By the 1930s, Latin Americans had much to protest. The United States had intervened in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Panama. They had also occupied Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Several U.S. interventions installed leaders who became long-term dictators, corrupt petty tyrants, known for their greed and their obedience to U.S. policy. As we learned, Latin America’s greatest writers such as Rubén Darío and José Martí began to protest during the late 19th century, and this critique in literature would continue well into the 20th century with writers like Pablo Neruda (whom we will discuss in the next module). It was clear that these respected voices had begun to question the U.S./European model of Progress. The warnings against US influence had sunk in as the tide of nationalism rose in country after country.
As a result, the U.S. policy toward Latin America also changed during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt who saw Latin America as an important ally in the changing world of the 1930s. He did everything possible to cultivate Latin American goodwill, and he announced his Good Neighbor Policy to improve relations in Latin America. In 1933 at the Seventh Congress of Pan-American movement, Roosevelt’s representatives publicly swore off military intervention, and for a brief time, relations between Latin America and the United States became friendlier than ever before or since.
