US Interests and Regional Issues in Latin America

US Interests and Regional
Issues in Latin America

Overview

 The history of US relations with Cuba
 The history of US relations with Haiti
 The challenges of migration from Latin

America to the United States
 The effects on the United States of the

political and economic challenges in
Latin America

Chapter 5, Lesson 5

The History of US Relations with

Cuba

 Fidel Castro was a
communist allied with the
Soviet Union

 1961: Operation
Mongoose—a US covert

program to undermine

and overthrow Castro

 More than 200,000

Cubans came to the

United States from 1959

to 1962 Chapter 5, Lesson 5 Alfredo Sosa / © 2008 The Christian
Science Monitor

The History of US Relations with
Cuba, cont.

 1966 Cuban
Adjustment Act--
assumed that any
Cuban reaching
American soil was a
refugee from
communism and
welcome

Chapter 5, Lesson 5 Alfredo Sosa / © 2008 The Christian
Science Monitor

The History of US Relations
with Haiti

 1957: François
Duvalier (“Papa Doc”)
won election

 Harsh, corrupt rule

 Succeeded by his
son

 1996: Haiti enjoyed its
first-ever democratic
transition of power

Chapter 5, Lesson 5 Melanie Stetson Freeman / © 2006 The
Christian Science Monitor

The History of US Relations
with Haiti, cont.

 From 1957 to 1982
about one million
people left Haiti

 Unlike Cubans,
Haitians do not count
as refugees. They are
considered economic
migrants in the US

Chapter 5, Lesson 5 Melanie Stetson Freeman / © 2006 The
Christian Science Monitor

Latin America and the United
States Video

Consider the interconnection between the
United States and Latin America as we
watch this video: “Latin America and the
United States.”

Do you believe that we can no longer view
the well-being of the United States as
separate from Latin America?

Chapter 5, Lesson 5

Latin America and the United
States Video

Chapter 5, Lesson 5

The Challenges of Migration From
Latin America to the United States

 Legal immigration refers
to those who work within
US law to come to the
US to settle permanently

 Illegal immigrants, by
contrast, arrive in a
country without
permission

Chapter 5, Lesson 5 Melanie Stetson Freeman / © 1997 The
Christian Science Monitor

The Challenges of Migration From
Latin America to the United States,

cont.

 Remittances are
sums of money
workers send back
home to their
families

 To many Americans,
illegal immigrants
represent a failure of
government

Chapter 5, Lesson 5 Melanie Stetson Freeman / © 2006 The
Christian Science Monitor

The Effects on the United States of
the Political and Economic Challenges

in Latin America

Crime and violence
are two of the region’s
top threats

Drug-related violence
continues to spill over
the US border

Chapter 5, Lesson 5 Robert Harbison / © 1994 The Christian
Science Monitor

The Effects on the United States of
the Political and Economic Challenges

in Latin America, cont.

 Latin America is the
largest foreign
supplier of oil to the
US, and a strong
partner for the
development of
alternative fuels

Chapter 5, Lesson 5 Alfredo Sosa / © 2008 The Christian
Science Monitor

Review

More than 200,000 Cubans came to the
United States from 1959 to the 1962
missile crisis

From 1957 to 1982 about one million
people left Haiti

Legal immigration refers to those who
work within US law to come to the US to
settle permanently

Chapter 5, Lesson 5

Review, cont.

Illegal immigrants, by contrast, arrive in a
country without permission

As a region, Latin America is the largest
foreign supplier of oil to the United States,
and a strong partner in the development of
alternative fuels

Chapter 5, Lesson 5

Summary

 The history of US relations with Cuba
 The history of US relations with Haiti
 The challenges of migration from Latin

America to the United States
 The effects on the United States of the

political and economic challenges in
Latin America

Chapter 5, Lesson 5

Next….

Done—US
Interests and
Regional Issues
in Latin America

Next—Europe:
An Introduction

Chapter 5, Lesson 5 David Clark Scott / © 2003 The Christian
Science Monitor