put paid to any ideas of conquering the North.
But to certain American intervention was successful; South Korea, the Syngman Rhee, Was 'democracy' In 1954 the United States limbered up by organising, through the CIA, a mercenary army which overthrow the liberal government of Guatemala. Arbenz's government was by no means socialist, but it made the crucial mistake ol trying pulsorily purchase land owned by the United Fruit Corporation - the agrimultinational dominated large parts of America.
John Foster CIA director Allen Dulles, be by United Fruit Corporation.
America saw out the 'Sos by senNot in the Lebanon took power extent the socialism.
dictator, 'saved' for half a million to Arbenz CITVietnam which Central strongest military power.
happened Johnson, family ties to the ly of a 'radical democratic' character and evolved towards They reasoned that it was necessary to draw a line against the possibility of a series of defeats in the semi-colonial world of a similar character. To draw that line they despatched an army of Vietnam Kennedy stated his intentions in his collection of speeches "To Turn the Tide'. America been pushed around by Third World communism long enough.
America fought in Vietnam make clear to insurgent movements all over the world that. in tuture. any attempts to flaunt imperialism would be met with the full might of the world's This strategy, deepened by Lyndon involved the full-scale and daily bombing of North Vietnam - a point where there were no structures eft of a size worth bombing — and the systematic destruction of whole areas of the countryside. Mass terror against At the height of the escalation of the Vietnam adventure, Johnson found the resources in 1965 to mount an invasion of the Dominican Republic. The liberal goyernment of Juan Bosch proved too radical. Fearing another Cuba, a pre-emptive strike by the US America had always regarded central America as its own preserve. As the House of Representatives resolution put it: "The US or any other American nation has the right of unilateral intervention to keep communism out of the Western Hemisphere?
The consequence of the American defeat World-wide political opinion, and opinion inside the United States, direct American military intervention anywhere in the world unthinkable The political overheads of trying to intervene in, for example, the revolutionary process in Portugal in 1974-5 would have been too great.
Since the end of the Indochina conflict, the United States has been trying to reverse the effects of the defeat. The again.
Where are America could hit?
Central
was Line promised reconstruction ald.
Union.
socialist made destabilise the whole area strategic blow Equally, who control the trade unions.
either country. communist sentiment has been whipped up. The ideological conditions are RDF being created for the use of force once the 'hot spots' that America, the US is threatened by the development of the Nicaraguan revolution, and by the upsurges in El Salvador and Guatemala. In Nicaragua the bourgeois ministers have been ejected from the Sandinista's junta. America has not come up with , so the the Nicaraguans have turned to the Soviet If Nicaragua carries through transformation will break the isolation of the Cubans and be a dreadthe opposition to the dictatorship in El Salvador is under the leadership of armed revolutionary groups ning The United States cannot possibly allow the victory of the revolution in The key to the RDF is not onh size and firepower — • just half of available forces could swamp a st country like Nicaragua in a few day but its mobility. • Soon it will be eq ped with the C-x, a new jumbo ca plane which (at $295m a piece) can hundreds of troops anywhere in world within hours, , and new ship super-fast maritime positio ships — which have the same object The Cops of the World are organising and re-equipping. In a tion to the RDF there are 430 American soldiers stationed abroa The number of American troop the Middle East has increased by per cent since 1968. There are are 50 countries with some sort of military presence.
So don't believe that Vietnam, s defeat though it was, World's Cops out of business. just waiting for an opportunity the colonial revolution out of - with a vengeance.
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Cuba Secretary of State, and his brother,