Having someone to look out for you can be a really good
thing when in trouble. To have someone by your side to pick you up when you
fall can be kind of a nifty thing. Strong bonds can be created as result of
this. This type of relationship might sound all so perfect; however there can
be some drawbacks that come with this. The specific individuals who are always
finding themselves in trouble could possibly never learn to stick up for
themselves or fight their own fights. Valuable life lessons can potentially be
lost with the constant intervention of the “big brother” or the stronger individual.
Although I’m a firm believer of fighting your own fights, I believe it is sometimes
necessary to have an intervention.
Back in the day during the Cold
War, the USA was playing the role of a big brother/patrol for many Latin American
countries. The US was so concerned that communism would spread so they would
keep an eye on countries that would show signs that would point them in that
direction. The Americans feared communism because they thought it entailed
world domination and also because they felt as if their freedoms were going to
be at risk of being taken away. They associated the communist party with
corruptness and evil so they didn’t want none of that for themselves or anybody
else. The idea of the domino effect started to develop, which meant that if one
country were to fall under communist control, many neighboring countries would
follow that path also. The US took it upon themselves to prevent that from
happening so they intervened in many situations specifically in Latin America.
In 1952, the US planned to intervene
in Guatemala after finding out that an individual who was democratically elected
to run for presidency, which appealed to the communist party, was running for
presidency. Guatemala, being so close to North America, probably really alarmed
the US so they took ultimate precautions to avoid Nicaragua from falling into
communist hands. The US aided the people that were running against this
individual however they were unsuccessful because he took precautions to secure
his position. The US didn’t have any of that so they devised a plan which was
to train native Guatemalan people to rebel and overthrow the government. The
CIA was responsible to train many of these troops and to promote American
values on the Guatemalan people. They were successful on overthrowing the government
and acquired a democratically friendly individual as their leader.
This is one example of many on
which the US had to step in to ensure democracy. The US would do anything in
their power to avoid communism from spreading and to coming to the western
hemisphere which is why we see so many interventions by them in Latin America. Again,
I am a firm believer fighting your own fight simply because of the fact that
you learn how to defend yourself and because it builds character. During the
cold war; however, I justify the multiple US interventions because who knows
how the world would’ve turned out with a dominating communist bureaucracy.
http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/guatemala.asp
http://www.tn4me.org/sapage.cfm/sa_id/135/era_id/8/major_id/10/minor_id/23
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