Differential Effects of American Destabilization Policy...

Differential Effects of American Destabilization Policy in Chile in the 1970s and Cuba in the 1990s Just three years after taking office in 1970, Chile’s military removed the leftist President Salvador Allende from power. In Cuba, nearly forty years after his ascension to power in 1959, Fidel Castro continues to control a communist regime. In Chile in the early 1970s and in Cuba in the early 1990s, the United States exasperated severe economic crises. In addition, the United States attempted to foster political opposition to create ‘coup climates’ to overthrow both leaders. The similarities in these histories end there. Chile’s open, democratic political system allowed the U.S. to polarize the nation, paving the way for Pinochet’s†¦show more content†¦businesses created two thirds of the $1.6 in foreign investment, and two U.S. copper corporations alone controlled 80 percent of the Chilean copper industry. Under their destabilization strategy, the U.S. undertook economic measures designed to make the Chilean economy â€Å"scream.à ¢â‚¬  The Nixon administration sought to terminate and reduce financing for U.S. exports and guarantees for corporate investment, lobby private investors to curb economic interests, bring â€Å"maximum feasible influence on the multilateral banks to cut their lending to Chile,† terminate bilateral economic aid programs, and dump U.S. copper holdings onto the international market, and lower prices. In addition to implementing direct economic measures, the Nixon administration also used its influence to affect the policies of international economic players. For example, â€Å"US officials worked behind the scenes to assure† that the World Bank denied 21 million livestock improvement credit and future loans to Chile. The U.S. also blocked negotiations, and putting pressure against Chile in the Paris Club debt negotiations regarding the $1 billion debt that the Frei government had run up in U.S. banks. In sum, these policies were effective. In 1970, loans to Chile were cut from $46 million to $2 million by the IDB, $31 million to $0 by thy World Bank, $110 million to $3 million in bilateral U.S. assistance by the AID, and $280 million to $0 by the Export-Import bank. This significant