Domino Theory in Latin America

Domino Theory in Latin America

The NBC reporter Sandy Gilmour interviewed a Guatemalan government official in 1979 who was concerned about the leftist victory in neighboring Nicaragua and how the revolution might flow over the border into his country (Gilmour and Brinkley, 1979). While Nicaraguan government officials had promised not to export their revolution to neighboring dictatorships, such as El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, U.S. officials were unwilling to rest easy based on these assurances. What the U.S. government feared was a domino effect, which would be a series of leftist victories sweeping across Central America that would remove dictatorships friendly to U.S. interests. Given the close ties between the Sandinistas Rebels in Nicaragua and Fidel Castro in Cuba, maybe the U.S. had reason to worry.

The overthrow of the Somoza regime in Nicaragua by the Sandinistas in 1979 was supported by Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Panama (Gilmour and Brinkley, 1979), so there was strong regional support for ending dictatorships and installing elected leaders. This fact made the dictatorships in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala even more nervous. Brutal crackdowns were all too common and this eventually undermined public support in the U.S. For supporting these dictators. Under the Carter administration, the U.S. government cut off military aid to Guatemala due to claims of extensive human rights abuses.

The domino theory emerged for the first time shortly after the Cuban revolution, when the U.S. government and Latin American military rulers began to wonder if the same fate awaited other Latin American countries (Green, 2006, p. 59-61). The U.S. response was to provide guns, counter-insurgency training, and other aid to military rulers in Latin America who were willing to take extreme measures to oppress leftist movements.

By 1976, two thirds of Latin American countries were ruled by dictatorships. Even in Cuba, once believed by many Latin Americans to be a guiding light for leftist ideals, the voices of opposition were being brutally suppressed by Fidel Castro (Green, 2006, p. 195-196). The crushing poverty of the region, when combined with sometimes extreme civil rights abuses, led Catholic Church leaders in Latin America to establish Base Christian Communities (CBEs) committed to raising awareness of social injustices (Green, 2006, p. 206-208). As a result, many of the church and CBE leaders died at the hands of the military. These were the conditions in place when the Sandinistas expelled Somoza from power; therefore leftists in the neighboring dictatorships viewed the Sandinista victory as a way forward.