Us Imperial Relations with Latin America: An Analysis of How the U.S. Has Built and Sustained an Informal Empire in Latin America Through Free Trade and the Militarization of Right-Wing Groups

The topic of this thesis is the imperial relations between the United States and the countries of Latin America. Specifically, the means and methods through which the United States has been able to establish and maintain an informal empire of control throughout Latin America. The objective of this research is to show how the establishment of a network of free trade by U.S. firms, backed by the U.S. military, built the foundations for the empire through formal and informal imperial practices. During the twentieth century, the United States shifted its approaches to maintaining control towards subversive methods, mainly the militarization of right-wing groups and regimes friendly to U.S. interests. By examining specific Latin American countries’ interactions with the United States through the theoretical frameworks presented in two separate works, The Imperialism of Free Trade and Dependent state formation and Third World militarization, I will show how the United States established and maintained its informal empire through free trade and militarization of right-wing groups. This will provide a cohesive narrative on the nature of U.S. imperialism and it’s evolution throughout the twentieth century