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Communism In Latin America

 

            After World War II many Third World countries in Latin America seemed to have some interest in the political system of the Soviets. Communism, the system in which production and distribution of goods is owned by the government and shared by all, was the idea that seemed to benefit the people of small Latin American countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador. The United States was aware of this happening, and that is when it became more involved in Latin America.
             Since the 1960's the US was already concerned with the threat that communism would bring to other non-communist countries in Latin America. When Fidel Castro, the dictator of Cuba from 1959-present, declared the government Communist in 1961; President of the U.S. John F. Kennedy planned an invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro. The invasion was held by U.S. supported Cuban rebels that ended up in a disaster on April 17, 1961. The U.S. was determined to keep communism from spreading into Latin America, this was not an easy task to do because Cuba was allied to the Soviet Union. While in Nicaragua a communist party was gaining power due to the dictatorship of Somoza Garcí which initiated two years after the assassination of General Augusto César Sandino in 1934. The dictatorship of Somoza "initiated the longest, most corrupt dictatorship in Latin American history, a dictatorship continually supplied and supported by the United States."" This was a mistake that the US made thinking that it would be in the best interest of Nicaragua to keep away from communist influences. The economy was real bad, unemployment rate was high and the people were ready to try a different type of government that would benefit them.
             Nicaragua came to know a different type of government in the late 70's. "An uprising led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in 1979 deposed the dictatorial regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle and made Nicaragua the second Soviet client state in the hemisphere.


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