1. US Economic Imperialism in Latin America
By Amy Keech

2. Pros and Cons of Imperialism
Advantages
With US help, Latin American governments were able to maintain stability and remain out of debt.
The Panama Canal was built, which sped and decreased the cost of shipping between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Latin American nations helped supply industrial countries with raw materials to be manufactured.
Most Latin American nations technically remained independent, and were never truly controlled by the United States.
Disadvantages
The US unofficially occupied nations like Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Haiti throughout the early 1900s and exercised their influence.
While foreign influence brought sanitation and material progress, their was little effort to stabilize Latin American governments to allow them to function on their own.
The Monroe Doctrine kept European powers from influencing Latin American states, which would have further globalized trade networks and trade relationships.

3. Overall…
In general, foreign influence in Latin America was beneficial because it allowed for trade relationships between industrial countries and suppliers of raw materials. While the influence was sometimes forceful, it allowed for global trade networks and increased the rate of manufacturing in industrial nations.

4. Nations Involved
According to the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, European interference in Latin America would be viewed as an act of aggression by the US. Therefore, only the US economically imperialized Latin American countries such as:
Cuba: occupied from , 1912,
Dominican Republic: occupied from , 1916
Nicaragua and Honduras: occupied in 1912
Haiti: occupied in 1915
Columbia: interfered in for the building of the Panama Canal from

5. US Influence in Latin America

6. What’s happened since then?
Since the mid-1800’s when the United States began to exercise its influence in Latin America, Latin American states have, in general, remained economically unstable. Many still have not industrialized fully and are viewed only as a source of raw materials for modern nations and their manufacturing industries.