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U.S. Interests in Latin America I I Security interests of the United States focus principally on the strategicbalance of power between that nation and the Soviet Union. In this context, Latin America has traditionally been only marginally important. The countries in the region have had little power, the region has been relatively isolated from global political and military conflicts, and the Latin American states, with few exceptions, have been firmly in the U.S. camp. U.S. defense planners’ attention has concentrated in the area of the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The NATO sphere of interest includes the Mediterranean , North Africa, the Canary and Azores islands, but excludes the Caribbean SealGulf of Mexico, and the entire South Atlantic Ocean. As a result, “little western strategic attention has been given to the areas south of the southern NATO boundary.” Until Soviet activities began to increase off the coast of Africa and in the Caribbean, there was little need for closer attention to the area. Traditionally, U.S. security doctrine has assumed that a stable and friendly Latin America was dependent on the exclusion of foreign influence and the maintenance of hemispheric solidaritybehind U.S. leadership. In spite of an existing inter-American security apparatus, no clear vision of a Latin American role in the global military balance has emerged. The traditional U.S. view with respect to Latin America was reflected in the 1976 Brooking report, Setting National Priorities, which noted: It is difficult to imagine that, except over a very long period of time, events will occur in Latin America or the Caribbean to threaten this nation‘s security to a degree or in a way that would require a significant military response. Consequently, except for the defense of the Panama Canal, some contingency planning regarding Cuba, and operations by naval vessels that are justified by other needs, Latin America plays only a small role in U.S. defense planning . 1. Adm Worth H. Bagley, USN(Ret), ”Sea Power and Western Security: The Next Decade” (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, Adelphi Papers, No. 139, 1977), p. 29. 2. Barry Blechman, et. al, ”Toward a New Consensus in Defense Policy,” in H. Owen and C . L. Schultze (eds)Setting National Priorities: The Next Ten Years (Washington, D.C. The Brookings Institution, 1976),p. 63. Margaret Duly Hayes is the Associate Director of the Center of Brazilian Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced lnternational Studies. Dr. Hayes also serves as Executive Director of the Commission on. US.-Brazilian Relations. 130 Security to the South I 131 U.S. definitions of its security interests in the hemisphere have remained fairly constant over time. However, Latin American perceptions of their security needs have changed dramatically in recent years. As the countries have developed politically and economically, and as their international roles have become more complex, U.S. and Latin American national interests have begun to diverge. North American options for implementing a narrowly defined, U.S.-oriented interpretation of collective hemispheric security are increasingly limited. The major factors influencing present changes in Latin American security perspectives include the following points: -The Latin American nations’ emergence as economic and political entities in their own right, with extensiveinternational contacts, makes the traditional U.S. claim to exclusive rights within the hemisphere both incongruent with current reality and intolerable to Latin American nationalists. -Because the United States has been the historically dominant power in the region, and because the Latin American nations were demonstrably dependent upon the United States, their leaders are often motivated to place as great a distance betwen themselves and the United States as possible to demonstrate national political independence. Diversification of political and economic relations is now a major goal of all countries in the region. -U.S. pursuit of detente with the Soviet Union has made the traditional cold war rationale for collective security less meaningful. At the same time, increasing trade opportunities in the Eastern block and China have made ideological hostilities economicallycostly and inconvenient. The Latin Americans now see economicopportunities, rather than threats, in the communistbloc countries. -The emergence of the third world non-aligned movement has made NorthSouth issues more important than East...

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