX – beginning of the XX centuries, the Latin American States turned into donors of human resources in the second half of the XX century due to the profound demographic transformation. The aim of this paper is to analyse the demographic transformations impact on the emigration mobility models development in Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Demographic changes were manifested in different ways in countries with a large share of European migrants and those that were not affected by mass migrations flows at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries. The Central America countries and Mexico have experienced the most profound population explosion that subsequently affected the intensity of the migration movement to the United States. The paper examines the main migration directions of Latin America and the Caribbean residents, identifies two basic mobility source areas that demonstrate different strategies via different destination countries choice. While the United States has become the leading destination country for Latin American migrants, accounting for 93% of migrants from Central America and Mexico, the South American migration is mostly intraregional. The largest regional integration associations migration policies implementation reflects this difference. Spain has become a significant extra-regional migration destination for South America. At the end of the second decade of the XXI century, global economic transformations affect the migration dynamics of Latin American subregions, producing powerful migration crises and local tensions.



Author(s):  
Simon Reich ◽  
Peter Dombrowski

This chapter examines the historic US policy of isolationism in the Western Hemisphere. It begins with a vignette about the U.S. Coast Guard cutter seized a submersible vessel (a rudimentary submarine) dubbed “Bigfoot” off the southwest coast of Costa Rica. The chapter then focuses on the use of the Navy and Coast Guard around the American littoral in battling illicit flows (notably drugs but also people) largely originating from Latin/Central America and the Caribbean. The central point of the chapter is to demonstrate that isolationist strategies are nothing new, nor simply historic. They are employed by the Navy and Coast Guard every day.



This essay argues that both “pro-Americanism” and “anti-Americanism” appear as plausible referents in these essays by Spellacy and Ibarra, but it stresses that both essays actually raise questions about what is assumed (and perhaps should not be assumed) about U.S. interest in Latin Americans and the consequences of that interest for those who live in one or another country in the Western Hemisphere. Dominguez notes that both Spellacy and Ibarra are likely to surprise readers, though in different ways. That the U.S. was ever really interested in Latin America, and specifically in promoting a positive image of the U.S. in Latin America, may well surprise many current readers of Spellacy’s essay, but it may not be as surprising as Ibarra’s claim that many Mexican immigrants in L.A. are actually fairly “pro-American.” Given the history of U.S. government action in Latin America and the Caribbean since at least the Monroe Doctrine in the early 1800s, any interest among Latin Americans in moving to the U.S. appears as a contradiction. Dominguez is interested in Spellacy’s phrase “making U.S. imperialism go down easy” but asks when and how U.S. imperialism has been noticed and by whom, and when and how it has mattered—and not mattered—to U.S. residents, residents of other countries in the Western Hemisphere, and even people elsewhere. For example, she asks if it might be possible that Sinaloans (and the many other Mexicans who migrate to the U.S. with and without proper U.S. papers) care little about U.S. imperialism and might actually be tacit (or even vocal) supporters of U.S. imperialism.



Author(s):  
K.H. Westmacott

Life beyond 1MeV – like life after 40 – is not too different unless one takes advantage of past experience and is receptive to new opportunities. At first glance, the returns on performing electron microscopy at voltages greater than 1MeV diminish rather rapidly as the curves which describe the well-known advantages of HVEM often tend towards saturation. However, in a country with a significant HVEM capability, a good case can be made for investing in instruments with a range of maximum accelerating voltages. In this regard, the 1.5MeV KRATOS HVEM being installed in Berkeley will complement the other 650KeV, 1MeV, and 1.2MeV instruments currently operating in the U.S. One other consideration suggests that 1.5MeV is an optimum voltage machine – Its additional advantages may be purchased for not much more than a 1MeV instrument. On the other hand, the 3MeV HVEM's which seem to be operated at 2MeV maximum, are much more expensive.



1984 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Raymond Duncan

The October 1983 crisis in Grenada left little doubt that the Soviet and Cuban presence had been expanding in the Caribbean basin. But the October crisis did not answer questions regarding the extent of their actual influence there, nor the direction it might take in the future, nor even what the most appropriate U.S. policy responses should be to that influence elsewhere in the region. Therefore, in the wake of the U.S. occupation of Grenada and the evidence it uncovered about the degree of Soviet and Cuban activity there, it is useful to examine the kind of situations that have encouraged the Soviets to expand their presence and/or influence in Latin America. At the same time, it equally is useful to examine the limitations or constraints on such an expanded presence or influence.Clearly, Soviet policy in Latin America has been the product of two conflicting forces or tendencies.



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