Marines to Central America and Diplomats to Cuba
Everyone, from political pundits in Washington to the Pope in Rome, including most journalists in the mass media and in the alternative press, have focused on the US moves toward ending the economic blockade of Cuba and gradually opening diplomatic relations. Talk is rife of a ‘major shift’ in US policy toward Latin America with the emphasis on diplomacyand reconciliation. Even most progressive writers and journals have ceased writing about US imperialism.
However, there is mounting
evidence that Washington’s negotiations with Cuba are merely one part of
a two-track policy. There is clearly a major US build-up in Latin
America, with increasing reliance on ‘military platforms’, designed to
launch direct military interventions in strategic countries.
Moreover, US policymakers
are actively involved in promoting ‘client’ opposition parties,
movements and personalities to destabilize independent governments and
are intent on re-imposing US domination.
In this essay we will start
our discussion with the origins and unfolding of this ‘two track’
policy, its current manifestations, and projections into the future. We
will conclude by evaluating the possibilities of re-establishing US
imperial domination in the region.
Washington’s pursuit of a
‘two-track policy’, based on combining ‘reformist policies’ toward some
political