The current essay deals with the important issue of American imperialism and its implications for American-Latin relations and, in particular, the relations between the United States and Mexico at the turn of the century.
The United States is often referred to by its critiques from the Left and Marxists as being an imperialist state in its relation with Latina America. This assumption is proved by many arguments. In the first place, as far as in the middle of the 19th century, the United States announced the Monroe Doctrine, which described Latin America as an American ‘backyard’ and the sphere of its political and economic interests. From that time, American corporations and other business institutions created significant dependence on the majority of Latin American countries, especially the countries of Central America such as Panama, Columbia, Bolivia, and others. The dominance of American corporate, political and financial interests in these states resulted in poor social conditions for millions of people who suffered from monetarism, globalization, and low social services provision. As the interests of American corporations were dominant in Latin America, their national market became small and ineffective. Those countries that opposed the American agenda, such as Venezuela, Chili under Alliende, Cuba, were the objects of CIA operations and brutal assassinations of its leaders.
All these facts prove that the United States is an imperialist state which promotes its national interests and the interests of its leading corporation at the cost of normal living for ordinary people. Hence, it may be claimed that modern social liberation movements that are now spreading all over Latin America have justified rights to confront the American Empire in order to secure their future and the future of their children. The danger and destructiveness of American imperialism can be best understood by referring to the example of the United States’ relations with Mexico at the beginning of the 90s of the previous century. Globalization was already on the run when American and Mexican elites put forward the decision of creating free trade zone between the United States, Canada, and Mexico – NAFTA. These projects were elaborated over the heads of ordinary people who were deceived about the tragic consequences of these actions. Further on, the process of the economy and public sphere liberalization began in Mexico, causing mass deprivation for the millions of Mexican people. They were deprived of their rights to free health care, water, sanitation system; many of them lost their earnings and were pauperized. The results of neo-liberalization in Mexico were particularly fruitful for American automobile and oil corporations which benefited from low taxes and cheap labor in Mexico. Millions of Mexicans, starting from 1995 (the year of NAFTA foundation), were forced to work at maquiladoras (the name for American outsourcing factories) in bad conditions for low wages. Mexico became the vastest populated city in the world, with millions of people living in ghettos without water and proper sanitation. The informal economy and criminality were quickly developing, leading to the complete undermining of the Mexican societal fabric. Besides this, following aggressive conditions imposed by IMF and heavy debt burden, the economy of Mexico as well as of other Latin American countries suffered great crisis resulting in even more deep social consequences as well as in enriching a small circle of oil and automobile barons. These are the results of American-Mexican cooperation. Mexicans flee this country to the United States in search of better work and a future, but here they met segregation and racial discrimination – in fact, racialization. As the population of Mexicans grows in the United States, the American authorities establish new measures for exploiting their labor. Hence, the only way for tackling this difficult situation is a social struggle for civil rights which is waged by all Latino-American people in the United States. This movement is called the Chicano movement, and its main goal is struggling against American imperialism.