Abstract
This chapter examines US interference in the democratization of Argentina and Brazil in the 1980s and 1990s. Emphasis is placed on the agenda shared by these countries including on issues such as external debt, the Central American crisis, nuclear policy, development of military projects, and divergences between them. The role of Brazil and its hegemonic ambitions in the region shaped the schedule and specific strategies for democratization. In order to study US policy toward Latin America, it is necessary to stress the international economic and political context that facilitated American involvement. Capital concentration in international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank are analyzed to determine how neoliberal economic policies influenced the institutionalization of these democracies.
The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, shall not be considered as eligible for future colonization by any European powers … Sincerity and friendly relations between the United States and those powers, require us to declare that we would consider dangerous to our peace and safety any attempt on the part of them that is aimed to extend their system to a portion of this hemisphere, whatever it may be. We have not intervened nor willintervene in the colonies or dependencies of any European power: but in the case of governments that have declared and maintained their independence, and that after mature consideration, and in accordance with equitable principles, have been recognized as independent by the government of the United States, any intervention by a European power, for the purpose of oppressing them, or somehow directing their destinations, will not be able to be seen by us but as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.
James Monroe
Seventh Annual Message to Congress, Washington, DC, December 2, 1823 (James Monroe, Seventh Annual Message to Congress, Washington, DC, December 2, 1823, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29465 [accessed February 27, 2015].).
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- 1.
In his State of the Union Address to Congress on December 6, 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed what became known as the “Roosevelt Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine. In response to a crisis over defaulting debt payments to European banks by some American nations and fear that the European powers may use force to obtain payment for those debts, Roosevelt stated that the US could intervene in the affairs of other nations of the Western hemisphere to control the situation, and serve as “international police” and act on behalf of the European powers to avoid the need for their intervention. The policy commonly became known as “the big stick” (named after a saying of Roosevelt’s: “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Available at: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/roosevelt-and-monroe-doctrine [accessed February 27, 2015].
- 2.
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- 3.
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- 4.
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance. Available at: http://www.oas.org/juridico/spanish/tratados/b-29.html [accessed March 17, 2015].
- 5.
Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, “The geopolitical importance of South America, in the strategy of the U.S.” Conference at the War College in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. September 23, 2008. http://www.laondadigital.uy/ [accessed March 5, 2015].
- 6.
Marcos Novaro y Vicente Palermo, La Dictadura Militar. 1976–1983. Del Golpe de Estado a la Restauración Democrática, Buenos Aires, Paidos, 2003, p. 263.
- 7.
Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Argentina, Brasil y Estados Unidos de la Triple Alianza al MERCOSUR. Conflicto e integración en América del Sur, Buenos Aires, Grupo Editorial Norma, 2004, p. 384.
- 8.
Roberto Russell y Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, El lugar de Brasil en la política exterior argentina, Buenos Aires, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2003, p. 35.
- 9.
Alain Rouquié, Poder militar y sociedad política en Argentina, Buenos Aires, Emece Editores, 1981, p. 279.
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Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Op. Cit., p. 397.
- 12.
García Lupo, Rogelio, Diplomacia secreta y rendición incondicional, Buenos Aires, Editorial Legasa. 1983, pp.180–183.
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Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Op. Cit., p. 399.
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Andrés Cisneros & Carlos Escudé (eds.). Historia General de las Relaciones Exteriores de la República Argentina, Tomo XIV. Las Relaciones Políticas, 1966–1989, Buenos Aires, Grupo Editor Latinoamericano, 2000.
- 15.
García Lupo, Rogelio, Op. Cit., p. 71.
- 16.
The phrase is drawn from Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Norman, Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
- 17.
Juan Tovar, “De la Tercera Ola al gran Roll-Back: Democratización y utopía en la Posguerra Fría”, Relaciones Internacionales, N° 16, febrero de 2011, p. 206.
- 18.
Mario Rapoport y Eduardo Madrid, Argentina-Brasil: de rivales a aliados, Buenos Aires, Capital Intelectual, 2011, p. 74.
- 19.
Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Op. Cit., p. 412.
- 20.
Leonardo Granato, “Un recorrido por las fases de la integración sudamericana de la mano de las políticas externas de Brasil y Argentina”, La revista del CCC, No. 16, septiembre / diciembre 2012, p. 1.
- 21.
Ibid.
- 22.
Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Op. Cit., p. 415.
- 23.
Ibid, p. 413.
- 24.
Monica Hirst (comp.), Continuidad y cambio en las relaciones América Latina-Estados Unidos, Buenos Aires, Grupo Editorial Latinoamericano, 1987, p. 21. The Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was approved in June 1968 by resolution 2573 of the XXII Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Argentina abstained in the vote of the General Assembly approved by this treaty, considering it discriminatory to enshrine the “disarming the unarmed” while the nuclear powers may or may not be subject to the safeguards system established by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
- 25.
Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Op. Cit., p. 418.
- 26.
It is important to remember that the installation of the Sandinista government in Managua not only radically altered the history of Nicaragua, but had profound consequences for the Central American region as a whole, since shortly after the outbreak of the civil war in El Salvador, and from then, the Central American political crisis expanded until it had serious international impact. Reagan framed the Central American conflict in the east–west dispute, which led the US to initiate a series of covert paramilitary operations and an international offensive to isolate Nicaragua economically and politically. In this context of increasing US interventionism in the region, a regional initiative to finding a peaceful and negotiated solution to the conflict emerged: the Contadora Group and, a few years later, the Contadora Support Group, where Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Uruguay joined the mediation initiative.
- 27.
Alicia Frohmann, “De Contadora al Grupo de los ocho: el reaprendizaje de la concertación política regional”, FLACSO. Work Paper No. 410, Santiago, Chile, 1989, p. 372.
- 28.
Cisneros & Escudé (eds.). Historia General de las Relaciones Exteriores de la República Argentina, Tomo XIV. Las Relaciones Políticas, 1966–1989, Buenos Aires, Grupo Editor Latinoamericano, 2000.
- 29.
Frohmann, Alicia, “Democracia, deuda externa y disciplinamiento económico. Las relaciones entre Argentina y Estados Unidos 1983–1985”, FLACSO, Work Paper, No. 298, Santiago, Chile, 1986, p. 243.
- 30.
Diana Tussie, “La coordinación de los deudores latinoamericanos: ¿Cuál es la lógica de su accionar?”, Revista Desarrollo Económico, vol. 28, N° 109, 1988.
- 31.
The Condor II was a ballistic missile in around 1000 km range, capable of reaching the Falkland Islands from the Patagonian coast, or Santiago de Chile, the two scenarios of conflict that the Air Force had when it secretly launched the project in 1982, after the defeat of the Falklands War.
- 32.
Cisneros & Escudé (eds.), Op. Cit.
- 33.
The name for a consensus that developed between the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the United States Treasury Department.
- 34.
Carlos Escudé, Realismo Periférico. Fundamentos para la nueva política exterior argentina, Buenos Aires, Editorial Planeta, 1992, p. 22.
- 35.
Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Op. Cit., 428.
- 36.
Carlos Escudé, Op. Cit., p. 84.
- 37.
President George W. Bush announced on June 27 of 1990 The Enterprise of the Americas Initiative, with the intention of establishing a free-trade zone.
- 38.
Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Op. Cit.
- 39.
Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, Op. Cit., p. 451.
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Liendo, I.T. (2016). Argentina and Brazil: The Role of the US in Their Democratic Transitions. In: Burt, S., Añorve, D. (eds) Global Perspectives on US Democratization Efforts. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58984-2_10
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