Latin America

Judi Lynn

(160,540 posts) Sat Mar 2, 2019, 03:09 AM Mar 2019

Remember the Maine? CIA Intervention in Venezuela

MARCH 1, 2019
by DAVID ROSEN

In January 1897, Frederic Remington, a 19th-century painter famous for his depictions of the Old West, was on assignment in Havana for William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal to illustrate Spanish atrocities against Cubans. He sent a telegram to Hearst, noting: “Everything is quiet. There is no trouble. There will be no war. I wish to return.” Hearst replied: “Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”

One year later, on February 15, 1898, the battleship USS Maine mysteriously exploded in Havana Harbor. Pres. William McKinley ordered the battleship sent to Havana on January 25th to observe the growing tension between the U.S. and Spain. The explosion killed 268 of the crew’s 354 men and shocked the American public.

The U.S. press went wild with headlines proclaiming, “Spanish Treachery!” and “Destruction of the War Ship Maine Was the Work of an Enemy!” Hearst and the Journal offered a $50,000 award for the “detection of the Perpetrator of the Maine Outrage.” “Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!” became a rallying cry.

To this day, no one knows what caused the explosion. Initial reports claimed the ship was sunk by a naval mine. Later investigations, one in 1911 and another in 1974, hypothesized that it was a coal dust fire. Still others believed it was due to sabotage, some speculating it was a covert Hearst operation to increase his newspaper’s readership.

More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/01/remember-the-maine-cia-intervention-in-venezuela/

2 replies

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Remember the Maine? CIA Intervention in Venezuela (Original Post) Judi Lynn Mar 2019 OP

Example of a few "interventions" from the U.S. handed to countries of the Americas: Judi Lynn Mar 2019 #1

And the best part is that in many of those cases, it later cost US interests billions in bad debts sandensea Mar 2019 #2

Judi Lynn

(160,540 posts)

1. Example of a few "interventions" from the U.S. handed to countries of the Americas:

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Sat Mar 2, 2019, 03:11 AM

Mar 2019

. . .

A review of a dozen or so CIA interventions between 1954 and 2002 is suggestive as to what might be playing out in Venezuela.

Guatemala,1954 – the CIA launched the so-called Operation PBSuccess against president Jacobo Arbenz in support of United Fruit Company and bombed Guatemala City.

Haiti, 1959 – the CIA intervened to halt a popular movement to overthrow the puppet dictator, Francois Duvalier; according to one report, “over 100,000 people were murdered.”

Brazil 1964 – the CIA backed a coup against the democratically-elected president Joao Goulart who threatened to tax U.S. multinational corporations.

Uruguay, 1969 – CIA agent Dan Mitrione trained security forces in torture as part of Operation Condor; the agency pushed a coup that installed a military dictatorship led by Juan Maria Bordaberry.

Cuba, 1961 – the CIA-backed Cubanexiles and oversaw the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in the wake of the Cuban revolution of 1959; repeated CIA attempts to kill Fidel Castro failed.

Bolivia, 1971– the CIA orchestrated a coup against Gen. Juan Jose Torres, installing Gen. Hugo Banzer who imposed a violent dictatorship.

Chile, 1973– the CIA backed Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s coup against Pres. Salvador Allende, imposing a dictatorship that last 17 years.

Argentina, 1976 – the CIA installed Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla in a coup as part of the Dirty War to overthrow the Peronists.

El Salvador, 1979 – the CIA supported a 1979 coup fearing a popular insurgency that culminated in the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero (February 1980) and four American nuns (December 1980); in 1984, it financed Jose Durate’s campaign.

Grenada, 1983 – the CIA began efforts to destabilize the Marxist government in 1981 that led to the U.S. Marines invading in the country in ‘83 allegedly to protect about 1,000 American students on the island.

Panama, 1989 – the CIA orchestrated Operation Just Cause to overthrow its long-time operative, the drug trafficker Manuel Noriega, that left 3,500 civilians dead.

Peru, 1990 – the CIA backed Alberto Fujimori presidential election who renamed himself National Intelligence Service director, dissolved Congress and locked up the justices of the Supreme Court.

Venezuela, 2002 – the CIA backed mutinous army officers who briefly deposed Pres. Hugo Chávez in a coup attempt.

The CIA has also been involved in numerous other political and military campaigns in the region.

***

sandensea

(21,635 posts)

2. And the best part is that in many of those cases, it later cost US interests billions in bad debts

Reply to Judi Lynn (Reply #1)

Sat Mar 2, 2019, 12:40 PM

Mar 2019

A number of those regimes, you'll recall, took on some $300 billion in foreign loans between them in the late '70s (over $1 trillion in today's dollars).

Several U.S. banks - particularly Bank of America - suffered huge losses by way of debt write-downs. Latin generals, they learned, love waving the U.S. flag; but aren't as fond of repaying U.S. loans.

The bad debts mounted as quickly as they did because over half that money was pilfered by way of state-sponsored speculative fraud and subsequent offshoring.

The most notable such case was probably Argentina's 'financial bicycle', which made the well-connected $30 billion in offshored profits (in 1980 dollars) while bankrupting the country for a generation - until Néstor Kirchner restructured the debt in '05, against bellyaching by Bush and IMF.

So no wonder they were so anxious to get Macri elected: he just put Argentina in (almost) the same debt crisis the dictatorship created in the early '80s.

Thanks as always for your very informative historical overviews, Judi. Qué será, right?

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