The Killing Zone: The United States Wages Cold War in Latin America, by renowned scholar Stephen G. Rabe, provides a detailed account of what happened in Latin America during the Cold War era. The book is widely praised for its in-depth analysis and criticism of the US government's then-regional policies. The festivities that followed the end of the cold war marked the many accomplishments in American history, but Rabe uses a contentious framework to make his points. There were many flaws in the American foreign policy that could not warranty such jovial moments. For instance, by the Soviet Union collapsing, and the liberation of the countries in Eastern Europe from the communists, that was the hallmark of the end of the cold war. On the contrary, so much harm had been done in Latin America, a destruction which was characterized by bloodshed across decades. In fact, the price that the South American countries paid for the cold war was very ghastly, that the American foreign policy would be rebuked at best. In essence, Rabe notes that though the US stood for justice and liberty, respected the human rights, and fought for the fundamental freedoms by supporting governments under attack by the communists, on the contrary, there is much more harm done to the Latin American people that need to be considered, and based on reason, hold the Americans accountable.
The author outlines the horror that unfolded in Latin America during the cold war. Precisely, a period between 1945 and 1989 was characterized by campaigns of state persecutions and terrorism, authoritarianism, dictatorship, and outright systematic abuse of the essential human rights. The degree of political violence which manifested in the countries like Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, and El Salvador were appalling and inexcusable. Ther intervention of the US was not a wrong, and a misguided move was not to be condemned in the first place. However, the manner in which the American foreign policy in Latin America was tailored, it raises many critical and essential questions. For instance, it was unfortunate for the American government, then, to support the murderous and killers of the day, allow the maiming, killings, and exterminations, and foster the strength of illegitimate governments against the will of the Latin American people, all in the name of destabilizing the communists. In fact, it would have been better, according to Rabe, if American stakeholders dealt with the Soviet Union influence in the region separately, while ensuring that the human, civil, and other rights of the people in the area were allowed to thrive. In essence, the meddling of the US in the internal matters of the South American countries and rendering their respective constitutions inefficient as a result, was uncalled for. Indeed, Rabe takes his audience on a journey of history to expose the brutal things that unfolded on Latin America under the watch of the Americans, by trading on a trajectory of extensive chronology, touching narrations on individuals and citizens alike, as well as discussing in detail the series of evocative and haunting photos that help create a sorry state of the events then.
Rabe has organized “The Killing Zone” in an orderly and chronological approach so that every country that faced hard times and brutality meted upon its citizens gives a platform of a fair share of discussions and critiques. For instance, a whole chapter is laid out for the state of Cuba in the 1950s, while another is dedicated to Guatemala in 1954. Later on, Rabe creates a detailed literary exploration by offering partial chapters to corresponding countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and the Dominican Republic in 1980, 1979, 1976, 1973, 1964, and 1965 respectively. Typically, Rabe does not only seek to let his audience appreciate the body accounts and the repression accounts that characterized the period, preferably, he is interested more in making known the ability and prowess of decision making of the American policy makers and political strategies then, charged against the scale of the environment they were carrying out their operations in Latin America. Furthermore, the author considers the external pressure from the east, which might have hugely compromised the US agenda in South American nations. Indeed, the author outlines step by step the unraveling of the cold war, and how the processes centrally served to uphold the anti-communist hysteria in the society, so that the distorted outcomes seem to have been inevitable.
In his book, Rabe dedicates the initial chapters, both the first and the second, in the discussions of the American foreign policy in the South American countries, before and after the onset of the cold war with the communists. The author further exploits a myriad of issues, spiraling from the Monroe Doctrine declaration, through the gyrations and corollaries that the US succeeding presidents upheld and ascertained as the proper and justified course for decision making political, diplomatic, and military. On the other hand, Rabe creates more space for explanations such as the xenophobic views, the racist agenda, and racism in general as highlighted under the Kennan Corollary. In essence, what the author lets his audience know in the book, and especially in the first two chapters, is that based on how the American policy to Latin America was tailored, it makes the world understand and believe that the South American countries are inevitably under the US zone of hegemony. Indeed, as was expressed by the harm the successive American governments caused in Latin America during the cold war, Rabe confirms that the US would do anything within reach to deter or halt eternal operations otherwise termed unwelcome by the states, that that which curtails the American interests.
The ill-advised, otherwise referred to as the American strategic maneuvers in Latin America that Rabe highlights in his book are multiple. The misguided decision making by American stakeholders customarily affected powers that be and even toppled constitutional governments in the South American countries, whose consequences were an infringement on fundamental human rights genocides and mass killings. For the case of Guatemala, in 1954, the government under Arbenz was overthrown when the US was under strong waves of communist interference. Under President Truman, the government felt Arbenz was threatening the US fruit company by engaging the fundamental labor rights congruent to the soviet`s policies. From this time on, Guatemala would be ruled by military coups, repressive regimes, and genocides, until 1996 when the civil feuds were terminated. In the case of Cuba, Fidel Castro was fully supported by the Americans to topple the Batista dictatorship in 1956. He was a close ally of the US until he aligned the country to the “Marxist-Leninist” propaganda. Fidel Castro many challenges followed on the island, including the Cuban missile crisis that would have thrown the world into a nuclear war in following the Soviet and American confrontations in October 1962. In the case of the Dominican Republic, the US in 1961, with the help of the CIA, it assassinated Trujillo. His family was left-leaning, and it took power; however, when the right-leaning military toppled Juan Bosch, the US never intervened, leading to the loss of millions of lives. For the case of Brazil, the US fell out with the regime of Joáo Goulart when he nationalized the telephone company and became a close ally to Cuba. The American CIA sponsored a military coup in 1964, and the country went into chaos for the most of the last half of the twentieth century. Just to mention a few, Rabe notes that the American intervention in Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua, and El Salvador during the cold war era attracted more loss than benefits across the social, political economic, and technological spectrum.
Bibliography
Rabe, Stephen G. The Killing Zone : The United States Wages Cold War in Latin America. Oxford University Press, 2016 ISBN 0190216255, 9780190216252, 2012. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=04X-rQEACAAJ&dq=The+Killing+Zone+The+United+States+Wages+Cold+War+in+Latin+America+by+Stephen+G.+Rabe&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWqo79k_DXAhXOQ98KHSYIA_4Q6AEIJDAA.
